Surplus Garment Issue

Thomas Linton

Thomas Linton

Joined
Jun 16, 2003
Messages
20,207
I have had an experience so repeated that a lesson may be drawn.

I ordered an XL European military surplus parka from Cabelas. They sent a Large instead - so marked if you bother to learn how to read the label. (European size "52") :confused:

I ordered an XL European m,ilitary surplus parka from Sportsman's Guide. They sent a Small instead - so marked ("92 [CM]" or 36" chest). :rolleyes:

I ordered an XL European military surplus parka from major Surplus. I called first to get reassurance that they would send an actual XL. They sent a Large ("85 [kilos" or 187 lbs). :grumpy:

One lesson seems to be that the vendors of surplus garments can't seem to be able to read the labels. It took no longer than five minutes on Google to find the information to confirm what I knew when I tried the parkas on. (Search "size" + "conversion" and "European" OR "metric.")

Their task is complicated by the several methods used to size (size/measurement/weight of user), but, after all, they are in the business of selling surplus clothing, and the military does label size very obviously - for obvious reasons.
 
My experiences from Sg have been pretty good. In a lot of 8 or 10 German shirts I bought from them, 1 was the wrong size (M instead of L). I ended up gifting it to someone. The nice thing about UK stuff is the NATO size tags allow one to confirm the size.
 
Hey Guys...

Kind of off topic,, but along the lines of surplus clothing...

Make sure you wash ALL that stuff real well...

When I was 15-16 I ordered some surplus Tanker coveralls,, and ended up with a nice case of Crotch Crickets....

At least one other person I know got them from a US Army Cold Weather Sleeping bag as well...

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
I'm wondering what do you mean with European military surplus parka? There are many different types of parka in use in many armies in Europe :)

Most common are probably German models. With or without flecktarn camo..

Conversions between european and us units is not that easy, even Nasa has lost atleast one Mars probe because of conversion errors between metric and imperial units. :)
 
I hear ya.. But my problem is they never have long enough sleeves... I guess I'm just a knuckle-dragger...
But I do have an extra Brit DPM cotton ripstop jacket in xtra large if ya want it... Ordered a large, and while it fits okay, I can't wear some warm stuff under it on chilly days, so I tried an xtra large. It IS xtra large, but I don't wear it 'cause I found something else...

And I've also found with SG and Cheaperthandirt is you can't request a specific size via the actual label. They guess and you get what ya get... :(
 
Tuk said:
I'm wondering what do you mean with European military surplus parka? There are many different types of parka in use in many armies in Europe :)

Most common are probably German models. With or without flecktarn camo..

Conversions between european and us units is not that easy, even Nasa has lost atleast one Mars probe because of conversion errors between metric and imperial units. :)
Click to expand...
There are size conversion charts readily available by Google search.

That scientists forget to convert from English/Imperial/US to metric is a sign of human falability.

When it comes to the parkas, I suspect that it's lack of effort.

The first parka was Czech - size 52. In European system, XL=54.

The second was French - 92 (CM] = 36" A 36" chest is hardly XL.

The third was Swedish - "vikt [weight] 85 [kilos]." And it gave height ("Kroppsmatt") of wearer in CM - 175-185 (about 5'10" to 6'). That would be large, not XL.

A puzzle, but not that hard. Even I figured it out. 'Course, it helped that when I put them on I could tell they were not XL.

Cheaper Than Dirt [IS NOT] is very shaky on size. I ordered an XL set of Swiss fatigues and got Small (and VERY short). They were pretty snotty about taking them back. I avoid them.
 
The one surplus clothing item that I buy pretty often are BDU pants - cotton or cotton/poly depending on how hot it is out there. I stick to the common brands that I know fit me well. Buying some of the European stuff sounds like too much of a hassle for me. YMMV
 
I've defintiely noticed that the German stuff runs pretty small, while my Brit DPM jacket, size XL, fits me just like an American XL.
 
GibsonFan said:
I've defintiely noticed that the German stuff runs pretty small, while my Brit DPM jacket, size XL, fits me just like an American XL.
Click to expand...
The thing is that all the European military garments I have seen are labeled by measurment or weight of the user, not by an arbitrary size system as such.

So the Czech park was labeled "52" = 42" chest. I could wear it but only with a thin shirt. (I have a Swedish civil defense forces "56" parka, and its a very generous XL --made to fit a person with a 46" chest wearing several underlayers of insulation.)

The French parka was labeled "92" = 92 CM (36") chest. Could not get it on. It's a "small" in today's U.S.

The Swedish garment per its label fits someone 85 kilos, more or less - around 197 lbs. I can wear it, but not with more than a thin shirt and one sweater - not lots of layers.

Our system of S,M,L,XL just like "medium" or "wide" for shoes is totally arbitrary and has changed over the years (When I was a kid, "wide" shoes were D width and a "XL" shirt had a 16.5" colar and 42" chest.)

What we need to do, I guess, is find out what the label says and see if we fit the labels' measurement and/or weight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top