During the years a number of reproduction ss camouflage items were posted on this forum on a regular basis attended with the question “is this real?”. In 80% the answer is “no, this is an item made by an US supplier for ww2 reenactors”.
This thread is supposed to show the majority of repro/fake ss camouflage items in order to help the novice collector in identifying them as such.
Most of the reproduced ss camouflage items were made by a company named “SM Wholesale”. This company is a supplier for reenactors and has no bad intentions just as most of the companies that provide the basic materials.
Nevertheless their items or custom made items based on their fabrics and patterns can frequently be found on ebay and on websites of various militaria dealers where they are being offered as “original ww2” items by careless or unscrupolous individuals.
1. The largest current makers of reproduction ss camouflage materials are:
1A. SM Wholesale (USA)
1B. Janke (Germany)
1C. At The Front (USA)
1D. Gmax (Canada)
2. Some companies that I don’t know the exact locations or names of are:
2A..A company from southern Germany which makes a variety of smocks, tank crew clothing, jump smocks and dot items.
2B.A source or two probably from the baltic area which provide two different dot patterns.
Furthermore there is a number of items that were made in “limited numbers” or that were discountinued:
2C.The so called “Irish Smock” (“platane” and oak)
2D.The so called “Pink Smock” (oak A, which some collectors believe to be ok!!)
2E.The “Bud O’Toole line” (several ss patterns)
2F..The so called “Hanger” camo (oak A)
3. Also various patterns of postwar armies were used by some individuals to produce reproductions:
3A.Swiss army pattern (looks similar to the Leiber pattern)
3B.Austrian army pattern (has similtries with the dot pattern)
3C.Egyptian army pattern (has similtries with the oak pattern, on the reverse it shows a wehrmacht like pattern)
3D.A pattern from southern africa (has similtries with the palm pattern)
3E.A recent russian pattern (has similtries with the oak pattern)
Due to the high number of reproductions there are for sure some I have forgotten and those that I don’t even know about. If you have something to add please PM me and I will edit the text accordingly.
I would now like to invite the members to share their reproduction ss camouflage items.
In order to not let the thread become too chaotic it will be best to use the number and letter code that I have used above. If you have a SM Wholesale item to post please mark it "1A", a swiss army pattern item would be 3A and so on. This should make it easier for the observer to identify them.
I would also suggest not to mention the significant details of period items, let’s focus on the basic dead giveaways of the majority of reproductions out there. This thread is not meant to teach the fakers.
Attention: If you want to post images please use this thread only for items that consist of postwar materials. Please post your images on this site and don't use a external picture hosting site.
There will be another thread for fakes made of period material.
For all of you that plan to collect authentic SS Camouflage I recommend these books:
"Camouflage Uniforms of the Waffen-SS" by Mike Beaver
ISBN: 0-88740-803-6
"Uniforms of the Waffen-SS, Vol 3" by Mike Beaver
ISBN: 0-7643-1552-8
These are the best books available on the topic at this stage.
Cheers
Fritz
This thread is supposed to show the majority of repro/fake ss camouflage items in order to help the novice collector in identifying them as such.
Most of the reproduced ss camouflage items were made by a company named “SM Wholesale”. This company is a supplier for reenactors and has no bad intentions just as most of the companies that provide the basic materials.
Nevertheless their items or custom made items based on their fabrics and patterns can frequently be found on ebay and on websites of various militaria dealers where they are being offered as “original ww2” items by careless or unscrupolous individuals.
1. The largest current makers of reproduction ss camouflage materials are:
1A. SM Wholesale (USA)
1B. Janke (Germany)
1C. At The Front (USA)
1D. Gmax (Canada)
2. Some companies that I don’t know the exact locations or names of are:
2A..A company from southern Germany which makes a variety of smocks, tank crew clothing, jump smocks and dot items.
2B.A source or two probably from the baltic area which provide two different dot patterns.
Furthermore there is a number of items that were made in “limited numbers” or that were discountinued:
2C.The so called “Irish Smock” (“platane” and oak)
2D.The so called “Pink Smock” (oak A, which some collectors believe to be ok!!)
2E.The “Bud O’Toole line” (several ss patterns)
2F..The so called “Hanger” camo (oak A)
3. Also various patterns of postwar armies were used by some individuals to produce reproductions:
3A.Swiss army pattern (looks similar to the Leiber pattern)
3B.Austrian army pattern (has similtries with the dot pattern)
3C.Egyptian army pattern (has similtries with the oak pattern, on the reverse it shows a wehrmacht like pattern)
3D.A pattern from southern africa (has similtries with the palm pattern)
3E.A recent russian pattern (has similtries with the oak pattern)
Due to the high number of reproductions there are for sure some I have forgotten and those that I don’t even know about. If you have something to add please PM me and I will edit the text accordingly.
I would now like to invite the members to share their reproduction ss camouflage items.
In order to not let the thread become too chaotic it will be best to use the number and letter code that I have used above. If you have a SM Wholesale item to post please mark it "1A", a swiss army pattern item would be 3A and so on. This should make it easier for the observer to identify them.
I would also suggest not to mention the significant details of period items, let’s focus on the basic dead giveaways of the majority of reproductions out there. This thread is not meant to teach the fakers.
Attention: If you want to post images please use this thread only for items that consist of postwar materials. Please post your images on this site and don't use a external picture hosting site.
There will be another thread for fakes made of period material.
For all of you that plan to collect authentic SS Camouflage I recommend these books:
"Camouflage Uniforms of the Waffen-SS" by Mike Beaver
ISBN: 0-88740-803-6
"Uniforms of the Waffen-SS, Vol 3" by Mike Beaver
ISBN: 0-7643-1552-8
These are the best books available on the topic at this stage.
Cheers
Fritz
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