~Chuck
Inspired by anything Military? Would you like to wear the same military issue clothes that our honorable US Military wear? Then wearing some Alpha Industries Apparel will definitely get your juices flowing.
Alpha Industries (Link) have been making military issue clothes for years. Now they can be worn by civilians and still get the same great quality that goes into making the military issue clothes. Here is a portion of the History of Alpha Industries…
Travel back to 1959, Knoxville, Tennessee. The United States Department of Defense recruited Alpha Industries to revamp its military jacket. As the jet age took flight to greater heights and ground troops encountered trickier terrain, the technological needs and real-life demands of our soldiers changed. Simply put, but not simply achieved, Alpha reengineered outdated designs. As better fabrics were developed and tested, Alpha made better jackets for the troops – better designed, better produced, and more reliable. Alpha garments were ranked as warmer, more comfortable, more durable and designed to meet any climatic challenge.
Thus, for many decades the DOD awarded contracts to Alpha to manufacture outerwear to protect Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps personnel. Since the mid-1960’s Alpha has continuously manufactured the M-65 Field Jacket, and we’ve produced virtually every MA-1 Flight Jacket used by US Air Force, Army and Navy pilots. All told, Alpha Industries has produced over 40 million pieces of military outerwear to perform under the most severe conditions imaginable.
I am excited to review three great products from Alpha Industries…
Brigade Pants Flight Apparel Tee Original Tee
Brigade Pants
The Brigade pants are just plain awesome! I am typically a size 34 in the waist so that’s what I ordered. After they arrived and I put them on, they fit, but was a little tight for my liking for this type of pant. So I exchanged them for a size 36…perfect! The Brigades have a very ‘broke-in’ feel to them while being worn and the material seems to be light weight yet a very durable feel to them.
The fabric is 65% poly and 35% cotton rip-stop. The rip-stop fabric is just like the military issue pants that I’ve had for years that I picked up at a local store. This type of material seems to last forever. And why shouldn’t it?…it has to meet the demands of our military men and women day-in and day-out.
These pants have seven pockets in them. Two front hand pockets, two rear pockets which are nice and deep, two cargo pockets, one on each side of the leg and a smaller pocket that they call the ‘cell phone’ pocket. The waist band is mostly elastic which gives a great snug fit. The rear pockets (as seen below) are nice a deep. You can see how far my wallet fits down in them. For me, my wallet feels weird being this far down when sitting down. But it’s nice to know that my wallet is secure being that far down. Also, the opening of the front and rear pockets are angled, as seen, and this makes retrieving objects from them a lot easier. When I carry a multi-tool, I like to clip it at the top of my rear pocket. In the Brigade, I can clip it in the rear pocket but it will be more at the side of my leg for easy retrieval.
The ‘cell phone’ pocket is a great little pocket for small items that you don’t want to put in the cargo pockets or front pockets. My personal cell phone (iPhone) will just barely fit widthwise. But I know I will use it for other things. The cargo pockets are nice and big as well with hook and loop closures.
The Tee’s
I certainly don’t want to say that these are just normal t-shirts because they are not. They are 50% poly and 50% cotton with 5% weight cotton which make these extremely soft. These can be worn as a single layer or as an undershirt. The best part about them is the way they fit. It’s almost like an athletic fit without looking too small. The shoulder seams are at the right spot and the length of the sleeves are just right. They fit nice and snug to the body but they don’t feel like they are compressing the rib cage….very nicely done.
I am looking forward to many many days and outings with these pants and shirts….Stay tuned for more updates!
UPDATE: 10/14/10
Well the summer is over and I have worn the heck out of these pants and shirts. I have worn the pants at least once, if not twice, every week since I got them. I can’t wear these things out. I have worn them and washed them and they are still like new condition.
The Pants
The pants have been great! I really like cargo style pants which is why I knew I would like these. Aside from wearing them once or twice a week to work I have also had them out on some weekends in the outdoors. I have been camping quite a bit this summer both with my family and our scout troop. I have worn them every time and I’m glad I did. First of all I love the looseness in the seat and crotch area (sorry to be so blunt) but for us guys, if driving in a car for a while, it’s nice to have on very comfortable pants, and these fit the bill. Another great part about them is the pockets. When I go camping I tent to have tons of ‘stuff’ in my pockets or I end up putting ‘stuff’ in my pockets while I’m setting up camp. The deep front pockets and the side cargo pockets were great being able to get to my things quickly like my keys, headlamp, knife, wallet, money, extra tent peg, cording….just about anything that would fit in them that I needed.
The knees and seat area have held up great. While in the outdoors I tend to crotch down on my knees a good bit when setting up a tent or building a fire. This area gets worn out the quickest in most of the pants I wear when I go camping. But so far they have held up nicely. The seat area also gets quit a bit of abuse. Sitting on logs by the fire or even on the ground can wear out a seat in pants. But here again, the fabric has held up well.
I really like the water repellency of the pants. Several times around the lake at a camp site I was constantly splashed by my kids and the water just ran right off the front of the pants. Also while fishing I am always getting my pants wet and these never seemed to be ‘soaking’ wet.
The Tee’s
The tee’s have also been great to wear. These past couple of months have been down right hot and humid. The tees are so light and airy I really couldn’t tell that I was wearing them or that they were getting drenched in sweat. These are probably my favorite tee shirts of all time. I just can’t descibe how great they feel on. And since I have washed them over and over and over, they just keep getting softer and softer.
I’ve actually worn these as an under shirt on a couple of nights when the temperatures dropped and the air started to get cool. They fit great under another heavy shirt or even a long sleeve tee shirt. They fit so close to the body that I didn’t get that bunched up feeling under the shirt. They really fit nicely.
The tees have held up to many cycles of washing and the only thing that I can see that is different are the side seams have twisted just a bit but the shirts still hang straight. this has in no way effected their performance.
Again, I’ll continue to wear these for next month and I’ll come back and update the usage of the pants and shirts. Stay tuned….
Update: 1/9/12
I want to say that these are some of the best pants and shirts that I have ever owned. To start with the pants. I have worn these pants at least 2 to 3 times a week for the past year. And wearing them that much, they had to be washed. These pants still look as new as the first day I took them out of the package. They have just been so durable and the quality is unbelievable. I’ve never had to iron them because they just don’t wrinkle. If you are looking for a great quality pair of cargo pants, these are the ones you should buy. I really thought that by now, the cuff at the bottom of the pants leg would be unraveling by now, but they are still intact and show no signs of wear. I have worn these pants around town, to work, to the mall and even out in the woods for several days. And they still look good as new.
The tee shirts are just as durable. The more I have washed these, the softer they get. I was a littler skeptical at first because they were so soft to begin with that I really thought they would just fall apart after a few washes. But I have been so surprised at how well they have held up to everyday use and all the washings. I have worn these tee shirts year round. I wear them alone during warm weather and use them to layer with during colder weather. They have shrank just a little bit but I still like the fit of the shirts.
Overall the quality and durability of the Alpha Industries Brigade Pants and Tee Shirts have been outstanding and I would recommend these to anyone.
Thank you Alpha Industries for the opportunity for me to test these pants and shirts.
Designed by Tim Sainburg from Brambling Design
[...] Alpha Industries Apparel [...]
[...] Alpha Industries Apparel – Final Update [...]