M-65 Field Jacket

[Doctor Damage]

A few months ago, I picked up a Chinese made Rothco for cheap. The seller had washed it with those scent crystals. I do not care for strong laundry smells, so this was awful. I ran it through a couple front-loader delicate cycles, and that pretty much did the trick. Here's the thing: though the fabric feels stiff and tough, I have concluded it is not very durable. I noticed two small tears after the washing that were not there before. Probably a sharp part of the brass zipper was the culprit. I've washed my jackets in this manner hundreds of times, and I've never had any fabric have a new tear like this. I've felt around the zipper a few times, and I could not find anything particularly sharp. No metal burrs found. Just your standard brass zipper. I have these same size metal zippers on a number of other jackets, all of which have gone through the wash. I can't help but conclude the Rothco material is not nearly as tough as it seems it would be. I have several M-65s from various makers, and two of those are vintage from the 60s and 70s. No material has torn/been cut like this.

That explains the flowery smell on a few used jackets I got recently!!

About the Rothco, I got one back in 2020 and wore it each winter during the worst of covid. All the pockets were useful for masks, etc, junk, random stuff. It was made of a medium weight poplin, which held up well. It wasn't windproof though, which was a prob. I thrifted it last summer. It did it's job for the 4 years I wore it. I've posted about it in this thread. Not a bad choice if you're budget constrained, it will do the job, but yeah it's the low-tier M65 option and probably best interpreted as a heavy duty safari jacket rather than a utility jacket for bad weather.

 

[Trenchfriend]

From the weight perspective, the Brandit would be okay to me, with it's 80% polyester shell. But if someday I might see an "army store" anywhere, offering the Helikon, I will grab it. I just would wear it without the liner as EDC jacket.

 

[MrProper]

From the weight perspective, the Brandit would be okay to me, with it's 80% polyester shell. But if someday I might see an "army store" store anywhere, offering the Helikon, I will grab it. I just would wear it without the liner as EDC jacket.

I have tried Helikon, Brandit, Mil-Tec, Rothco and Propper in addition to my original from 40 years ago and I have to say that Helikon is the best in terms of price/performance and closest to the original.
Ordering in Europe directly from Helikon works wonderfully, including returning wrong sizes. Black Friday and so on, there is up to 50%.