Advice on recent US military jacket sizes please

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Hello all,

I was considering buying one of the new US Navy Goretex Parkas. It's not the cheapest so before I buy the wrong size I thought I'd ask here. Are these jackets made particularly big? The large size states 41-45 chest size. I'm a 42 so this sounds about right however I know some of these military jackets can be made quite large. Would the large be ok here or would a medium be better? The height also seems to suggest that anything above 5'9" should be covered by the "long" version although I've never had to buy the "long" version of anything being only 5'11" so that again is an unknown.

If anyone has any experience of the sizings of these it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Gordon

 

[santaman2000]

I've never had that particular jacket as I was in the Air Force. But that said, generally all our military clothing is sized the same way.

The way you described the basic size, it'll probably fit fine. The length is the variable. I usually needed the tall/long sizes. Not that I was all that tall as such, but my legs were short for my height so it was all in my torso. (I hope that made sense) The point is, that whether you need a tall size or not has less to do with your total height, but everything to do with your torso length.

That said, it's still probably a safe bet. Especially for goretex which is something you want a bit longer anyway.

If as you say, they're sized a bit oversize, that's generally not a great amount; rather just enough to accomadate the underlayers. Just like any good coat or raincoat.

 

[crucible]

These jackets definitely run big- but if you're a 42" chest then I would buy a size Large. As for the regular or long version, I would suggest buying the Long only if your are taller than 6' 2".

The jackets have gathering strings in the waist and bottom hem so that you can gadjust it to a trimmer fit if you want. The hoods are designed to fit large, in order to go over a helmet.

 

[Switch]

Thanks for the responses. They're very much appreciated.

@santaman2000 That makes perfect sense about the torso length in choosing the jacket length as opposed to height. A good point about goretex being longer not being such a bad thing either. I was more concerned that I might have been overlooking something such as them being made large so as to be worn over body armour or something I might have easily not been aware of. If they're just slightly bigger for the sake of some layers then that's ideal.

@crucible Good to know about the gathering strings. I guess it's better being too large here than not being able to close the zip when the rain comes.

Thanks for the help.