is mine fake m 65?

[Lee kh]

I bought So Sew Styles M 65 2 days ago. it looks same as my john ownbay m 65. However, I discovered mine has wrog label.

 

[Flightengineer]

Looks like commercial lable for M65 made for civil market, not like GI.
There is never inscription "made in USA" on army issued M51/65.
Perhaps this is not a fake, but a jacket produced not for the military.
If you will show photo of this jacket, its zippers and other details and also a service label, it will be possible to say more accurately.

 

[Peacoat]

So-Sew was (is?) a contractor that supplied field jackets to the DOD. May still have a contract.

The label in your jacket is similar to other labels in jackets made for the DOD by So-Sew. In the issue jackets I haven't seen the term, Made In USA, as noted by @Flightengineer above. In the military labels I have seen, Centre, Alabama is not noted. Also the contract number prefix is suspect. Contract numbers started in 1953 with the DA prefix. The current prefix, as far as I know, is the SPO prefix. There has never been a DAC prefix, unless it is brand new.

Two examples of So-Sew military labels are shown below.

So, my money is on this jacket being made for the civilian market, probably using the same materials and specs as used by So-Sew for its military contract. No reason to consider it a "fake."

 

[Flightengineer]

Absolutely agree.
I had and have many M43 /51/65 jackets, they were all GI, and I saw many labels.
One of my M65 also So-Sew.
All exactly so - nothing to add to what was Peacoat said.

 

[Atticus Finch]

I don’t hold myself out as an expert on field jackets, but I do know a bit about military specification tags. I agree with both gentlemen, above. So-sew was a military contractor during the Vietnam War era. They had contracts to make the M-65, M-51 (there was a 1968, M-51 in Aggressor Green) and other field jackets. But the tag on your jacket lacks a DSA, DLA or SPO number. The M-65 was produced from 1965 until the late 1990s...so the specification tag on any issued M-65 would almost certainly contain a number beginning with one of the above prefixes.

But this in no way makes your jacket “Fake”. It is probably a real M-65 that was made by a real military contractor and sold on the civilian market. Alpha Industries has done exactly this with their jackets for decades.

My verdict (): Real but not military.

AF

 

[Trenchfriend]

To me, the above jacket looks like Canvas-weave, instead of M65s well known twill-weave.

Were sometimes Canvas-woven M65 on the market??

 

[Flightengineer]

To me, the above jacket looks like Canvas-weave, instead of M65s well known twill-weave.

Were sometimes Canvas-woven M65 on the market??

It is the lining with label, not the shell.