P42 Camouflage Jacket Comparision – Original vs Repro

Finally completed my P42 camo jacket comparison. Original P42 camouflage jackets are rare and very pricy. So they are no good for reenacting, airsofting and other outdoor activities. Hopefuly this short comparison will help you to choose a reproduction jacket. I picked the top three repros (At the Front, SM Wholesale, WWII Impressions) and compared them to an original jacket. There are cheaper alternatives from (mostly) Chinese eBay sellers and other manufacturers but those are of questionable quality when compared to the best repros and I chose not to include them in this comparison.

From left to right: SM Wholesale, WWII Impressions, Original, At the Front (click to enlarge)

Colour:

Even mint original P42 jackets exhibit colour differences, there is no “perfectly correct colour”. For this comparison i picked an original jacket that saw use and has mediocre fading. Colour wise the WWII Impressions green side & grown side colour is closest to the originals I have seen. ATF reproduction is good too, the base colour of the green side is quite “golden/yellowish”, while this will make many reenactors happy it is actually less common on originals then the greener shades. Be careful when washing ATF jackets they fade rather quickly (strangely the black colour of the EGA fades much slower then the rest). In contrast to this the WWII Impressions Jacket fades very slowly. SM Wholesales colour is a bit odd, these jackets were used in the Mini Series “The Pacific” and they come “pre aged”. It seems to achieve a used look they have not only been washed several times (looks cool!) but in addition they have been “tinted” in a yellowish colour. This is most apparent on the brown side which is too yellow.

Please not that my camera does not capture the colours too well, also the photos have been taken at different times of day. The “green side” photo with all jackets next to each other is probably closest to the real colours (of course that depends on your monitor too 😉 )

Cut:

Cut of all three repros is good, sizing of the WWII Impressions jacket is a bit on the small side, ATFs rather large.

Fabric:

All three repros are well made and of good quality, SM Wholesale uses the heaviest fabric. As you might know the weave of USMC HBT was different from Army HBT. All USMC camouflage was printed on Army style HBT though. ATF and SM Wholesale use the correct Army HBT, WWII Impression uses USMC style weave.

At the Front:

Original:

SM Wholesale:

WWII Impressions:

Breast pocket

SM Wholesale:

At the Front:

Original:

WWII Impressions:

Snaps

SM Wholesale:

At the front:

WWII Impressions:

Original:

Close-up of the lower pocket button

At the Front:

SM Wholesale:

Original:

WWII Impressions:

Hope this post will help you to make your choice when choosing a repro P42 jacket. If not for the wrong HBT weave my vote would probably go to the WWII Impressions reproduction. Check out my P41 comparison too.

~ by m1pencil on September 20, 2011.