Flectarn Parka - Overdyed Black what model is it?

Hi.

I recently bought this Parka on ebay for the princely sum of 99p, sadly it has been overdyed black, so apart from the cheap price,and the fact it's black,what model is it?

There's no labels, so I can't date I'm afraid, collecting steve I'm sure you will know

That's a 1991 (or maybe 1992?) manufactured Flecktarn parka. The way to tell is copper snaps and pocket flaps with velcro sewn through to the front. The first version had the velcro stitching hidden, the third version has plastic snaps, all subsequent versions have no velcro. Too bad someone "civilianized" it by overdying it black. Still, not as bad as the Swiss TAZ90 trousers I got that were overdyed

Steve

CollectinSteve wrote:That's a 1991 (or maybe 1992?) manufactured Flecktarn parka. The way to tell is copper snaps and pocket flaps with velcro sewn through to the front. The first version had the velcro stitching hidden, the third version has plastic snaps, all subsequent versions have no velcro. Too bad someone "civilianized" it by overdying it black. Still, not as bad as the Swiss TAZ90 trousers I got that were overdyed

Steve

Excellent cheers Steve, I knew you would be of assistance!!
There is another puzzling aspect about German Parka's, I have this surplus store in my city, they sell the old OD Parka's but overdyed in purple .

I can't think of one reason why this would be, do you think there was a system where the Germans purposely overdyed these parkas for the surplus market,they also sell blue and grey one's but I assume these were Navy/Airforce issue???

Unsurprisingly I can't seem to convince myself to buy a purple one just yet

What colour are your Swiss trousers...I wonder if there is a product that safely removes this dye,without affecting the original print?

Anyway enough of my queries,thanks for your assistance Steve, very much appreciated

This happens from time to time. I remember in the early 1990s finding Belgian Jigsaw trousers, which were still uncommon on the market, overdyed black. They had piles of them like that, but I know for sure the Belgian Army didn't have anything to do with it. This was done by a wholesaler in order to make them more palatable for the urban fashion market.

In the case of the BW parka, probably trying to make them more sellable as plain parkas. These sell wholesale for a couple of Euros each. There's tens of thousands of these out on the market world wide without any modification. There's no reason why the BW would have any interest in adding costs to their side of the equation.

Steve

CollectinSteve wrote:This happens from time to time. I remember in the early 1990s finding Belgian Jigsaw trousers, which were still uncommon on the market, overdyed black. They had piles of them like that, but I know for sure the Belgian Army didn't have anything to do with it. This was done by a wholesaler in order to make them more palatable for the urban fashion market.

In the case of the BW parka, probably trying to make them more sellable as plain parkas. These sell wholesale for a couple of Euros each. There's tens of thousands of these out on the market world wide without any modification. There's no reason why the BW would have any interest in adding costs to their side of the equation.

Steve

Thanks Steve, and yes this makes perfect sense, it would be daft for the BW to spend more money on dying their kit just to get shot of it, it would appear the demand for a more "fashionable" garment outweighs us collectors

Purple dyed BW parkas.. The horror! NOoooooo...

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It looks actually kind of cool. As much as I hate over dyed things this one came out kind of nice. It seems to be evenly dyed and with the white stitching still noticeable it makes it kind of neat.

Albano wrote:Purple dyed BW parkas.. The horror! NOoooooo...

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Yes, a Purple travesty no less, what is the world coming too, we all doomed

Flecktarn92 wrote:It looks actually kind of cool. As much as I hate over dyed things this one came out kind of nice. It seems to be evenly dyed and with the white stitching still noticeable it makes it kind of neat.

Thanks Oli, I am growing more and more fond of it, and for 99p who could refuse it

CollectinSteve wrote:That's a 1991 (or maybe 1992?) manufactured Flecktarn parka. The way to tell is copper snaps and pocket flaps with velcro sewn through to the front. The first version had the velcro stitching hidden, the third version has plastic snaps, all subsequent versions have no velcro. Too bad someone "civilianized" it by overdying it black. Still, not as bad as the Swiss TAZ90 trousers I got that were overdyed

Steve

Also the dressing pocket is on the right sleeve. Shortly after introducing this cut, someone in BW uniforms administration thought "Wait a tick! Most soldiers are right handed, so getting to a pocket on the right sleeve is a bit challenging. Perhaps the left sleeve..." I'd vote '91 on this one, or maybe late 90?