Price Tag: $53.99 for the set, $35.99 for the jacket.
Official URL: http://kushies.com
Sizing: 12m, 24m, 36m
Rating:

One of childhood’s favorite memories is playing in the rain and splashing in puddles. I want my son to grow up with similar memories.

In order to play in the rain and splash in puddles without coming down with a cold, one needs the proper rain gear. “Splish Splash” rain gear from Kushies fits the bill, and does so with cuteness and durability. A little too much cuteness, perhaps, as we can’t make it down the block without being stopped several times so that other pedestrians can coo over the cuteness.

AESTHETIC

The cut of the rain gear, the pockets and the reflective stripes remind me a lot of the rain gear that firemen wear, especially the yellow version! The rain visor, the bright colors, and the cut of this jacket are just too cute for words, and the over-sized pocket on the back adds to the cuteness by conjuring up old drop-bottomed pajamas.

In addition to the yellow color pictured here, Splish Splash rain gear comes in blue, cherry red, green, khaki, navy, and pink.

A “Kushies Kids” logo with a splashing puddle appears on the left breast of the rain jacket. The logo in the puddle is blue, and the “Kushies Kids” text is in an outline font in a darker shade of the color of the rain gear. On the pants, the same logo appears on the cargo pocket of the pants.

There’s an understated “Adult” quality about this rain gear that makes it even more likely to attract attention than the obvious kid-centric rain gear that is bedecked with cartoon characters. It’s classic, and that makes it cute.

QUALITY & CONSTRUCTION

The pants and jacket are both made of a soft pliable 100% Vinyl. The lining is 100% cotton.

The jacket has a generous cut and fits easily over my son’s bulkier winter jackets. The top half is lined with a soft fuzzy fabric that keeps the jacket warm against your child’s skin- great for wearing over teeshirts in warmer weather. This soft fuzzy lining lines the hood and continues through the sleeves. The bottom half of the jacket is lined with a soft pliable mesh. The seam between the two is covered with a soft white strip of fabric that keeps the seam soft against your child’s skin. All of the seams are very smooth inside of the jacket, making it a good choice for children that have sensitivities to seams or textures. (Although you might want to remove the labels from the back of the jacket for sensitive kids). The hood is generously sized and will fit even kids with larger noggins. It works well over hoods and hats, and the elastic gather keeps it on your child’s head without being too constricting. The brim of the hat is non-obtrusive, slightly floppy and it does an excellent job of keeping rain out of your child’s face.

Under each arm of the jacket are four grommeted vents for ventilation since waterproof material doesn’t tend to breathe very well. The grommets only pass through the Vinyl outer shell of the jacket, and not the soft inner lining- keeping your child’s skin away from the chilly metal. The grommets are high quality with no rough edges.

The jacket closes in two ways: A rugged high quality zipper, and four velcro fasteners (in the 24-36 month size, other sizes may vary). The velcro closures are a little over 1″ in length, and are rectangular in shape. They are very strong. A generously sized inner lip runs along the right side of the jacket’s zipper, keeping it from pinching your child’s skin or catching on their clothes. The zipper is very much snag-free and very well made. The jacket closes “high” which keeps your child’s neck warm and dry.

The jacket has two side “cargo” patch pockets that open at the top and that are each fastened with two velcro strips. The side pockets are about 4 1/2″ by 4 1/2″. They have a little stretchy elastic loop that your child can pull on to open the pocket. On the right side pocket a little rubber rain boot with “Kushies” hangs from a ball chain. You can remove this if you want. My son likes to play with it, though. The two front pockets are just big enough for a few little treasures. On the back of the jacket is a big over-sized pocket (7″ wide by 5 1/2″ tall) that also has the two velcro closures and the elastic pull. The back pocket has a rubberized “Kushies Kids” emblem.

Two grommets are at the bottom of each pocket to allow drainage and ventillation, drastically reducing the risk of carting home puddles or growing mold in your child’s pockets. The pockets are vinyl, and the outer layer of the pocket has the exposed white backing of the vinyl. This is, perhaps, the only design flaw of this jacket. A fully vinyl-lined pocket would make much more sense, as children are likely to put rocks and other dirty items in their pockets, and the white backing will quickly become stained.

The pants are made of the same vinyl material as the jacket, and have an elastic drawstring waist. The drawstring has a closed design with a small plastic toggle that allows you to adjust the waist without posing a hazard to the child, and without running that risk of the drawstring being pulled back into the pants.

The pants are lined with the same mesh material as the jacket is. All the seams of the pants are soft and comfortable.

The pants have a single cargo pocket about mid-leg on the right side. The pocket is 6″ wide by 4 1/2″ tall. The closure flap is 2″. It wraps around the side of your child’s leg, and fastens with the same two velcro closures with the same elastic pull as the pockets on the jacket. It also has two grommets for drainage and breathing. A rubberized rectangular Kushies logo is on the back of the pants just under the waistband.

Both the jacket and the pants cuff easily and do not come un-cuffed accidentally. The cuff of the pants has a long velcro closure that allows you to adjust the leg opening from 7″ diameter to just over 4″ diameter.

SAFETY FEATURES

The rain jacket has several safety features:  The hood uses an elastic gather on the sides instead of using a drawstring. (Drawstrings pose strangulation hazards to young children), a one inch reflective strip runs along the entire bottom of the jacket, a lip runs along the inside of the zipper to prevent pinches and caught fabric, and the jacket has a place to write your child’s name, address, city and phone number just in case your child becomes separated from you.

The pants sport the same reflective band, this time around the bottom of each leg. A duplicate label allows you to write your child’s name, address, city and phone number in the pants as well as in the jacket.

EASE OF CARE/CLEANING

The “universal laundry symbols” on the tag are not quite universal enough for me to read them.. With a quick internet guide, though, I was able to figure them out:

Machine wash cold, do not bleach, do not iron, do not tumble dry, and do not dry-clean.

Really, though, even after my son jumped in a sludgy mud puddle all I had to do was soak the pants in some cold water and the mud rinsed right out. No staining or discoloration. I hung everything up to dry and it was all dry within a few hours. I’m not sure what might require a full machine wash. Perhaps a blow-out diaper or a full mud bath!

SIZING

This rain gear comes in sizes 12m, 24m, and 36m. The actual sizing of each is larger than the age that is listed, and it allows ample room for wearing layers underneath, and for growing. Because the pants have a drawstring, they’re very adjustable to smaller sizes, and so they come rather large. For example, the 24 month size of pants has a waistband that makes it a good inch wider than most 2T pants, and closer to the size of 3T pants. Lots of room to grow.

BOTTOM LINE

This rain set is very well made, very durable, and well worth the price tag. With the “growable” sizing, I’d be surprised if this rain set didn’t last a year or longer before needing to be replaced with the next size up. And the durability and stain resistance make this rain set an ideal hand-me-down that will last through multiple children and multiple rainy seasons.