Russian Outdoor Jacket, Surplus

In Russia, they have more than enough of this fart-brown fabric, thanks to the numerous factories making it for the military. Apparently, they also made other garments from this stuff, like this light hooded jacket from the Yeltsin era. If zippers, velcro, softshell, and Gore-Tex-Mex things give you an ulcer, try this for a change. It will bring you other kinds of pain

Features

This is actually a pretty nice light, unlined, hooded jacket with pockets and buttons. The hood is too small to accommodate the ushanka hat or a helmet but otherwise perfectly ok. Not waterproof at all. There’s an elastic band at the waist. It's like a Gorka jacket for civilians. So really cool in this Soviet kinda way.

This doesn’t appear to can be a military garment. So it is either a civilian jacket or maybe issued gear for railway personnel in Far-Uzikistan. Could be anything.

Materials and care

The materials may vary, but at least some of these are 100% synthetic. No further details are given so it can be anything from coprolite to plutonium. In any case, the feeling is very cotton-like. The tags say you should only hand wash this at 30 degrees Celsius (86 F), but that may vary in case the material varies. Normally we would recommend machine washing at 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) for a garment like this, but since these are Russian, we don’t dare to do so. The jacket might shrink or expand, the buttons could melt, or the whole thing could turn radioactive. Maybe everything you wash after this will also get this lovely brown shade.

Size info

The sizes are in the GOST system, which is standard stuff for every enlightened Westerner. In short, there are six possible heights for people, and the chest circumference is provided in the standard EU system. In case you have lived in a barrel, we converted these to the recommended height and chest circumference of the wearer. These are quite large, with relatively long sleeves. If you pick by your own measurements, you can fit a couple of thick sweaters underneath. The sleeve cuff can be adjusted by removing and re-sewing the button to a more suitable tightness.

Technically you can take a smaller size if you don’t want thick warm stuff underneath. However, bear in mind that the elastic band on the waist shrinks the waist to some extent. So, if you have a bigger belly, the smaller jacket can fit nicely on the shoulders but feel like a corset on the waist. Removing the elastic band will help.

Condition

These have never been used. But they have been stored in some dark warehouse all these years, fortunately in insect- and lightproof bags, so they're surprisingly fresh. The only surprise you might encounter is the buttons, which might be brown plastic, bright metal, or blackened metal. We won't pick, you can change them into pink wooden buttons or whatever you like.

If you return this, please keep the cardboard size tag with to the jacket, because it's the only place where the size can be found.