Suggested Clothing for Airsoft Skirmishing

Airsoft Skirmishing can be an expensive hobby; for instance, my current list totals something in the region of £1,200 UK Stirling, which is a little on the cheap side, compared to some in the hobby. A major portion of this is the collection of clothing that I use, when taking part in the games. By and large, the most expensive recurring cost will be in the clothing you have to purchase for the games you play.

What sort of clothing do you need?

Military style clothing, or camouflage kit, is primarily what you'll need, and tends to be a personal choice, based on what image you want to show, whether or not you want to blend in with your surroundings, and so on. For camouflaged clothing, though, there are better ways than just buying the first camouflaged jacket and trousers that you see in the pages of a catalogue.

While catalogues are, by and large, the simplest way of purchasing your gaming clothing, they also tend to be the most expensive. For instance, when I recently bought my new Soldier 95 pattern gear, the catalogue prices were about five to ten percent more expensive that the amount I actually paid for them.

Most of you will already know what I'm about to suggest: Shop around. You're exactly right. It's not just shopping around, though; obtain every catalogue you can (I'd suggest Silvermans, USMC, Attleborough Accessories (primarily for their Advantage camouflage range), and SASS Ltd (Bespoke camouflage clothing tailoring, or 'the combat tailors', as they sometimes call themselves!).

There are also on-line suppliers as well, including Silvermans, Drop Zone Supplies, Camo UK (Thanks to Andy Hoodless for letting me know about them), SASS, and many more. Your best bet to finding a supplier on-line, or mail-order-wise, would either be to look over the internet search engines (time consuming and not very helpful at times), check out the various links on this site (as well as the dedicated military surplus supplier links page), or by visiting Arnie's Airsoft, and going over their Airsoft Suppliers links page.

Don't just look over a range of mail-order catalogues, though. You need to get out of the house, and look around the local army/military surplus shops - they are most often the cheapest, although you DO have to carefully examine the clothing you want to buy. Sometimes, they'll have changing rooms, so that you can check the fit of the kit you're interested in, before buying it. My local one - called the Swap Shop, in Croydon, in the south London suburbs, has this facility, and they've earned well over two hundred quid from me this year because of it!

Jackets & Trousers, and types of camouflage

There are over ten or twelve types of camouflage, ranging from those used by the various national military services of several countries, to civilian makes and designs. Overall, you need to consider the main use that you'll put it to: are you playing in a woodland, open, or urban setting? Do you want to be different, or follow what most others will wear (a team uniform, if you like)?

The most common patterns of camouflage on clothing, that I regularly see on UK Airsoft Skirmish sites, appear to be (in order of appearance, and from left to right):

I'd suggest, for cheapness, that the various form of British DPM camouflage clothing are probably your best choice; I say this for two reasons. One, it's plentiful, there being loads of it on the surplus market, and two, that due to this abundance of clothing in the surplus market, it tends to be cheaper, like for like (quality-wise), than different camouflage patterns.

Whatever pattern you choose, get a jacket and TWO pair of trousers at the minimum - you never know when you're going to need that second pair - and likely as not, it'll be a ripped pair of trousers that leaves you cursing your rotten luck, and wondering why you didn't follow my advice, and get TWO pairs of strides!

Skin and/or second layer clothing

What you wear next to your skin, under your jacket, is equally, often more, important, than the jacket itself. In summer, a light tee-shirt is probably best, but in winter, you MUST have a good air-trapping layer, or you're likely to get not only rather cold, but slightly exposed as well. Think about a 'Norweigan Shirt' style of light-weight jumper; its got a 'terry-towelling' inside face, which traps air, forming a surprisingly warm layer next to your skin. If it's unreasonably cold, either a fleece layer jacket under your camouflage jacket, or an army 'wolley-pully' are good ideas. The idea is to build up two or three layers of insulating clothing, over which you wear your wind-breaking and waterproof jacket or jackets.

Soldier 2000 Fleece Jacket. Photo courtesy of Strikeforce Supplies

You might also like to think about laying your hands on a fleece jacket, if you don't want to get a Norwegian shirt; the Soldier 2000 issue fleece is good; available from several good british Army Surplus shops, the prices vary, but the laws of averages suggest that you shouldn't have to pay much more than £30 for a decent one. Get the camouflage one, if you like, but they're also available in OD Green!

Gloves

Gloves, for winter time, are also a 'must'. A good pair of 'Northern Ireland' gloves is my personal preference. They're cheap, last a long time if properly cared for, and the original items are made to a military specification (check the label inside the gloves - if there's no label, it's a copy. Accept no substitutes!

Head dress

Also for winter, is the need for a good head warmer, or a 'hat' <grin>. Hats come in many forms, from woollen (not very waterproof, but nice and warm), to camouflaged helmets (not really needed in Airsoft skirmishing, unless you really want to look the part). I prefer a woollen hat for dry winter days, and a dark green beret for most other days. In summer, I change the beret for a 'boonie hat', in British DPM (Get the ones made by Compton Webb, as they're the official UK MoD suppliers, by the way).

Footwear

Footwear is a very personal thing, as no two pairs of feet are the same. Never the less, I advise a pair of military-style combat boots. They can be expensive, but you can still get new pairs of the now redundant 'Boot, Combat High' in Army Surplus shops. They're good value for money, and tend to last a fair while. In any event, the boots you purchase should offer GOOD ankle support (there's a lot of running around, jumping, and LOTS of 'broken ground' in most Airsoft games), and be waterproof enough to resist the occasional three or four inches (or more) of water depth in the winter.

