Hey! I’ve been wearing camo and pseudo-tactical shit on the daily since long before it became fashionable. It used to be back in the good old days that military surplus gear was the cheap way for broke motherfuckers to get vaguely performant and moreover highly durable outdoor wear, plus it’s always full of pockets. Bonus points if you were also some kind of airsoft/paintball nerd.
ACU/UCP is pretty irredeemably ugly for casual wear. Maybe it will find a niche following among cyberpunks in 20 years or something, who knows.
It may still have a connotation to official US Army uniforms that people looking for casual wear don’t want to make. The classic “woodland” camo is far enough removed from this.
It is in basically every surplus store, and it is cheap…because hardly anyone wants it.
I have three sets of digital camo BDUs. Two sets of MARPAT, and one of some generic grey “urban” coloration. I didn’t find them difficult to source at all. Insulated jackets, though, I don’t know about.
Yeah, that’s the one I’d expect to see around, since you know, cheap jackets that go to -40F. I saw quite a few of them in cold parts of China and even Kazakhstan and it made me curious why I didn’t remember any in America.
Oh, they’re about. I just haven’t seen any with modern-ish MARPAT patterns on them, for instance. If you just want an OD green one or something you can usually turn one up. If not truly surplus, one of the milspec manufacturers like Truspec will sell you one for a hundred bucks.
There’s an excellent podcast about fashion history and design called Articles of Interest by Avery Trufelman, and she did a season about the deep connections between outdoor wear and military clothing, with a lot of talk about surplus. I recommend it highly!
Hey! I’ve been wearing camo and pseudo-tactical shit on the daily since long before it became fashionable. It used to be back in the good old days that military surplus gear was the cheap way for broke motherfuckers to get vaguely performant and moreover highly durable outdoor wear, plus it’s always full of pockets. Bonus points if you were also some kind of airsoft/paintball nerd.
You remember when the US switched to digital camouflage in the 2000s, then realized it was a terrible idea and switched back?
Any idea why you didn’t see cheap digital camouflage jackets around? Did they just not make to milsurp stores?
It’s working
In no particular order:
It is in basically every surplus store, and it is cheap…because hardly anyone wants it.
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I have three sets of digital camo BDUs. Two sets of MARPAT, and one of some generic grey “urban” coloration. I didn’t find them difficult to source at all. Insulated jackets, though, I don’t know about.
Yeah, that’s the one I’d expect to see around, since you know, cheap jackets that go to -40F. I saw quite a few of them in cold parts of China and even Kazakhstan and it made me curious why I didn’t remember any in America.
Oh, they’re about. I just haven’t seen any with modern-ish MARPAT patterns on them, for instance. If you just want an OD green one or something you can usually turn one up. If not truly surplus, one of the milspec manufacturers like Truspec will sell you one for a hundred bucks.
So many pockets.
I miss my combat pants. They were comfy by the time I had to give them back, and they had so many pockets.
There’s an excellent podcast about fashion history and design called Articles of Interest by Avery Trufelman, and she did a season about the deep connections between outdoor wear and military clothing, with a lot of talk about surplus. I recommend it highly!
https://articlesofinterest.substack.com/p/gear-chapter-1
That was indeed fascinating. Thanks for sharing it!
You betcha!