As someone who grew up in the Alps (and cycled there during the winter). I learned skiing before I could walk and can probably comment on this: Typical winter

As someone who grew up in the Alps (and cycled there during the winter). I learned skiing before I could walk and can probably comment on this: Typical winter wear (the stuff you wear for walking or staying outside) is generally pretty useless as being sports wear for cold weather: The issues are such: * you generally want something that keeps you warm (but not too warm), which speaks for layers or jackets where you can open parts * you want something that has the ability to transport wet into one direction (from the inside out). So wet from the outside stays outside and wet from the inside gets transported out, which speaks for goretex and similar materials Rubbery materials might sound like a good idea, because they are pretty watertight, but they are also airtight. This means sweat will be running down your body inside the rubber layer. Given the nature of the rubber the sweat will stay inside. This means you still end up being wet. Unless you barely moved at all or it is raining in drenches, you are very likely more wet now than you would've been if you just wore regular cotton clothes. Layers that can be adapted/added/removed and shirts that can be changed are a good idea. For heavy rain there are capes, rainpants and overshoes (dyneema would be the material of choice for those today)