“Few Things Can Survive Minnesota Winters, But Apparently ORORO Can!”
Wild Fan Abby Challenges the Minnesota Climate With ORORO Gear.
Everywhere Abby turned, she couldn’t stop hearing about ORORO heated clothing. “It kind of just kept popping up in my life,” she said, chuckling. She originally found out about ORORO through friends. “Minnesotans, we love to be outside. We love to be active as much as we can.”
While out with a friend, enjoying some fall patio weather, she noticed a light on her friend’s ORORO heated vest. “I asked her about it and instantly she's like, ‘Oh my gosh, you need one of these vests. It's an absolute game changer.’”
Not much time passed after that when yet another friend talked up ORORO to her, saying it was an essential item for her golf game. “We'll golf into the late season and it's the first thing I throw on,” Abby’s friend gushed.
The signs kept stacking up for Abby. She and her family are season ticket holders for the Minnesota Wild, the first NHL team ORORO partners up with. During our partnered winter coat drive, she saw posts about bringing in gently used winter coats for a discount on ororowear.com. Abby finally decided to listen to the signs and try out ORORO gear for the whole family, especially since they were planning to go to the Winter Classic this year. “That's how I heard about it [ORORO]. It was within a span of three weeks. I'm not even kidding you. It was almost like a sign.”
Of course, Abby wanted to do her research on other heated apparel on the market but between her friends’ rave reviews and the partnership with her favorite team, she decided to dive in and take advantage of ORORO’s Black Friday deal in 2021.
“I got a few vests right off the bat for myself, my husband, and my dad. Then I told my mother-in-law about it because that side of the family was also going to the Winter Classic game with us. I told her these are amazing. We've got to get these incorporated for Christmas gifts. Between vests and socks, and my father-in-law’s heated gloves, we were pretty stacked with ORORO wear,” Abby shared. “And extra batteries to boot!”
Attending the NHL Winter Classic was always a life goal of Abby’s and she was determined to go if it ever came to Minnesota and in 2022, it arrived. Being a born and raised Minnesotan, hockey is an integral part of her daily life, plus with the COVID-19 delays, there was a lot of build-up and anticipation for this game.
“There were a couple parts that were just unbelievable. The experience itself, the hockey game; what the Wild and Target Field did was incredible and unforgettable,” Abby said. “The other unforgettable part of the experience was us banding together with all the other crazy Minnesotans. We almost took it as a challenge. Temperature was minus teens, minus twenties. We can do this. It's the camaraderie. Everybody's there and kind of grinning and bearing it together.”
The official temperature for the Winter Classic was -6℉ at puck drop that Saturday night on Jan. 1, 2022, making it the coldest outdoor game in NHL history!
Abby and her family laughed in the face of freezing temperatures, as they were well prepared with ORORO. “I remember talking to my dad about this in the middle of the game. Because after the first period it looked like the stadium was emptying out. But what you couldn't see from the TV is that people didn't leave the game, they were all in the concourse underneath the heaters. Between my dad, myself and my husband's family, we all stayed in our seats the entire time. Our gear was literally on the low setting and we were just fine. Not even using the medium or high settings.”
Even in the lowest temperatures the Winter Classic game has ever seen, Abby and her family were completely comfortable and warm because they were decked out in ORORO heated gear. Abby even had to turn her heated socks off because her feet were starting to get too hot, which according to her, was a good problem to have.
Abby was also astounded that the cold temperature didn’t affect the battery life of any of the batteries they had, including the extra ones they brought. “Even the ridiculously cold temperatures didn't affect the battery life. Few things can survive Minnesota winters, but apparently ORORO can.”
Of course, the ever-present ORORO power button with its light on attracted plenty of attention from other folks who weren’t lucky enough to be wearing gear at the time. “My husband walked around for awhile and he had so many layers on that he couldn't even zip up his outer layer, so his vest was always showing,” Abby explained. “He got asked by stadium workers, ‘What is this light? I keep seeing this light on so many people.’ So he explained it's a heated vest and showed off its features and they responded with ‘Well, that's the most genius thing ever.’”
Abby’s big on hockey and outdoor activities like most Minnesotans and is thrilled that her winters will be slightly warmer with her arsenal of heated gear. “Between coaching and playing and being involved with Minnesota hockey, this is a game-changer.”
