Fake Bundeswehr Items

[Daniel Hockey]

Was in a army surplus store in Auckland today and I noticed some unissued looking 1970's/1980's era Bundeswehr shirts and hooded jackets. I think you know the types I'm talking about, the heavy lined, hooded parkas popular with University students etc.

Anyway, on closer inspection these all turned out to be modern fakes. The maker's label is different to those found on real Bundeswehr uniform items.

The label is the same as a original apart from three details, the font is red instead of black, however some 1960's items did have red font on their labels, but I've never seen it on stuff from the 70's/80's. The second thing is that the words POLYESTER/BAUMWOLLE are missing. The third thing different is the name of the maker, instead of the commonly found G WAHLER or WHALER the name 'JEANS EXPRESS' is printed.

The jackets are quite good quality fakes, I didn't have time to have a really good inspection, but most of the details appear correct. The olive green shirts on the other hand are quite easy to spot as the fabric is very thin and of much lower quality than originals.

Hope this info is helpful to someone.

[Valter Gorenc]

How far we came - faking bundeswehr
If i'm not wrong, jeans express is a trade name of some commercial cloth producer.

[Daniel Hockey]

Yes, I think you are right. I believe that they are a contract company in China or somewhere that will pretty much make you anything you want if you order enough of it.

The interesting thing is that this faking isn't really targeted at collectors, rather people looking for fashonable jackets that are getting harder to find nowadays.

[Forseti]

Yes, I think you are right. I believe that they are a contract company in China or somewhere that will pretty much make you anything you want if you order enough of it.

The interesting thing is that this faking isn't really targeted at collectors, rather people looking for fashonable jackets that are getting harder to find nowadays.

Jeans Express does also ORIGINAL Bundeswehr Clothing! I have several ORIGINAL used (surplus) Items made by Jeans Express (as the lables say)

Maybe they do also the fake (so called Import quality) items, that are reproduced here for the civilian Markets (for hunters, students etc), like Parkas, Moleskin-Trousers etc. But this is a matter I dont know. What I can say is that they produce for the german Bundeswehr.

[hoover]

Sturm-Miltec sells faked Bw-uniforms.

Parka late pattern
fieldblouses oliv 2nd pattern
Trousers oliv 3rd pattern
field caps
and...Kampftaschen, rucksacks...

They are of very poor quality, the first batches were made for a movie, now they are part of the regular stock. The buttons are of the US BDU type, the fabric is thin and with polyester mix.

I have bought one field blouse for a view.

[Collectinsteve]

Also be very careful about Sumpftarn parkas! I see fake STURM (Mil-Tec) parkas all the time on eBay, but they have genuine liners. Some sellers show the picture of the label on the liner, which adds to the confusion.

Look for tan colored US style buttons. The front has exposed button holes instead of the real parka's hidden buttons. I assume they use the same cloth as they use for the BDUs.

Steve

[uscob]

Just to correct, they never were made just for the movies, but there are a lot of people out there who want to use them for work, so there is a demand and a reason to produce them.
Just to add to the first Post, Jeans Express was a regular supplier for some Years, so they don't have to be fakes.
They used the cheapest supplier and not the one with the nicest Labels. there changed a lot in the Bundeswehr in the past Years. Maybe I have one or 2 JE Parkas left from a regular VEBEG Lot.

[Asbjoern]

Yes, JE was bussy since the mid 80ies ... going through my hoard I found several different items made by them - not only field gear.

Jens

[Forseti]

Yes, thats exactly what I said. Jeans Express was (maybe still is) official producer for the Bundeswehr.

@hoover:
Thats exactly the reason why I only collect worn items. Its better to have an used "A"-stamped original item than to buy a mint china-fake.

P.S: Because of the low value of OD Bundeswehr items I dont think this items had been produced to fool collectors. As allready mentioned they are reproduced to supply campers, students, outdoor-freaks, workers etc.
The story with the BGS Parka sounds little bit more like "fooling"

[Collectinsteve]

My guess about the BGS parkas is STURM had a large number of liners and already had the cloth used for the BDU sets. So why not make parkas since they are in the business of making and selling such things already?

Steve

[Forseti]

Steve

maybe you are absolutely right - they bought a bulk of original liners and clever as sturm is, he made complete parkas out of it.

The problem i see with this is that he did not sell it as "Import" or "reproduction" is sold it as Parka, BGS.

[Collectinsteve]

Yes, and that is usually how I see them listed on eBay. Of course I also see original ones with prices of EUR 250 and "rare" in the description. RangerShop.de had them for EUR 35 not too long ago. So as with everything in life... "buyer beware" is the motto every buyer should use!

Steve

[uscob]

Some dealers call them Vintage.

[PASSAUER8884]

I was in a local outdoors store today. And I came across a whole rack of brand new Bundeswehr parkas...

The tag (red lettering) read "BW original parka" with the usuall BW style size markings and a big STURM sticker below it. Quaility was ok, It seemed a little cheesey compared to the real deal. The liner was nice though. Price: $49.95

I can remember when I was in High School 12-13 years ago, and one could get 2 real ones for that price. Thankfully I have a near new 1962 one. I wonder what will be made next??

[Combat Trucker]

I remember when I was in Afghanistan (Kandahar) we had the "Deutscher PX", which was nothing more than a tactical store. Sturm products were EVERYWHERE with a little bit of 5.11 here and there. I did purchase an ACU Poncho Liner made by Sturm, it was so nice you would swear it was US Army issue. I should have never parted with it. Some of what that store had was WAY overpriced. The liner was appropriately priced, 20 USD.

They also had the "under armor" Fleck combat shirts, complete with Velcro for rank and unit insignias.