NCO vs Officer Service coat

[Sapper168]

Holy cow!  Got a new enlisted coat from MCS and the difference in fit is ungodly.  I didn't know I would be doing a size conversion like I do when buying boots from England.  Officer coats fit so much better.  Had to go up a size to fit through the shoulders.  I guess that's the difference between commercial and wholesale contracts.

[PHall]

Holy cow!  Got a new enlisted coat from MCS and the difference in fit is ungodly.  I didn't know I would be doing a size conversion like I do when buying boots from England.  Officer coats fit so much better.  Had to go up a size to fit through the shoulders.  I guess that's the difference between commercial and wholesale contracts.

Interesting since the same contractor makes both versions. The only, I say only, difference being that the "Officer's" coat has the epaulets.
And anybody with any common sense always tries on uniform items before buying them. Military clothing seems to have a lot of variance in sizing.

[Abby.L]

Holy cow!  Got a new enlisted coat from MCS and the difference in fit is ungodly.  I didn't know I would be doing a size conversion like I do when buying boots from England.  Officer coats fit so much better.  Had to go up a size to fit through the shoulders.  I guess that's the difference between commercial and wholesale contracts.

Interesting since the same contractor makes both versions. The only, I say only, difference being that the "Officer's" coat has the epaulets.
And anybody with any common sense always tries on uniform items before buying them. Military clothing seems to have a lot of variance in sizing.

From what I understand, the enlisted coats are maid by AAFES, whereas the officer jackets are made by an outside "Premier" contractor(Hence the variance in sizing). That's part of why they are so much more expensive than the enlisted coats. Lord only knows why you can't just add epaulets and call it good, though....

[PHall]

Holy cow!  Got a new enlisted coat from MCS and the difference in fit is ungodly.  I didn't know I would be doing a size conversion like I do when buying boots from England.  Officer coats fit so much better.  Had to go up a size to fit through the shoulders.  I guess that's the difference between commercial and wholesale contracts.

Interesting since the same contractor makes both versions. The only, I say only, difference being that the "Officer's" coat has the epaulets.
And anybody with any common sense always tries on uniform items before buying them. Military clothing seems to have a lot of variance in sizing.

From what I understand, the enlisted coats are maid by AAFES, whereas the officer jackets are made by an outside "Premier" contractor(Hence the variance in sizing). That's part of why they are so much more expensive than the enlisted coats. Lord only knows why you can't just add epaulets and call it good, though....

AAFES does not make anything. They get stuff from vendors. The lower cost "enlisted" version is supplied by DLATS and is what they issue at Lackland.

[Abby.L]

Holy cow!  Got a new enlisted coat from MCS and the difference in fit is ungodly.  I didn't know I would be doing a size conversion like I do when buying boots from England.  Officer coats fit so much better.  Had to go up a size to fit through the shoulders.  I guess that's the difference between commercial and wholesale contracts.

Interesting since the same contractor makes both versions. The only, I say only, difference being that the "Officer's" coat has the epaulets.
And anybody with any common sense always tries on uniform items before buying them. Military clothing seems to have a lot of variance in sizing.

From what I understand, the enlisted coats are maid by AAFES, whereas the officer jackets are made by an outside "Premier" contractor(Hence the variance in sizing). That's part of why they are so much more expensive than the enlisted coats. Lord only knows why you can't just add epaulets and call it good, though....

AAFES does not make anything. They get stuff from vendors. The lower cost "enlisted" version is supplied by DLATS and is what they issue at Lackland.

Okay, so DLATS(Those darn pesky acronyms!) makes them. Who makes what doesn't change the fact that the enlisted coat is made by the de facto military clothing manufacturer while the officer coat is at least put up to bidding on who makes them, hence the weird sizing issues.

[SarDragon]

Okay, so DLATS(Those darn pesky acronyms!) makes them. Who makes what doesn't change the fact that the enlisted coat is made by the de facto military clothing manufacturer while the officer coat is at least put up to bidding on who makes them, hence the weird sizing issues.

[DLATS = Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support] 

Still not quite right. Vendors is the key word here. All clothing goes out for bid (Request for Quote, RFQ). The minimum spec stuff has RFQs from DLATS. Vendors bid, get awarded a contract, and supply clothing.

There are other RFQs sent out for the higher end stuff that exceeds minimum specs. That's what you see in the exchanges. Sometimes the same company will make both grades of clothing.