Dope Snow Jacket Review

If you are shopping for a new ski or snowboard jacket, there is a good chance you have noticed a brand called Dope Snow.

The brand offers very affordable jackets in a wide range of colors and styles. The jackets look very trendy and modern which makes them stand out when compared to traditional jacket brands like The North Face and Columbia.

I have been snowboarding for 20 years and needed to buy a new jacket this year. Most of my ski days are in New England with temperatures between 5ºF and 30ºF, so I was searching for an affordable jacket that would keep me warm in cold temperatures.

My previous two jackets were in the $300-$400 price range from The North Face and Eddie Bauer. The jackets were great, but I lost one and the other ripped while I was moving to a new apartment.

My budget for a new jacket was around $250.

When shopping online at Backcountry and Evo, I was struggling to find normal-looking jackets within my budget that were warm enough for the cold New England winters. Most jackets from well-known brands between $200-$300 were outer shell jackets that would not provide me with the proper insulation that I needed.

When I did find a few jackets that I liked within my budget, the customer reviews said the jackets were not very warm.

After some more online shopping and searching for the right jacket, I came across an advertisement on Google for a lot of modern-looking, solid-colored jackets from a brand called Dope Snow. 

The Dope Snow Adept jacket was the exact style and color that I was looking for, but I was skeptical for a few reasons.

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Here’s why I was skeptical (at first):

I had never heard of the “Dope Snow” brand before. I’ve always trusted tried and true brands. Buying high-quality ski and snowboard gear is worth it because it can last 5-10 years, or even longer if you take good care of it.

Also, the brand name seemed a little fake. I loved the style of the jacket but didn’t like the bold “dope” logos and patches at all.

The price was so affordable that I questioned the quality.

I searched for real customer reviews about their jackets and could not find any authentic reviews.

Dope Snow has a lot of positive reviews on their website but I never trust these types of reviews because they can be filtered and moderated by the brand. Online retail stores like Backcountry and Amazon will have more authentic reviews because the retailer doesn’t own the brand.

There were also a lot of video reviews and testimonials about Dope Snow products on Youtube, but all of them were posted by the Dope Snow youtube account. Obviously, the brand would not post any negative video reviews about their own products, so those didn’t seem authentic.

I did find some discussions on Reddit about the jackets. A lot of Reddit users warned others to stay away from Dope Snow and called them a “fast fashion” outerwear brand. But, you can’t call a brand fast fashion just because they are a new brand that advertises on Instagram. After digging deeper into these discussions, it was clear any negative comments were coming from people who have never tried a Dope Snow jacket.

If anything, the style of their jackets is more basic and timeless than most ski and snowboard jackets. They are very normal-looking jackets with a pretty neutral color selection. The styles remain very similar each year, with just a few functional improvements based on customer feedback. 

Comparing these jackets to some of the ugly, bright-colored patterns I’ve seen on ski jackets and the wide selection of jacket styles offered by some of the top brands, I would say Dope Snow is the complete opposite of fast fashion.

I wasn’t able to find any authentic, in-depth reviews about Dope Snow on third-party websites, so I went ahead and purchased the Adept Men’s jacket to see for myself and put it to the test.

Read the full review below for my honest opinion about the jacket.

I am not affiliated with Dope Snow in any way and I paid full price for my jacket with my own money. I am writing this review to help inform the ski and snowboard community about the quality of this new brand.

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Is Dope Snow a real brand?

Yes, Dope Snow is a real outerwear brand that is based in Sweden. The Dope Snow brand launched in 2018 but their parent company Ridestore AB has been manufacturing outwear since 2008.

Ridestore AB also owns a very similar outerwear brand called Montec. After seeing the two brands with almost identical products and different brand names, I became skeptical because I thought they might be cheap products that were made in China and brands were just adding their logo to the products. That is not the case though. Dope Snow and Montec are both legitimate brands.

Are Dope Snow and Montec the same company?

While I was shopping for Dope Snow jackets, I noticed there was a very similar-looking jacket brand called Montec. It turns out Montec is a sister company of Dope Snow and both brands are owned by a Swedish company called Ridestore AB.

Dope Snow Jacket Review

At the time of writing this article, I have owned my Dope Snow Adept Jacket for about two months and have worn it for seven full days of snowboarding.

Overall, I am very impressed with the quality of the jacket. I honestly thought it was going to be made with cheap materials, and poor stitching, but the fabric feels durable and it is well-made.

Quality

The Dope Snow Adept jacket is made with high-quality materials that are comparable to top brands that sell expensive jackets.

The stitching is strong and seems like it will last for a very long time.

After owning expensive jackets from The North Face and Eddie Bauer, the Dope Snow jacket feels like the same quality as the Eddie Bauer jacket and maybe slightly lower quality than The North Face.

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Comfort

The jacket is very comfortable in terms of warmth, weight, thickness, mobility, and fit. This is definitely the most comfortable jacket that I have worn.

The jacket is light and the insulation is thin, but it keeps you super warm. This makes the jacket maneuverable and I don’t feel restricted at all while I am riding.

Fit and Sizing

I am 5’10 and 170 pounds. I am a size medium, but I usually buy size large jackets because I like them a little oversized.

Dope Snow jackets have an oversized style, so I decided to order a medium and it fits perfectly.

The jacket fit is a little slim compared to most brands and the length of the jacket is designed to extend below your waist.

The only problem I have with this jacket is that it hangs below my waist and it has a slim fit. This makes the jacket feel tight and restricting when I bend over to strap my boots into my snowboard bindings. It is more of an annoyance than a problem. I just need to pull the bottom of the jacket up a little to comfortably bend over all the way.

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Warmth

I’ve worn this jacket in temperatures from 0ºF to 35ºF. I feel perfectly warm and comfortable in 0ºF to 25ºF temperatures when wearing a hoodie underneath. I feel comfortable with a long sleeve shirt underneath in 25ºF to 35ºF temperatures.

Waterproofing

Dope Snow developed their own version of Gore-Tex called Drytech. The performance seems very similar, providing great breathability and waterproofing. 

The jacket is completely waterproof. I even dumped a cup of water on it to test how well it repelled the water and it stayed completely dry on the inside.

Style

I love the style of this jacket. It was exactly what I was looking for and I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on it.

I did not like their brand logo at all though. It stands out way too much and the “Dope” brand name seems kind of gimmicky and childish. That almost turned me off from buying the jacket but I got over it and it doesn’t bother me anymore.

The popularity of the brand is already taking off like crazy. On my first day wearing the jacket, I got in the lift line and saw about ten other people wearing Dope Snow and Montec jackets. As long as you are okay with seeing other people wear the same jacket as you, you will be happy with this brand.

Durability

I cannot speak to the long-term durability because this is my first season wearing the jacket, but so far it seems to be very durable. I wanted to put the jacket to the test, so I did some penguin slides on the hard-packed snow and the outside fabric didn’t get scratched, ripped, or show any signs of damage.

Price

The price is is what really sets Dope Snow jackets apart from other brands. They offer premium jacket features and great quality at a very affordable price.

I bought my Dope Snow Adept jacket for $199.00 and it feels like it could be worth $300-$350.

There are no comparable jackets with the same features and quality at this price point.

Many skiers and snowboarders will discredit new brands that try to enter the industry, but after owning this jacket, it feels refreshing to find an outerwear brand that sells high-quality products at a reasonable price.

Here are the pros and cons:

Dope Snow Jacket Pros and Cons