I have a new very lightweight tent I bought shortly before pandemic. Looking to try it out this fall.
His answer: modern synthetic fabrics. In his childhood and early adulthood, raincoats were expensive, heavy, thick rubber and still barely worked. By the time he retired, they were thin, light, entirely waterproof, durable and cheap. Along similar lines, it's hard now to imagine life without elastic in socks and underwear, not to mention shirts made of modern sweat-wicking poly-cotton blends.
Honestly not sure of the best recommendations these days. And depends if you go above treeline and/or do winter backpacks.
For zero C (32 F), there are a lot of boots that are fine for day hikes. The main limitation of something like microspikes vs. full crampons is that they only work well up to a certain angle at which point they don't really work for hard ice.
You can't really go wrong with Sorels especially for non-high angle hiking. I've actually been an instructor in winter hiking programs.
Therm-a-Rests are a dependable brand in this regard, as while a leak may happen from time to time (I have had two punctures in about one year of sleeping outdoors), it is usually very easy to find the hole and patch it yourself, just like you do with a bicycle inner tube. I think Therm-a-Rest even includes the patch kit with some of its models now.