Military Clothings

A wardrobe built around cut, cloth and layers

Military clothings gathers the whole garment side of the catalogue: parkas and cold weather jackets, cargo shorts, stretch tactical trousers, combat trousers and caps. None of it is old surplus stock, it is new production in military patterns, so the label to trust is the size chart and the fabric rather than any badge. The useful question is not which piece looks the part, but which layer of an outfit is missing.

How do the layers fit together?

Three roles cover almost everything. Next to the skin, a shirt or thin jumper moves moisture away. Over it, a fleece or a quilted liner traps warm air, and the thicker it is the less it breathes. On the outside, a shell blocks wind and rain and does no insulating at all. Most people who feel cold in a good jacket are missing the middle layer, not the outer one, and most people who feel clammy have too much of it. The military jackets range covers the outer role in several weights.

Which fabric should be chosen?

• Ripstop: a grid of reinforcing threads that stops a small tear becoming a long one, which is why it suits trousers and shirts worn near brambles.
• Polycotton: cotton comfort with synthetic threads for strength, dries faster than pure cotton and creases less.
• Heavy cotton: quiet, hard-wearing and warm once dry, slow to dry once wet.
• Stretch softshell: a small share of elastane in a woven face, used on tactical trousers where crouching and climbing matter more than abrasion.

The trouser side of that choice is laid out in military trousers, where cut and rise decide as much as the cloth does.

Does military sizing match high street sizing?

Rarely. Patterns derived from issue clothing are drafted for a body wearing layers underneath, so a jacket often runs generous across the chest and short in the sleeve, while trousers quote centimetre measurements of the body rather than of the garment. A tape around the chest, waist, seat and inside leg, read against the chart on each product page, settles it. Ordering the number bought at a high street chain is the single most common cause of a return.

What holds a military look together?

Restraint about pattern. One camouflage element per outfit reads as deliberate, two read as costume, which is why plain olive, khaki, navy and black carry the rest of the outfit. Working trousers in a plain colour, such as the black combat trousers cut, sit under almost any top. Where a single statement piece is wanted, an olive field jacket over plain trousers does the job without turning into fancy dress.

How is this clothing cared for?

Wash cool, skip the fabric conditioner, and hang rather than tumble. Conditioner coats the fibres and kills the water repellency on shells and softshells. Cotton shrinks in a hot wash and stiffens in a hot dryer. Reproofing a shell with a wash-in treatment restores beading once water stops running off the shoulders.