Strange fake US Army shirt

[Bob Hudson]

Found this one at a thrift store and it was so strange I could not pass it up. It is commercial shirt with the brandname FREEBASE and buttons clearly marked with the brand. It has buttons and tabs on each sleev so you can roll up the sleeves and keep them in place. And it has insignia.

 

Now I have seen lots and lots of commercial clothing that emulates military clothing: jackets with squadron patches, shorts with pseudo military insignia, but this is the first time I have seen something that goes this far including the embroidered Combat Infantry Badge and jump wings. I've included some close ups of the shoulder patches and the back of the embroidery in hopes someone may recognize the styles as being from a certain country. There was or is a Freebase Clothing Company but I don't think this is from them. I did find some references to an older Freebase t-shirt company. I wonder if they were short-lived because their shirts impersonated more than emulated the real thing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AndrewA74]

Scary...but so weird! . It has to be in the 90's, because that one patch with the sword is the Persian Gulf Command, that came out in Desert Storm and along that time period.

Andrew

[FightenIrish35]

jeeze thats just odd

[heady506th]

I have seen pictures of guys paintballing wearing similar items ...... Though also could of been something made overseas for a dependent kid of a service man but the vietnam look makes me think paintballers.

[Bob Hudson]

I have seen pictures of guys paintballing wearing similar items ...... Though also could of been something made overseas for a dependent kid of a service man but the vietnam look makes me think paintballers.

 

It's an adult large so I don't think it was for kids - and with the embroidery, patches and other embellishments it would have a hard time competing, pricewise, with the cheap surplus woodland camo shirts.

[hawkdriver]

Somebody's fantasy shirt of some kind. Definitely not military. Army never had buttons on the sleeves for ease of that "rolled up look"

[Bob Hudson]

Somebody's fantasy shirt of some kind.

 

For sure, but I've never seen anything where they made the insignia so like the real thing. If it just had the patches, I might think someone had their mom or wife sew them on, but the embroidery is something else again.

[Andrei]

Looks like its been patterned after the Spanish Army OG-107 shirt. Perhaps a spanish member will confirm or deny ?

[General Apathy]

hi Admin, I believe that it's just a fashion item for teenagers and older. Two years ago in England the Puma sports clothing company put out a range of clothing all based on U.S. Army designs mainly WWII based. They had two buckle boots, M-42 parachute trousers in choice of colors, M-41 jackets outside very close to original color but with bright blue lining.

 

Every few years the fashion trends revert to a military look. What makes me laugh is the prices the kids pay for the stuff, especially the post Viet-Nam camo, they buy it from the high street fashion stores when they could have bought original military quality from the surplus store for a fifth of the price.

 

Cheers ( Lewis )

[Nack]

This jacket reminds me of a story I heard on NPR some time ago. Some company was making armyesque shirts like this that said US Army (or perhaps they were surplus, anyway...) and the palestinians were buying them up like they were going out of style. A bunch of the people the reporter interviewed didn't know the US Army tape said US Army (they bought the shirts b/c they thought it made them look badass), and when they found out, they said they would burn the shirt now, etc....iditots

[BEAST]

This may be a silly question, but are the insignia original? Did FREEBASE just use surplus government SSIs for thier decorations?

[Polygon]

This may be a silly question, but are the insignia original? Did FREEBASE just use surplus government SSIs for thier decorations?

 

I'd say it's possible, the insignia LOOKS like it could be original.

[Bob Hudson]

This may be a silly question, but are the insignia original? Did FREEBASE just use surplus government SSIs for thier decorations?

 

I think they did and, again, this is the first time I have ever seen commercially produced civilian clothing that uses actual US military insignia. Everything else I have seen has a military look to it but is obviously fake even those early 20th century US Navy style jumpers for women and children did not use actual Navy ratings).

 

By the way, what are those SSI's? Someone said Persian Gulf Command but I could not find another reference for that.

[Teamski]

I think they did and, again, this is the first time I have ever seen commercially produced civilian clothing that uses actual US military insignia. Everything else I have seen has a military look to it but is obviously fake even those early 20th century US Navy style jumpers for women and children did not use actual Navy ratings).

 

By the way, what are those SSI's? Someone said Persian Gulf Command but I could not find another reference for that.

 

The patch is the Central Command..... I don't think the Hawaiian Dept patch is real. It looks to be woven, not embroidered.

 

-Ski

[Bob Hudson]

The patch is the Central Command..... I don't think the Hawaiian Dept patch is real. It looks to be woven, not embroidered.

 

-Ski

 

They are both woven:

 

 

[Teamski]

To my knowledge, the US has never used woven patches as standard issue like that. I think those are Chinese made.

 

-Ski

[Bluehawk]

To my knowledge, the US has never used woven patches as standard issue like that. I think those are Chinese made.

 

-Ski

I was gonna say that it is weird to have gone to so much trouble to make a garment like that... the sewing labor must've been REAL cheap.

[Bob Hudson]

I was gonna say that it is weird to have gone to so much trouble to make a garment like that... the sewing labor must've been REAL cheap.

