Early DPM Para Smock

[wdbikemad]

A rather nice 1st issue DPM para smock made by H E Textiles Ltd and in an early, and very hard to find Size 5, finished on Fleabay yesterday at £134.......it really did look a good one with little if any wear according to the images and reminded me of the one I had in the early 80s, being the same size, colouring and manufacturer.......

 

Price apart, the larger old-style sizes (4 to 9) for para smocks, only in use for a few years between roughly 1977 and 1980-ish, were never exactly common from memory.......same with the 59 and later patterns of Denison. I think the answer may be simple "fashion" trends of the time.....

 

During the 60s and through to the early 80s, the trend appears to have been to wear the para smocks short in the body, the Denison itself often subject to the tailoring of the body to produce a snug fit, completely different to the original design intention and to how smocks were worn and issued from WW2 through the 50s. It seems that even if you were over 6' tall, with your correct size being a 7 - 9 depending on how slim you were, everyone invariably requested issue of sizes 1 to 3, and lesser so sizes 4 to 6 to provide the "short" look.......once the DPM para smock appeared from 77 onwards, there was a tendency to wear the garment with the lower drawcord tightened up to produce a "bloused" effect, common also with 68 pattern DPM smocks of the era......

 

The downside with this was if you were tall, but wearing a short smock, the web belt or equipment generally sat across the lower pockets, rendering them redundant.......

 

Yet by the 90s, it would seem that the "blousing" of smocks ceased, and garments began to be issued and worn longer and loose.......I should imagine that many earlier stocks of the original production DPM para smocks in larger sizes were used up around this time although they are still far less common to find today, which is unusual in comparison to other garments........

[Enfield1940]

I was keeping an eye on that one. A nice example, but I was genuinely surprised it went for comfortably over £100.

 

Ah well. I'm still very pleased with the TA Pet Op modified size 3 I got for £40ish last year.

[Scotch Harry]

Any chance please of the item number to have a look?

[wdbikemad]

Any chance please of the item number to have a look?

 

Gone from my Ebay watching Harry - sorry

[Enfield1940]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130675201822?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[Scotch Harry]

Very very nice,will be interesting to see who the winner was;)

[Enfield1940]

Not in the same league of value, but this looks like a nice example of an early 1984 type:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/British-Armed-Forces-Smock-Parachutists-180-x-96-/140736901978?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE&hash=item20c492b35a

 

The maker name dates it to no later than 1987. I have a near identical one and it has nice German Prym snaps.