Serious no kidding tech gear is expensive.
But like any good hunting gear, it needs to be considered an investment. Being warm and dry can make the difference between a miserable hunt and a successful hunt. Like good rain-gear and leathers for riding motorcycle. Sure you can get the less expensive stuff that keeps you almost warm or almost dry and never quite fits right as it's falling apart @ 75 MPH or you can invest in the good stuff that last for many years, holds up well, fits right and keeps you warm and dry. Being warm and dry when hunting not only means you will enjoy the experience more, but it also keeps you more alert and ready. Even the slightest degree of hypothermia will lessen your thought and muscle processes, it also adds to fatigue. By the time you start to shiver, Hypothermia has set in. It doesn't matter if it's wool or high tech, get the best you can afford and justify, and use it properly. Too many folks dress too warm and then sweat too much for even wicking base layers to accommodate.
As for the clothing trends of the 70's and early 80's, I wasn't born till 1986, so they're before my time.
'ell, I've got hunting boots older than you.
I still use a pair of Swedish Mil-Surp wool pants bought before you were born. I never said wool was not good, just that sometimes, depending on the scenario or conditions, there are better options. My experience comes from hunting Wisconsin. The gun deer season can run from late November thru December. Years when there's no snow, or when it's above normal temps not a problem. Years when the snow is waist deep and temps are below normal, one finds out what keeps you dry and warm. I also hunt a lot of swamp/marshland when still hunting, keeping dry is more of a priority then than keeping warm. Clothing that will absorb moisture and then allow it to freeze makes sneaking up on a deer impossible. The added weight of a gallon or two of absorbed moisture may not be an issue at the start of the day, but at the end of the day after several miles of lifting your legs over the clumps of swamp grass or knee deep snow, every ounce counts. More so when you're draggin' a deer. I don't know the weather or the conditions you hunt in, but I know mine and I know how to keep warm and dry in them. I take advantage of every thing I can and have found that while some new products are just advertising, some are really an improvement. Years ago when there was little else to choose from, I used to drag a old Mil-Surp sleeping bag with me to my tree stand when late season bow hunting in January. I'd crawl in it and pull it up around my shoulders to keep from freezing while I sat for hours on end. Wasn't the best, had to see the deer coming from far enough away to get it down around my waist to shoot, and I could only shoot from a sitting position, but it got me a coupla deer. Like I said before, those little air fueled hand/body warmers are a gift from heaven for me. My wife has even sown pockets over my kidneys on some of my hunting coats so that I can put two close to my body to help when on bow stand late in the season. Amazing little things they are.
Besides hunting for over half a century in cold weather, I have also worked outside construction for 40 years in the winters of Wisconsin. Hunting you can go home when you get cold. I had to wait till 4:30 to go home from work. I now work inside year round, but for many years I watched new/young guys try to skimp on warm work clothes/boots. Most had to freeze their butts off a few times to heed what us old guys told them. As for Hypothermia, coupla years ago I went out after a fresh foot of snow to still hunt deer. 5 hours of pushing fresh powder with my feet, my circle finally brought me back to within a few hundred yards of my truck. It was 10 below zero when I came to the frozen creek. It was either cross the creek or go another 1/4 mile around, and I was beat. I knew the creek was fast and the ice may not be safe. I also knew the water was only about three feet deep and I would not drown if I went thru, only get wet. So I took my chances. I went thru 1 step from the opposite side. Pulled myself out and started for the last 200 yards to the truck. My hands were wet and so were my legs and feet up to my crotch. It only took me a matter of minutes to get to the truck and only a matter of seconds to realize my hands were so cold I couldn't get the keys outta my pocket(which was frozen solid like my pants). I finally managed to get the keys out, the door open and the engine started. In the 5 minutes or so it took the truck to start to warm up, I suffered. I couldn't get my boots off because they were frozen solid also. My pants and long johns were both solid and frozen to me. It took me another half hour to get home, where it took a hair dryer blowing on my boots to get them off. A long hot shower brought me back from extensive shivering. I then had the time to realized, as safe and as confident as I had felt when crossing the creek and taking that chance, that another 50 yards may have meant I was still out there.
