Navy News, news from Iraq - Navy Times

First look at Navy’s new throwback uniforms

Sailors in the fleet could think they’re on a Hollywood set when the Navy begins wear-testing a venerable old uniform and test-driving fixes for two existing uniforms.

Wear tests are scheduled to begin by late fall or early winter for a “throwback” service dress khaki uniform, along with improved blue and white crackerjacks, said Robert B. Carroll, director of the Navy Uniform Matters Office in Arlington, Va.

Interactive

Take a 360-degree look at the uniforms

Dress khaki

Just more than 100 officers and chiefs will get the chance to test the throwback dress khaki look. And the tests will be quick, too, lasting no more than 100 days, officials said.

Testing locations will be Washington, D.C.; Norfolk, Va.; Millington, Tenn.; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

What’s being tested is really an updated version of the Navy’s iconic, World War II-era dress khaki uniform, nixed by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo Zumwalt in the 1970s.

The uniforms photographed by Navy Times were made of 75 percent polyester and 25 percent wool, though officials said there’s a chance another fabric could be tested, as well.

Officers and chiefs will wear their silver rank insignia on the collars of the khaki shirt that will be worn under the jacket, along with the standard Navy black tie.

In that configuration, no ribbons or qualification pins will be worn on the shirt. For more formal situations, the jacket, adorned with qualification pins and ribbons, can be worn. Sans jacket, the uniform is a bit more casual.

Fancy crackerjack whites

Though new variations of the service dress white and blue crackerjacks will be tested, changes to the whites will turn the most heads.

About 75 sailors in Key West, Fla., and Pearl Harbor will test the uniform.

With the whites, Carroll said, officials are testing ideas to improve the uniform’s features to make it more popular with sailors — many of whom have not liked how the current uniform hangs on them. The lack of a cuffed sleeve also was a point of contention.

But the most visible of these changes is the addition of blue piping to the service dress white uniform’s cuffs and flap, to make it essentially the mirror image of its blue counterpart, complete with blue buttons on the cuffs.

Another feature of the blues being added to the whites is the sewn-in yoke over the breast.

This seam, Carroll said, breaks up the outline of the uniform while allowing it to hang better on the body, giving a sharper, more tailored look.

The changes mark the first time the enlisted white uniform has been decorated since World War II.

Before the war, all enlisted sailors wore a full dress white uniform that had the same blue flap and blue cuffs that adorned their dress blues. The current enlisted dress whites were based on the “working white” uniform.

“Adding the piping really dresses this uniform up,” Carroll said.

A key part of the test will be the performance of the fabric, Carroll said.

A new micro-denier fabric will be tested to replace the old certified navy twill, he said.

Though it also is a polyester material, Carroll said the fabric is expected to breathe and won’t have the nearly see-through qualities the current whites have.

Added to the jumper will be a hidden zipper on the left side that makes it easier to put on — a popular feature in custom-tailored uniforms but one that’s not authorized by Navy uniform regulations.

And while there are no changes planned for the white pants, there will be, along with the jumper, some testing of newer, more comfortable fabrics.

But even with the blue piping, the uniform will still be designed to be washed and not dry-cleaned — though officials will be watching carefully to see if the blue piping bleeds into the white fabric.

“We will be watching this very closely, how the material performs, whether it yellows and looks sharp after regular wear and see if any bleeding occurs as well,” Carroll said.

New blues

Meanwhile, the proposed changes to the blues won’t be as visible, and only 50 sailors will get to test these changes. Tests will occur in Washington, Norfolk and Millington.

Like the whites, a zipper will be sewn into the left side of the uniform to allow for more tailoring and make the uniform easier to put on and take off.

The blues, too, will test a lighter fabric — lightweight gabardine wool — that will make the uniform comfortable for year-round wear.

But that’s not all — the pants flap is now a fake, as another zipper has been added that goes right up the middle of the traditional flap previously secured by 13 buttons — legendary for being difficult to manipulate.

What was tradition is now just decoration, and sailors will only have to use two real buttons and the zipper.