British Long Johns, FR, Green, Surplus

Olive drab flame-resistant long johns of the British Royal air dudes and dudettes. When you wear these, your heart will soar wild and free in the skies, and your legs won’t feel cold either. Military surplus but clean and intact, so not suitable for fetish stuff. Nevertheless quite a catch because flame-resistant clothes tend to be a lot more expensive when new.

Features

What else can you say about these other than they have two legs and a cannon port. The material thickness is about the same as in any regular long johns. If it gets Finland cold, you might wanna put a mid-layer on top of these. Something like our Särmä TST l2 merino wool long johns. The color is called light olive and that it is. More greenish than brownish. There might be very slight variation but it won’t fling dirt in your harmony.

The fly is open without any buttons. So, if you go commando underneath these, something might peek out if you have equipment that can do so. Then again you can also easily whip it out when needed. Most will wear some sort of short underwear underneath these, which will then eliminate both the pros and cons. Might piss your pants a bit if you try to wiggle out your willy through the flies of all the layers after a few too many beers.

Materials

Underneath the surface of this deceivingly simple-looking garment lies the whole point. These are flame-resistant, which means that they won’t go up in flames that easily or melt into your legs. The material combo seems to be 50% polyamide imide and 50% viscose FR. If the first fancy word won’t ring a bell, it is commercially known as e.g. Kermel. Flame resistant properties can come from a chemical treatment or from the materials. This is the latter, so it won't fade away when washed. But oil and grease can reduce the efficiency, so keep these clean.

Viscose works a bit like wool, so it is moisture wicking and won’t feel bloody cold when wet. Unlike cotton, it also dries pretty fast. That is why these are pretty nice in action-packed adventures.

All the ones we checked had the above-mentioned material combo. However, there can of course be some variation, because the military doesn’t necessarily specify the materials exactly, just the properties they expect from the garment. So, whatever the long johns might say, the properties are pretty much the same.

Care

Wash at 50 degrees Celsius (122 °F) as synthetics.

Size info

Regarding sizes, first you technically get the leg inseam length and then the waist circumference. However, since these are very stretchy and used, the code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules - with the principle bigger is usually more.

So, don’t look at the figures too sternly. These stretch so much that you can easily fit into long johns that are even smaller than your waist. And if the leg is a tad shorter than it should be, socks will fix that.

Condition

Used British Royal Air Force surplus. The condition is pretty good, sometimes excellent. Some might have some lint and such but they are all clean and intact, mostly very nice.