 

I have looked all over the web and found nothing at all about this clothing company. Either they were a very short-lived US company or located elsewhere: now that I think about it, label has none of the fabric and care information required of US clothing, so maybe this was made for sale in, say, Asia:

 

I found this photo someone took during the Bejing Olympics:

 

[kammo-man]

Hi Guys

Do all of you lot live in cloud cuckoo land ?????

This is a fashion piece ,the patches are cheap bevo style and cost less than 1cent to manufacture.

Fashion companys have been using military infulence since the begining of time and vice versa .

Look at the Burberys Trench coat .

Army clothing looks cool .

We all know that because we all love to collect it ,most of us for many years , I myself own a clothing company that uses military surplus from time to time , so I have been in the front line of the whole fashion thing so to speak.

So to me this shirt is no mystery , just a simple military shirt that came from TARGET.

all the best

owen

[Andrei]

Thats the first time that a cheap fashion operation goes that far with military influence. US Army SSIs and qual badges looking the real thing but the wrong army shirt to match them.

The french army shinola bag Musette TTA47 is now available in fashion version... you could buy a real one between $2 to $10 at the fleamarkets for years...

[Bob Hudson]

Hi Guys

Do all of you lot live in cloud cuckoo land ?????

....So to me this shirt is no mystery , just a simple military shirt that came from TARGET.

 

Not at all something you would have seen at Target: I make my living buying and selling used military uniforms and several days a month in thrift stores, estate and garage sales and flea markets and see dozens of military-influenced clothing items every week, but nothing that goes so far as to use replicas of real insignia sewn on in the right places - this one is unique so far but I hope someone can point to another example like this.

[Bluehawk]

Thats the first time that a cheap fashion operation goes that far with military influence...

That ^ is the point.

 

By any stretch, a lot of effort to go to.

[gwb123]

Not at all something you would have seen at Target: I make my living buying and selling used military uniforms and several days a month in thrift stores, estate and garage sales and flea markets and see dozens of military-influenced clothing items every week, but nothing that goes so far as to use replicas of real insignia sewn on in the right places - this one is unique so far but I hope someone can point to another example like this.

 

I'll agree that this one exceeded the mark for duplicating insignia with both placement and somewhat accurate reproductions.

 

Military surplus comes and goes as a fashion item. And in recent years, there just has not been enough to satisfy demand. Walk into an American Eagle or other store that serves teens and depending on the season you are likely to see a rack full of what appear to be jungle fatigue trousers.

 

Interestingly sometimes you see some items you would not expect. When I used to go shopping with my teenage daughter, she used to look at me odd when I would tell her that the item hanging on the rack was made from actual Korean or Chinese camouflage!

 

Last year there were a series of field jackets that were sold in a number of higher end stores. They were based on the US M-56 model, only with slightly larger buttons and shoulder straps. A lot of them were in OD, but there were also ones made in a camo pattern that made me stop dead in the aisle. It was a dead ringer for the early war Vietnamese camo pattern that was similar to our own ERDL. At the end of the season, I was darned tempted to buy one off the discount rack and badge it up! It would have made a great conversation piece!

[kammo-man]

Admin

.The fashion industry is and has been full of this type of thing for years.

Military fashion has a cycle that repeats itself every few years .

When the present Gulf war started all things military went over the top on the fashion runways of the world.

If a designer showed a camouflage collection of dresses , sweat shirts and assorted related items ,simply put it would be a hit , in laymans terms ,sell many units and make lots of money.

I like you have spent many hours thrifting , and having lots of luck finding ww2 jump jackets , German ww2 camouflage , and eveything in between , I have also paid my dues in the rag mills of this country , from Texas in the 110 degree heat to freezing my hands off in Seattle in the dead of winter, not to mention busting 1000lb bales of militart day in day out for a Los Angeles Rag company for 5 years straight .

And I might add my personal record is 4000lbs in one day ,fully graded for ....

#1 military vintage

#2 military vintage

#3 military vintage some repair

Rag unserviceable ,remove patches , buttons and zips .

This time frame has only been for the last 10 years , but I can safely say I have seen at least 20,000 lbs of used Vintage military grade ragg in a week for at least 5 years .

In fact I was in a ragg mill today and busted 500lbs of military grade ragg to go to Bobs show on friday!!!!

Got a couple of things by the way .

My own fashion company goes to great lengths to get the military look just right as I am a self confessed military collector and historian.

I even get my labels made from Trey Moore of Moore Militaria just to spec as he is as hardcore as me. things must be just so .

I can post stuff If you would like me to .

'Bottom line the world of fashion takes its infulences from everywhere .

I will see you at the show either on friday or saturday and we can talk about this at great length , but not too long as there is too much fun to be had rumaging for the good stuff.

all the best

owen .

PS

good hunting .

[kammo-man]

Admin

Here is a sample of a photo shoot I did with my employees that was used in print around the world.

Miho is wearing a vest made from a 60s dated utility shirt that was recut and styled to fit her .

As you can see the military infulence is very strong and pure .

I hope this helps you understand this complex subject .

all the best

owen