m91 and m05 jackets

Beautiful stuff,

Especially like the vibrant colors of the M91 smock.

Any labels on it ?

Rip....

The M91 has a label, but it's already packed away. Guess I forgot to take a photo of it. If I can retrieve it I'll post a pic.

No sweat, just curious, as I am actively seeking one of those bad  boys..so any intelligence is good.

The smocks  are really nice, and the pattern is stunning.

Thanks

rip....

I have one of the m91 uniforms, but mine is one for reservists. It's identical to the issued kit, from what I remember, but the tags are definitely not official issue type. I was told that reservists pretty much wore this type or the older m62.

Steve

CollectinSteve wrote:I have one of the m91 uniforms, but mine is one for reservists.  It's identical to the issued kit, from what I remember, but the tags are definitely not official issue type.  I was told that reservists pretty much wore this type or the older m62.

Steve

Is there a Tower in the tag?

I think this is the commercial version of the uniform which is available through couplle of webshops here in Finland. I think the recent price for the uniform is around 180 euro. The fabric is the same but I am not sure if the cut is 100% similar compared to the one used and issued by FDF. I asked for pictures from the webshop but it seems that they are just too lazy to do it. If I happen to travel for work around that shop, I will check it out.

When I did my time in the FDF (1996), we used M62 pretty much for everything. I was in recon company. During basic training we also used the old grey and very unpleasant to wear unifrom for general training/practice around the barracks. For M62 there was winter time pants (green camo) and for us there was "Sissitakki" which is a long winter time jacket, reversible (green camo/completely white). Sissi = guerilla, takki = jacket.

For being in recon company we were not forced to use the winter camo uniform (lumipuku, lumi=snow and puku = uniform) unless there was some idiot major ordering us to do so. It was not that nice because you needed to stuff all the warm clothes under that hideous tight uncomfortable anorak and pants. So basically we went with winter pants + sissitakki (white side out) and were much happier in the woods. That jacket was also rocking during very dark fall time since you could wear green camo but flip the hood over to show white and you could spot your group/team mates easier in the dark.

For the reservists most likely M62 might be issued during summer time since it is lightweight in our terms. Friend of mine was doing reserve training few weeks ago and they were assigned M05 uniforms, including new foul weather parka/smock. I am not saying this issuing uniforms for reservists is 100% accurate, I am just putting out what I experienced and what my mates spoke about on coffee breaks at work.

This was the setup for me during basic training:
https://s457.photobucket.com/user/nahkafani/media/Sota/edesta.jpg.html

The only exception was M91 body armour. We did not get that. We got something else as a flak vest but cant remember how that thing looked since in recon company we wore less stuff. Although that hideous M85 chestrig was very familiar for me for the first couple of months in the service. Add the backpack (M85, pallokasiviis we called it), which look liked a ball, the marches more than 5km were pain. Later on we were assigned bergens, pretty much the same stuff LJK (paratroopers) use(d). Made by Savotta, brilliant stuff I must say. I actually liked skiing with that big thing on my back.

Here is the label. I've never seen the Tower on m91 jackets or pants. Maybe only commercial copies are reaching the collectors market.

Actually, I did some more research and your outfit may be a legit FDF piece. There has been so many manufacturers (MixVaate, Varpuke Oy) over the years that it's hard to say which one is the civilian version. And unfortunately I did not get any pictures from the webshop (yet) so I can't say what is the label saying on that one. At least the shop clerk admitted that it is definitely not issued uniform they are selling.

But then again I have another piece on my sights which is made by VPU and that piece has Tower-logo with FDF sizing of 750. I had a brief chat with active officer and he said that basically "fist in the eye"-rule would be that the legit piece has a Tower-logo but as mentioned earlier there will be some exceptions.

I will try to see few uniforms from different years how the labeling changes with these pieces and post here afterwards.

I have an older m91 jacket made by Valtion Pukutehdas that has the castle logo, so for sure this is legit issue. My other set, that is commercial, was made by VPU Pukutehdas Oy and has a separate set of tags that says it is Boreus Collection.

The only differences I can see is that the genuine jacket has a liner and hidden hood (zipper at back of the neck). I traded for this one maybe 12 years ago. The zippers on the commercial one (probably 10 years old?) are nearly the same as the ones on the m05 uniform.

I do not know about the details of m91 uniforms. For all I know there are some variations over time and perhaps my commercial set is more similar to later production m91 examples?

Steve

For reference, a label from commercial version of M91 uniform jacket. (click picture for bigger image)

CollectinSteve wrote:
The only differences I can see is that the genuine jacket has a liner and hidden hood (zipper at back of the neck).

As far as I know this would have been a VERY early M91 jacket. I have only seen one like that before and it was dated 1990 (yes, 1990, as in perhaps a protoype?), this one had those small folded fabric tabs on the top and bottom of the velcro patch on the sleeve, press studs for cuff adjustment (unlike the usual velcro tabs) and if I remember correctly no typical velcro for rank insignia on the collar at all.

hardflip wrote:For reference, a label from commercial version of M91 uniform jacket.

Yup, that's what mine looks like.

Stepi wrote:
As far as I know this would have been a VERY early M91 jacket. I have only seen one like that before and it was dated 1990 (yes, 1990, as in perhaps a protoype?), this one had those small folded fabric tabs on the top and bottom of the velcro patch on the sleeve, press studs for cuff adjustment (unlike the usual velcro tabs) and if I remember correctly no typical velcro for rank insignia on the collar at all.

Cool... I have something special Here's what I can tell you about mine:

1. No velcro on collar.

2. No flaps for the arm velcro, however I think I see faint traces of where they might have been before someone removed them. I could be mistaken.

3. The arms are shortened or otherwise modified. Someone sliced off the original cuffs, folded the fabric around some elastic, and restitched. Which resulted in an elastic gather cuff. So I can't comment on what was there before.

I am surprised we do not see genuine m91 uniforms out on the market very often. The older m62 was available here and there before they were surplussed in large numbers a few years ago. So maybe m91 will soon be surplussed now that m05 is in widespread use? I hope so

Steve

CollectinSteve wrote:
I am surprised we do not see genuine m91 uniforms out on the market very often. The older m62 was available here and there before they were surplussed in large numbers a few years ago.  So maybe m91 will soon be surplussed now that m05 is in widespread use?  I hope so

I am pretty sure that M91 will not be surplussed anytime soon. In fact what I hear is that they have been moved to a different storage and most likely will be available for reservists and some special occasions.

So I would say that the M91's that are on the open market are rare and when they are gone, the ones people have are very rare. These prototypes/commercial/civil versions are around in small numbers and legit FDF Tower-logo marked ones will be hard to get and most likely the ones that pop out are from retired/active soldiers or from UN peace keeping personel.

Tower-logoed M91 is a definit keeper, M05 will be around for quite sometime and I would say "easier" to get hands on.

Sudden pick up from a friend. Lightweight version of M91. This uniform (RDF) was used in Kosovo.

Front.


The insides of the jacket.


The labeling.

Couple of lightweight M91 uniforms (M01).

Rapid Deployment Force patched uniform. This piece has different type of zippers, it seems that they are polished silver like compared to my other two sets of uniforms that have OD zippers.



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Without Rapid Deployment Force patch uniform. There is no velcro on the left sleeve either and there is clear mark of the Finnish flag patch.



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