Orolay Amazon coat: The $130 jacket that took over New…

Orolay Amazon coat: The $130 jacket that took over New York

Walk one block through the Upper East Side and you’ll be inundated with the type of sleeping bag puffer coats New Yorkers wear from November until March, when the snow finally stops falling.

But this winter the usual luxury Canada Goose jackets on display were swapped for a far more affordable option. The 'it' coat of winter 2018-2019 comes straight from Amazon by way of Zhejiang, China. The Orolay Amazon coat is a functional style equipped with plenty of pockets to store everything from cellphones to snacks, which might be why it was dubbed the “Upper East Side Mom Coat.”

And unlike Canada Goose coats, which controversially have real fur hoods, this trend item is only $130.

So, how did an inexpensive, inconspicuous puffer coat from China take over the UES?

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visiting her boyfriend this morning

A post shared by Arielle Noa Charnas (@ariellecharnas) on Feb 16, 2019 at 10:25am PST

The coat’s origin story (for how it achieved viral fame, at least) begins in New York Magazine. Their shopping vertical, The Strategist, covered the coat in March 2018 when it was beginning to become an inescapable trend. They traced it to The Blonde Abroad blog but also said the coat had simply spread by word of mouth. Now, according to Vox, 10,000 of the coats have been sold (which the publication says is partly thanks to The Strategist coverage) making it a best seller on Amazon.

While the press coverage probably helped, the coat's popularity is also attributed to the 'where's that from?' effect of seeing a friend wearing the coat to SoulCycle or the 92nd Street Y.

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@being_bridget - you’ve got style! #theamazoncoat #ues #paloalto #amazonyouwin #thecoattho #coatlife #orolay #everywhereyoulook #uppereastsideamazoncoat #lotsapockets #coatgoals

A post shared by The Amazon Coat (@theamazoncoat) on Feb 26, 2019 at 6:14pm PST

The Orolay has made its way onto Instagram too. There's an entire page devoted to people wearing the coat - @theamazoncoat - much like the J. Crew gingham button up that every bro in the city seems to own.

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coffee run

A post shared by Arielle Noa Charnas (@ariellecharnas) on Feb 23, 2019 at 6:09am PST

Even influencer Arielle Charnas (better known as @somethingnavy to her 1.2 million followers) has shown off the coat on her own Instagram. Her commenters were excited to see her in the coat, with one woman tagging a friend and writing, "It's our coat. We're so trendy I can't stand it!" Fittingly, Charnas is a mom who spends time on the Upper East Side. Naomi Watts was even spotted this week wearing what appeared to be the Orolay Amazon coat in New York.

But is the power of The Coat finally on the wane? Strategist has since revisited the viral winter wear and found that its original uptown owners are over it. Plenty of the coats are up for grabs on Poshmark. And after one woman saw the coat fourteen times on the way to the UES from Brooklyn she gave it to her mother-in-law who lives in London. Could this be the spark that begins the trend in the UK? It's also available in black and beige...