A Letter From Michelle: The Cassandra
A Letter From Michelle
A winter coat is the only thing a woman owns that she is relieved to take off.
On the six things that made me choose the Cassandra, how it compares to the coat in your hall closet, and why it is $109.95 for our twentieth year.
I am Michelle, and my husband and I opened this shop twenty years ago with one idea: that a woman should not have to choose between comfortable and beautiful.
Winter is where I watch that fail, and it fails in a way nobody quite says out loud. A winter coat is the one garment a woman is glad to be out of. She comes through a door and the first thing she does, before hello, is get it off her shoulders.
There are two of them on offer and you have owned both. There is the warm one, which is warm because there is simply a great deal of it, and by four in the afternoon you can feel every ounce of it sitting on you. And there is the handsome one, cut beautifully and cut thin, so you put a sweater under it, and then something at the neck, and you are cold anyway.
What nobody makes is the coat that is warm because of what is inside it rather than how much of it there is.
I never accepted that a woman had to choose.
The Cassandra is my answer. The entire inside is lined in brushed fleece — collar to hem, and down through both sleeves — so the warmth lives in the lining and not in the bulk. There were six things I would not do without.
A patchwork-look print, laid out the way a patchwork is
This is the first thing I look at. Triangles and squares in coral, teal, magenta and gold run across a cream ground in a patchwork-look print, set out block by block the way a patchwork is, and printed collar to hem. That is the whole reason this one gets stopped in the street.
“The patchwork is even more interesting in person. It turns jeans and a plain sweater into an outfit without any extra effort.”
Valerie S., Lancaster“The colors make this much more fun than my usual winter coat. I’ve had strangers stop and ask me where I found it.”
Yvonne D., PortlandFleece all the way through, not just across the back
Lay it open and this is the part I would want you to look at. The brushed fleece runs collar to hem and carries on down through both sleeves. Most makers line the body and stop, because the sleeves are where a lining costs them money and where nobody checks. The reason it matters is arithmetic: a coat lined the whole way through is as warm as a heavy one at half the burden on your shoulders, and shoulders are what get tired.
“The fleece lining is what won me over. It keeps me warm without making the coat feel heavy on my shoulders.”
Brenda K., BurlingtonA hood that is lined and roomy, with a drawstring
Three separate decisions and each one is skipped somewhere. It is lined in the same fleece, so putting it up is warm rather than merely windproof. It is left roomy, so it goes over hair you have already done rather than flattening it. And there is a drawstring, so on the mornings that bite you pull it close instead of holding it shut with one hand while you carry everything else in the other.
“The lined hood makes a real difference on cold, windy mornings. I pull the drawstring in and my neck stays much warmer.”
Cecilia W., PortsmouthTwo pockets deep enough to leave the purse at home
Set into the front at hip height, and deep — a phone, a set of keys and a pair of gloves at the same time. That sounds like a small convenience and it is actually a different kind of morning. A coat with real pockets means the short walk needs nothing else: no bag over the shoulder, no strap to move when you take the coat off, nothing to leave behind on a chair. I have never understood why so many makers treat a pocket as decoration.
“Those pockets are actually deep enough to be useful. I can carry my phone, keys, and gloves without bringing a handbag.”
Peggy R., MadisonLong enough to cover, and it never grips at the middle
It falls past the hip, which is where a coat stops being a jacket and starts actually covering you. And it hangs straight down the front rather than being drawn in anywhere, so there is nothing gripping at the middle and nothing to arrange. A woman should be able to put a coat on over whatever she is already wearing and not have to think about what that does to her shape. It zips, top to hem, so you close it when the wind gets up and leave it open when it does not — and that is your decision to make each morning rather than mine.
“I like that it falls past my hips and doesn’t pull across my middle. There’s plenty of room to move comfortably.”
Connie M., ProvidenceCut generous, S through 4XL
It is true to size and cut generous on purpose — to fit the woman rather than asking the woman to fit it. One piece of advice I would give across the counter: if you like a thick sweater underneath, take one size up. It is a winter coat, and a winter coat that will not close over a sweater is a spring coat wearing the wrong label. Seven sizes, S through 4XL.
“I sized up so I could wear a thicker sweater underneath, and that worked beautifully. It still hangs nicely instead of looking bulky.”
Joyce T., SyracuseThe Cassandra, against the coat in your hall closet
| The usual winter coat | The Cassandra | |
|---|---|---|
| Warmth | Warm because it is thick | Fleece-lined collar to hem and through the sleeves |
| Weight | You can feel it by four o’clock | Half the burden on the shoulders |
| Hood | None, or thin and unlined | Roomy, fleece-lined, drawstring |
| Pockets | Shallow, so you carry a bag | Two deep, at the hip |
| The front | Black, navy, or a darker black | A patchwork-look print on cream |
| Sizing | Stops at XL, if you are lucky | S through 4XL, one price |
I refuse to sell a woman warmth she has to carry around on her shoulders all day. That is the whole reason the Cassandra is in the store.
Why we are clearing it now
The Cassandra was $399.95 on the rail, which is what a coat finished this way goes for: a patchwork-look print laid out block by block, brushed fleece run collar to hem and down through both sleeves, and a hood lined in that same fleece. I am not going to stand here and tell you that is a small amount of money for a coat. But the shop turns twenty this year, and my daughters Julie and Amy are beside me at the counter most days now, which is not something I let myself count on in 2006. We wanted to mark it by handing something back to the women who kept our door open, so it is going out at a little over a quarter of what it was.
I will give you the honest reasoning too. A coat is the one thing a woman wears over everything else she owns, so it is the piece people actually see, and it is the piece she keeps for years. If it is the one you reach for every day for the next five winters, then $109.95 was never the point.
★★★★★4.8 out of 5 — from 3,369+ reviews
$399.95$109.95
20th Anniversary Sale — Save 73%
- A patchwork-look print in coral, teal, magenta and gold on cream
- Brushed fleece lining, collar to hem and through the sleeves
- A roomy fleece-lined hood with a drawstring
- A full-length zipper, top to hem
- Two deep front pockets at the hip
- Falls past the hip, and never grips at the middle
- True to size · S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL
- Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee
Every size the same price
Twenty years behind this counter and the coat is the one purchase I can predict. A woman puts one on, and if it is right she does not look in the mirror at all. She puts her hands in the pockets.
That is the tell. She has stopped assessing it and started living in it, and the decision was made about four seconds ago whether she knows it or not.
Go and find your size.
— Michelle · The Hayes Family Hamptons
SEE THE CASSANDRA — $109.95 →This is a personal letter from Michelle Hayes, co-founder of The Hayes Family Hamptons. Customer reviews are quoted as written. · US family brand since 2006 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.