ALDI do cheap snowgear, but is it any good?

ALDI stack their aisles high with bargains and when it's gone, it's gone. From 3rd December, they're doing ski and snowboard gear too. They contacted Action Sports Club to see if we wanted to see some of their gear and sure enough, a few days later, a large box turned up at ASC Tech HQ.

This gear will get you riding more, for less

We've not hit the slopes with this stuff, so we've no idea how warm, durable or waterproof it might be. First impressions are good though and the prices alone are enough for us to take the time to write this review in the hope that for some of you out there, this gear will get you riding more, for less, which is the whole reason we exist. So, we ask the question; how does the new ALDI range stack up?

Men's Ski Pro Jacket - £34.99

The jacket looks nice and fits well. It features everything you could want. On the outside, internal gators that hook over your thumbs to keep the wind out, rubberised wrist closures to keep the snow out, a ski pass pocket on the end of the left sleeve, a zip-detachable peaked hood with elasticated drawstrings to customise the fit (either side of the hood and at the back of your head), rubberised shoulder sections (presumably for gripping your skis a bit better), meshed lined pit zips, two partially fleece-lined pockets with "water resilient" zips all finished off with a full nose-to-groin waterproof-ish zip.

Internally there's a sort of shiny black quilted vibe going on, a zip-detachable powder-skirt, three press-studded loops for the jacket-to-pant interface, a couple more draw cords to adjust the fit at the hem, a decent-sized goggle pocket, zipped internal phone pocket with earphone port and a further hook up near the neck for running your cables, and finally a small zipped pocket with an attached goggle wipe, which doesn't feel big enough for goggles, but would work fine for your sunnies.

Attached tech details have the jacket waterproof to 10,000mm, breathable 10,000 gr/m²/24hrs, totally windproof and with DuPont Sorona insulation, so that checks all those boxes perfectly.

Cunning

What they've done here is look at everything you might want in a ski or snowboarding jacket and put them in a jacket suitable for skiing or snowboarding. Cunning.

The only thing missing from a perfect jacket for me is an external goggle pocket and perhaps an external chest accessible pocket, so you can get to stuff whilst you're on the chairlift without having to open the jacket up, but that's me and a really small point.

Ski Pro Salopettes - £29.99

Okay, the first thing for me here is the name. Salopettes screams ski camel toe to me, so the first thing that came off were the detachable braces, which instantly increased comfort levels and turned them in to a pair of ski or snowboard pants, which I'm much happier to talk about. I normally take a Large and these slightly quilted Large pants felt a little too snug for me.

Up the top end we'll start with the fly area, which features a hook/eye, popper and zip, so that will wake you up in the morning. There's three belt loops for a normal belt and velcro'd waist adjusters, two very small pockets left and right with water-resistant zips and decent-sized mesh-lined ventilation zips on each hip.

Down at the bottom, there's a good length zip to make sure they go over your boots and rubberised gators to keep those where they should be. There's no metal hooks for connecting to your laces, which many snowboarders would expect. The hem area is re-inforced with a more hard-wearing material, but there's no butt or knee re-inforcing, which snowboarders might also be looking for.

Tech details are the same as the jacket. These stats are all fine for jackets, but again for snowboarders (who spend all our time sitting at the side of the piste on their back-sides discussing how rad we are), you'd be looking for 20,000 in a top level pair of pants... but top level these aren't. Just get up and ride.

Ski Pro Leather Faced Ski Gloves - £19.99

Leather is good on the face and in black, they're inoffensive and perfectly functional, well articulated gloves. Add to this they're under cuff, which is the fashion these days and they look even better. We have elasticated loops, which are dull but a top tip when you're fiddling with your phone or snacking on the lifts. Lastly there's a little clip to clip them together, which again helps you keep track of them. The ALDI range also includes mittens for those that prefer those or who suffer from cold fingers on the slopes.

The rest of the gear

Okay, so we didn't try the rest of the gear on, but here's a list for you.

Ski and Sports base Layer Set - £8.99

With black sleeves and lemon yellow body on the top and yellow stitching on the black long johns.

Stretch Sports Hoody - £12.99

Thumb hooks make this thin blue hoody ideal for layering, except that the hood would probably get in the way. Includes a full length zip and check pocket.

Nordic Knitwear - £14.99

Black and white "Nordic" pattern, so definitely coming out for Christmas.

Full Zip Sweater - £14.99

Has the word "stylish" on the label, so you guessed it... it isn't. Nice high zip and soft neck gator though.

Ski Socks (with Silk) - £4.99

Marked L/R, so assume a different fit for each foot. Seamless except for around the toe, so perfect for inside your boots.

Men's Merino Thermal Long Johns - £14.99

Black. Feels a little thin, but fine for layering.

Men's Merino Thermal Top - £14.99

Brown/grey and long sleeved. Again, feels a little thin, but good for layering.

Stuff we didn't see

They also do adult helmets for £19.99 and kids' lids for £16.99. We have no idea on the tech spec of those, but you should check they have the appropriate kite marks.

The last thing you'll need are some goggles and they have those too. They look pretty awful to us and other reviews seem to suggest they're not much good... but they are £7.99.

Add to that list a number of different colour-ways for men and women, plus boys', girls' and infant clobber as well as a £29.99 GoPro clone and they pretty much have the family winter holiday packing list sorted.

So...

This stuff is cheap and cheerful, but that doesn't make it rubbish. Far from it, the jacket in particular really impressed me and is well thought through. The "salopettes" less so, especially for snowboarding. If you ski or snowboard already and have some kit, then perhaps the base layers, socks and gloves in particular might tempt you in to your local Aldi. Better, for those with a growing family of budding winter athletes, you can get some very functional kit for next to nothing, so for that reason alone we can't recommend the ALDI range highly enough.

This is certainly going to annoy some of the larger retailers out there, but if we can get more people in to skiing or snowboarding on a budget then that's good news for everybody.

Of course, if you like your brands and wouldn't be seen dead in this gear, that's fine too. You're more than welcome to find some ski bargains or snowboard bargains in our own discounted shop.

RIDE MORE, PAY LESS.