As the weather cools, we’ve received lots of questions from parents asking for advice on the best way to dress their children in Autumn and Winter.

 Our answer is always the same: with the right breathable wool layers, your child can move and play indoors and outdoors while remaining cosy and comfortable.

 To help you and others discover the wonder of layers, we asked our long-time customer and friend, Africa Daley-Clarke, mother of four, to share some of her valuable wool knowledge on layering. 

Africa recommends a wool silk vest. Her choice for her youngest child is the Merino Wool/Silk Pointelle Vest in Pearl. Our most popular baselayer vest style is our SISKIN Swift Top, which comes in a variety of colours.

EXPLORE OUR KIDS VEST TOPS HERE

 

After the baselayer vest top, you layer on a wool or wool/silk long sleeve and legging. Africa chose our Finch Leggings in Bark and Finch Leggings in Cedarwood, and our Heron Top in Bark and Lark Top in Cedarwood. We also have a few other styles for the top as a baselayer; our Auk Top are a customer favourite, and we also recently launched our Grebe Top which has a raglan sleeve. Each of these wool baselayers are amazingly soft and breathable, insulating and temperature-regulating, keeping your child warm when it is cool and cool when it is warm. This particular layer is also great for sleeping in and wearing year-round. One of the best buys you can make for any child.

As a mid-layer, merino wool bottoms and wool sweaters fit comfortably over the baselayers, adding extra warmth in the mid-seasons and colder months. Africa dresses her youngest in our  Baby & Kids Light Weight Merino Wool Leggings/Trousers - Hazelnut or our  Batis Baby Pants - Merino Wool & Silk - Seaweed or Silly Silas' Cotton Rib Footless Tights with Braces - Licorice Peanut. 

Merino wool outerwear (read about merino wool fleece vs boiled wool outerwear HERE ) will keep your child cosy and comfortable throughout the seasons. Wool clothing has the amazing ability to create tiny air pockets that trap warm air in cold weather and cool air in warm weather - keeping your child’s temperature regulated. Africa dresses her children in boiled wool, choosing our Baby & Kids Boiled Merino Wool Pocket Dungarees - Hazelnut or Earth Playsuit - Boiled Merino Wool - Auburn to cover the legs, and our Baby & Kids Jacket - Boiled Merino Wool - Auburn as a jacket. In addition to these organic boiled merino wool pieces, Africa also uses our Badger Vest - Wool Teddy Fleece - Nutmeg to layer over mid-layers or sweaters in the mid-seasons, or on top of the Boiled Merino Wool Jacket when the temperature drops in the Winter season.

Wool Socks and Wool-Lined boots will give your child's feet the ability to breathe, while also wicking away sweat and keeping them warm and dry. Africa's children wear our Toddler Natural Rubber Wool Lined Boots - Green and Angulus wool-lined leather boots.

In the milder months, merino wool/silk balaclavas add the right amount of warmth for children and can fit comfortably under their helmets while out riding their bike or scooting. For the colder months, boiled merino wool or merino wool fleece accessories will keep your kids cosy.