Who makes the BEST repro M442/ G-1?

[Graemsay]

For most in the UK GW USN jackets must seem insanely expensive once import duty has been added. As a rough guide, can anyone say how much in percentage terms this adds to the price ?

I think that you'd be looking at about 25% of the total price including the shipping costs. I've got a feeling that import duty is around 5%, and then VAT is a further 20% on top of that.

 

[Fanch]

I think that you'd be looking at about 25% of the total price including the shipping costs. I've got a feeling that import duty is around 5%, and then VAT is a further 20% on top of that.

If I lived in the UK, I would probably be looking at Aero rather than G&B. Having owned (been issued) a G-1 in 1967 while I was in the US Navy, feel certain that both the Aero and G&B M-442A's would be superior in every way to what was issued to me in 1967.

 

[Brettafett]

If I lived in the UK, I would probably be looking at Aero rather than G&B. Having owned (been issued) a G-1 in 1967 while I was in the US Navy, feel certain that both the Aero and G&B M-442A's would be superior in every way to what was issued to me in 1967.

Do you guys recon the G&B is a true fit/ shape to the originals?

 

[Fanch]

Do you guys recon the G&B is a true fit/ shape to the originals?

I wish that I still had my original 1967 G-1 that was stolen so that I could compare. The size 44 that was issued to me in 1967 did have somewhat short sleeves. However, I can only speculate since I am unable to compare the fit of the two jackets.

 

[Edward]

How does the current issue pattern G1 compare against those from 1968 and earlier? Did it get baggier/ longer over time, or did its (almost) unbroken issue run mean it stayed consistent without the redesign visited upon its sibling?

 

[Deacon211]

As I understand it, and others are qualified to say more, the original M-422(A)s were looser fitting and longer. The early G-1s tended to taper more in the waist and be shorter.

I was issued a G-1 in 1990 and I'd say that the fit is almost indistinguishable from pictures I've seen of other G-1s over the 60s-90s. On the other hand the reissue I got in 2004 seems a small bit blousier, but I find that I had to jump in size from 44 to 48 (my jacket size at the time was 44/46) to get it to fit my shoulders, so maybe the shoulders were tighter rather than the waist being looser. Here's a recent picture of my last issue.



I do think that many of the aftermarket makers out there have tended to expand the waist a bit to accommodate the build of the civilian customer though.

 

[TXFlyGuy]

Looking at the above photo, are the sleeves about an inch too long, or is this the correct fit? My G-1 sleeves fit like this and I thought they were a bit long.