LfW winter suit green diamond stitch jacket+pants

How to choose the size?

In the product photo: size II (medium) is worn on a person who usually wears Russian size 54 or XL, 2XL. Height 187 cm, chest 105 cm, girth 96 cm. The parka is worn over a thin pullover, without a field jacket.

The size of the jacket fits the size of the pants, that is, the jacket and pants must be bought in the same size. If you wear a tunic of size L, then you need to buy a winter jacket L (that is, size II), you should not add the size "for the winter", everything has already been added. When size increases, the height also increases, this affects the length of the sleeves, for pants — the length of the legs. German winter jackets were of three sizes: small, medium and large; we did the same. German winter jackets are made wide enough not to fetter a soldier and to fit different body-shapes; this must be understood if you are not buying a jacket for reenactment, but for civilian use.

You can choose the size without trying. You will need a flexible meter or at least a rope. Measure a similar winter jacket that suits you. Designations:
• Chest around — the recommended bare chest girth for a given jacket size (taking into account that you will wear it over a sweater and tunic); in brackets there is the maximum girth of the chest, which will fit into a jacket of this size (without a sweater and tunic).
• Plain chest — of the jacket under the armpits when the waistband is completely loose.
• Sleeve length — from the shoulder seam down in a straight line.
• Back height — from the hood bottom stitch down in a straight line.
• Shoulder — from hood bottom to the sleeve seam.
• The width of the shoulders — between the sleeves' seams along the shoulder seams, behind the neck.

• Max. waist — the girth below the rib, but above the navel, where the Germans worn the waistbelt. The first number is measurement on the naked body (in brackets, it was measured over the shirt + sweater + jacket, as it is customary to wear these pants). The number shows the maximum waist, that is, your measurement should be less than in the table, to 5 or more centimeters. Pants should not sit tight at the waist! There should be a gap at the waist, which, if necessary, is tightened with a lace-tie on the back. If there is no gap, then it will be difficult to bend down in your pants.
• Width of the pants on the upper edge — the pants are lying flat on the floor, you measure along the back half of the pants (it is wider than the front one). You can compare it with any winter pants, but please remember: these pants do not have a waist, they are tightened at the waist with a flap. This measurement is only needed here for reference. The pants will fit almost any large waist, as they have no waistband.
•  Pant leg length at the inner seam — the length of the pant leg from the "fork" to the bottom, this is the most important size for determining the height, you need to compare with other pants that you wear. "Burdocks" at the bottom of the pants, which should lie on top of the foot, are not taken into account when measuring the length. We don't have any other height sizes!
• Pants full length — the full length of the pants along the outer seam.

If you do not understand the table and you need help, write or call us, we will help you choose the size.

You can choose the size that is in stock. If the required size cannot be selected, then it is (already) out of stock.

Description

This item is a quilted jacket and complete pants of the same size as the jacket. We have very few such suits, other sizes are not expected yet. Jackets separately from pants can be purchased as a separate product, see the related products at the bottom of the page. The pants are not sold separately yet.

The suit is made of natural fabric with linen weaving (cotton duck, such as a tent). Such fabric protects from wind and water the best. The fabric has an invisible and imperceptible water-repellent impregnation on the white and camouflage side. The rain slithers down from it. The product photo shows how water behaves on the fabric.

The white color of the fabric does not have a blue tint and is something between white and harsh (the color of unpainted fabric, ivory colour). Our white color repeats the shade that existed in the mid-twentieth century, when modern bleach was not yet used. Perfectly masks in the snow.

The green color is dyed by order especially for these suits! It is a pale green color that appears gray in poor light. This particular shade of green was used only on the Luftwaffe winter suits, it is different from the color used by the Heer. Another popular color for the Luftwaffe winter uniform is purple-gray (which is also called blaugrau, blue-grey). We made it and used it for the winter sets with a rectangular stitching.

Inside the insulation from recycled clothing is used, as it was in the originals. The Germans collected the old uniforms, as well as civilian clothes (including trophy and confiscated) and recycled it, getting a cloth like a loose blanket. The composition of such insulation varied due to the heterogeneity of the raw materials. In general, winter suits were not very warm. They had to be worn over a shirt, a cloth uniform and a sweater (a multilayer military uniform system is used to date). In a full suit, it is comfortable down to -15 degrees Celsius, however, this is not enough for guard duty (long inactivity), for this there were a special overcoat and guard boots.

The parka is made after the model of serial jackets, that is, without a tie at the waist, with a simpler hood shape, with standard metal buttons (on both sides). These began to be produced at the end of 1943, in preparation for the winter of 1943/44. However, this jacket has a lot of differences from its army counterpart. Luftwaffe jackets have tucks on the front of the shoulders. This allows the jacket to fit better when the person is slouched (a common position when carrying heavy loads). The Luftwaffe jackets have interesting drawstrings position on the bottom edge, their ends come in one point so they can be tied without making a crease. The channel for the drawstring is different from the one on the Heer jacket. In the Luftwaffe, also the cuff is arranged differently.

The stitch has a purely economic function: it allows you to use a less stable (and cheaper) insulation. From the point of view of insulation, the stitch gives only disadvantages. But the Luftwaffe decided this way.

Jacket pockets 4-pointed, as in the Heer, but they have a different shape of the flap and a different pocket arrangement (cheaper to produce than the Heer).

Pants are also different from the Heer pants, they have different pockets and pocket flaps of a slightly different shape. Suspenders are sewn on the back (in the Heer, they were usually fastened with buttons both in front and behind).

These jackets have ink stamps of the manufacturer (company name + city) and size (numbers 1, 2 or 3, respectively).

How to care for the product?

The soldiers at the front did not have the opportunity to wash their jackets (especially in the washing machine). After the winter (or in the case of taking the unit to rest in the deep rear), they handed the winter uniform over, and the rear services cleaned, sorted and stored it. Therefore, washing the winter uniform in the washing machine is an extreme measure. To get started, you just need to wash the jacket with a sponge or a soft brush with soap or detergent for natural fabrics in those places where it is dirty (usually this is the neck and cuffs). You can wash off the detergent with a jet of water (shower in the bathroom, for example).

The use of bleach (stain remover) is permissible only manually on the white side and on a dry jacket. So you can return the whiteness to the cuffs and other dirty areas. However, if bleach seeps onto the dyed side (for example, through a seam), white spots will forever remain. It is unacceptable to wash the entire jacket in bleach!

Washing a jacket is the removal of contaminants from external surfaces; inside the jacket there is nothing to wash. If you decide to save time and wash in a machine, then select the delicate washing mode at a temperature of no higher than 40 degrees. The jacket will not deteriorate, the color will not fade, however, the jacket will slightly lose its shape and will no longer look like new.

Please remember that the water-repellent properties of the fabric are lost after several washes.

Historical reference.

The shirt with pockets appeared in 1943, and from that moment on, soldiers received a good alternative to a field jacket for use on breaks (on vacation, when making positions or eating). It was possible to keep things in your pockets that should always be at hand: documents, cigarettes and even a personal ID-tag (although it was officially restricted to keep the tag in a pocket).

Germany with the beginning of the war went into economy mode. They revised items of clothing and equipment that could be cheaper without losing functionality. Aluminum fittings were replaced with steel, horn buttons for cardboard and plastic. The colors also “floated”: if the main uniform (jacket, trousers, headdress) still remained within the color of “Feldgrau” (gray-green), then secondary elements, in particular shirts, could sew from any dark material.