Swedish M59 Service Shirt, Green, Surplus

People often ask us when do we get those vintage field shirts that they used to wear when they rode horses into battle and got a flogging for Christmas? Well, now! These are Swedish, and like most military-issue clothing from the Nordic countries, they are high-quality, hard-wearing shirts made for action. For this price, you won’t get anything else than sweatshop monstrosities equipped with a self-destruct mechanism from quicky marts.

Features

The M59 service shirt is a roomy and durable cotton shirt. It has an actual collar, unlike the Finnish equivalent. It is a great shirt for a great many things. Unlike the Finnish "institution gray" shirts, these come in magnibulous forest green color. There is a hint of elasticity in the fabric.

Unlike the olden times Finnish service shirt, this one has an actual collar!

Use

This shirt is a true chameleon of shirts. Thanks to its durability, it is perfect for hunting, hiking, lumberjacking, and real manly man work that hurts and makes you sweat. Yet it won’t run away screaming in the city either. When you put this on, enter a beard hipster bar and order a DIPA DAPA jimsonweed-mandrill poop-blowfish sour matured in herring casks, you will always be served first and the bouncer will tip you.

If you aren’t thrilled about the elf green color, cotton will suck in a lot of dye. So, you can turn it e.g. verdant black like the soul of a venture capitalist.

Size info

The sizes are in the standard EU shirt sizes, and we added the simple size to make the selection easier. Sizes are quite generous: For a person with a height of 178 cm / 5'10" and a chest circumference of 118 cm / 46.5", a 41/Large-sized shirt is a "slim fit" with some tightness in the armpit area. This could be a size he would use in public. For other outdoor purposes, a 43/X-Large would be his choice. Below is a table based on the garment measurements, including chest width as armpit-to-armpit measurement and back length from the collar's base to the hem.

Some of the shirts have a different, longer cut. The hems in these are 5-10 cm / 2"-4" longer compared to the table above. There may also be slight variations in the sizes due to washing/drying cycles and such.

Condition

These are used and relatively old but they are in very good condition for their age. As long as you don’t buy it as a dress shirt for your wedding, they will work very nicely. If you are one of those who think that everything has to be pristine perfect, buy a new shirt. But that won’t be this cool or cheap. And as with surplus in general, there can be a lingering smell of surplus present.