Now, some people (myself included, these days, sad to say!), tend not to do much heavy exercise. Consequently, they, like me, can be prone to what's called 'lower limb stain injuries'. Basically, you could hurt your feet from the impact of your feet hitting the ground, under the weight of all your kit that you carry. To lessen this, I recommend that you get some form of shock-absorbing foot bed insole, to put inside your boots. Probably the best, and well-known make out there, are Sorbothane (like the image to the right). Specifically, I suggest you get the Sorbothane Sport Footbed. It's got shock absorbing cushions arounf the front and rear of the sole, and works wonders - don't try to be roughy-toughy about this, either: A broken foot, whether through someone putting their 16 tonne lorry's Michellin tyres over it, or through stress fractures, is still a broken foot. The insoles I suggest might just prevent you from getting lower limb stress injuries!

Caring for your Clothing

It's not enough to just sling it in the washing machine after you've worn it in a muddy field/wet undergrowth/dusty building while skirmishing all day. Oh, no. Not at all. Combat clothing, while intended for rough usage, must be carefully looked after, or it won't last long at all. My old combats lasted seven years, before I had to replace them, and so can yours. For outer wear, i.e. your camouflage jacket and trousers, do NOT use normal washing powder or liquid. Instead, use Nikwax TX-10, or Nikwax Cotton Proof, which is available from most good outdoors shops, and a few good Army Surplus shops. Each bottle has pretty much enough for ten small washes. DO NOT mix normal clothes with a Nikwax wash, by the way; firstly, it's a waste, second, it's not intended for normal non-outdoors wear clothes.

For your gloves, follow the directions given when you bought them; in the case of N.I. Gloves, a wash in warm soapy water does the trick. You can then treat them with either Dubbin, or Nikwax Aqueous Wax. Dubbin's cheaper, and goes further, but I prefer the finish that the Nikwax gives.

Your head wear shouldn't need that much care, but do brush off the much inside and out, and wash it every so often, or it'll probably up and walk off of its' own accord!

As for your boots. A rather emotive subject, this. I can only give you the benefit of my experience: Use Cherry shoe or boot polish, and loads of it, as well as a fair amount of elbow grease.

Immediately after returning home, remove the laces, scrape off the mud and muck (onto something that won't leave a mess on the carpet!), and put the boots in a dry, room temperature place, stuff them lightly with porous paper, such as newspaper (NOT Kitchen roll or toilet paper!), and leave them for a couple of days, if you can.

After this, scrape off the remains of the mud and muck on the outsides (not forgetting the soles and tread gaps), and completely cover the leather and synthetic outer surfaces, INCLUDING the soles and joints between the soles and the uppers, with polish. Apply the polish liberally (that means a fairly generous coating), and do not forget to do the tongues of the boots, either. Leave the boots for a couple of hours, then attack the coated-on polish with a stiff boot brush, removing the polish in even mono-directional strokes (one way brushing, not both ways. You'll get a better shine this way!). By the way, if you want to use specialist waterproofing polish, designed with the great outdoors in mind, instead of black boot polish, then go right ahead; just don't expect much of a shine!

Look after your boots in this way, and they should look after you, as well, for a fairly long time.

Suggested suppliers of British Kit...

The Outdoor Shop.
Highly recommended!
Update: 19^th March 2002 - A review of this company is now on-line!
I was amazed to find this place on the net - based in Brentwood (Essex), their prices are almost farcical in their cheapness. They appear to hold stock on many items, and their current offer of Soldier 95 jacket, trousers, and shirt, for only 25 quid, is fantastic, if you're looking for it (time of writing: 27^th Feb 2002)!

Drop Zone Supplies - This new (since 1997, I believe) Redhill (in Surrey) based mail order only firm offers a limited range, as they specialise in British military kit only. For all that, their prices are razor keen, and they also offer trousers in my size (OK, I'm a little on the large side, these days!) which in my eyes makes them a winner! The firm is run by a ex-soldier, who appears to know what a soldier needs, so the kit is targetted at the serving soldier in the main. Never the less, I'm impressed by the guy's thinking and thought. The site is well designed, and there's a printable version of the catalogue available to download.

Suggested suppliers of German (Flecktarn) Kit...

There's a new, dedicated, supplier of Flecktarn kit in the UK, so getting this gear is now a hell of a lot easier. They are http://www.flecktarn.co.uk/, and are well worth a look. Not only do they supply the clothing, but they also supply the webbing as well! Note that while they do not list their prices, they do offer a quotation service, so you can find out just how much that bit of kit you want is going to cost you! (Added 22nd May 2002)

Suggested suppliers of French and US Kit...

USMC (Uncle Sam's Military Catalogue) - USMC, or "Uncle Sam's Military Catalogue", is based in Southsea, Hampshire. This firm specialises in most forms of surplus personal military kit; their prices are not always of the keenest edge, but they normally have the gear in stock. They also have a reasonable range of bits other suppliers don't, so it's worth looking over their catalogue, which you can request either by e-mail, or phone, on (023) - 9083 - 8800 (business hours 09:00 to 12:45, and 13:30 to 17:30 GMT, Tuesday through Saturday).
Their website is currently down, presumably for maintenance (they may even be re-doing it in English, as well as French, this time!). You can still get their printed catalogue, by calling the number above, though. It's listed as costing £3.50.

Soldier Of Furtune e-shop and Mail order - Having done a search on a couple of items that no-one seemed to stock, I think I can safely recommend these guys as well! Their British Military catalogue stocks several hard to find items (British GP ration packs, Alcohol Gel stoves, and a hell of lot more besides. Well worth a visit, if you cannot find what you're looking for anywhere else! Their American Kit isn't bad, and they appear to have most things listed on their web site.

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