I've been interested in military clothing for as long as I can remember and recently found myself being drawn to the US M65 jacket. I like the idea of wearing this jacket for 'everyday use' - it’s practical and can be worn with almost any form of casual combo. I'm currently procrastinating on whether to buy one.
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| The Alpha Industries M-65 Field Jacket (reproduction) |
In fact I've owned various surplus clothing over the years so understand how durable military spec garments are. Standard civilian high street clothing just doesn’t need to be so well made.
I can't deny that I'm influenced by it's screen appearence in films like Taxi Driver, Annie Hall, Rambo First Blood and others. It's classic and cool. I think it also suites both younger and older people well.
I started reading some reviews about which jacket maker would be best and found myself disappearing down a rabbit hole.
First of all, everyone has different needs and opinions. Some believe it has to be a genuine military issue jacket. However, I'm past the days where as a teenager I would happily adorn a variety of military surplus clothing. Having now reached my 'mature' years I don't really want to wear someone elses scruffy discarded clothing. I've reached the age where I'm happy to trade-off 'original' for something very similar but new and perhaps better suited for the modern urban use. Also, the original surplus jackets are now quite expensive.
So this brings me to what's available in terms of a modern newly made 'replica' or 'reproduction'. For me, this is a jacket for 'everyday' town use rather than something I'm going hiking or camping with. So it that way, I'm happy if the quality is reasonable and it looks how it should. Something between 'original' and high-street fashion.
I've concluded that for me anyway, this leads to the Alpha Industries M65 jacket. Now I like that fact that it's a reasonably accurate representation of the original. I dislike the fact that it's made in China, but these days there's not much which isn't. It's not so much a question of quality, but I'm not so keen on supporting the Chinese economy.
There are of course alternative makers who produce jackets which are faithful reproductions made to a high standard, which comes at a cost. For me, I simply cannot justify spending that kind of money. These include Rothco, Buzz Rickson or Cockpit USA. On the other hand, Alpha Industries are not too cheap but not the most expensive either. Would I expect any jacket to last a lifetime? - probably not.
Another positive thing is that this had become such a 'classic' that it's unlikely to ever look 'out-of-place' even in an urban environment.
The final factor in deciding if the Alpha Industries field jacket is for me, is the fit. I read that the jacket is 'over-sized', which is in-keeping with the original. This lead me to think that I would need to downsize from my regular size Large to a size Medium.
Yet another plus with the Alpha Industries jacket is that there's a shop near to me selling them. Having the option to try the jacket on beforehand is a major plus for me. I’m under no illusion that this would look good on me, as the style is intended to be more loose and even 'baggy' than fitted. My worst fear is that it looks like I'm wearing a poncho. Due to these 'complications' this is one jacket that I wanted to try on beforehand.
High Street fashion goes military
High street fashion has been inspired by military functional clothing for a very long time. I had a look through my own wardrobe and found a heavy-weight cotton shirt/jacket which I bought in the early 2000's. After some recent online research it turns out that this particular item is almost an exact copy of a German Bundswehn 'moleskin' work shirt/lightweight jacket. Original versions can still easily be found online. What surprised me was how good this fashion version was, which even incorporated detail such as three waist loops which were used for attaching trousers using a button loop. The trousers would be worn on top of the shirt. It also has epaulettes which can be unbuttoned. I would say that even the cotton material is similar quality and 'weight' to an original. The few 'give-aways' include a fashion label "Rocha John Rocha" at the bottom hem, buttons printed with the same name and a makers label saying Debenhams, Made in China.
An original shirt is shown below on the right-side and my Debenams fashion shirt on the left. This highlights the differences quite well. The collar on the original is smaller and pockets without buttons sit higher. There's also colour variation but the fashion shirt colour doesn't look wrong. You can see how even the loop strips running down the front from the pockets has been copied. There's also ventillation holes under the armpits on both shirts.
Here's another original, which usually come with the German flag on each shoulder. These are very common, along with a similar lighter weight shirt which doesn't have any loops on the front for trousers.
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| These loops on the front are for attaching trousers |
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| Debenams 'fashion' version of the German Army Moleskin shirt |
Below is another of my 'fahsion' jackets which has taken inspiration from military styles. This particular one has been produced for sale by the high street shop John Lewis. It's a polyester shell with cotton lining and made in China. For a relatively cheap jacket made in China it's surprisingly well made. I've had this over 15 years. It's still in perfect condition, but that's because I've not really worn it enough. An M-65 jacket would be a replacement for this and hopefully I would wear it more than this one. I would say it's ideal for Spring or Autumn, being showerproof. Four pleated pockets means there's enough room for your sunglasses etc.
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| Re-inforced elbows |
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| Slanted military style breast pockets with poppers |
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| Buckle style collar |
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| Cotton lining |
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| Re-inforced shoulders |
