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Navy unveils running suit prototype

The Navy unveiled the prototype for its new running suit May 30, and although officials are still working on the details for the final version, they said they expected many of the features in the prototype to make it into the one that reaches the fleet.

The athletic sweat-wicking jacket-and-pants outfit will make the Navy the last of the military services to roll out a custom logo running suit, one that top officials hope sailors will wear even on liberty to show off the Navy brand. To entice that kind of voluntary wear, the material and other features are patterned after “high-end commercial running suits,” according to a statement from Rob Carroll, the head of the Navy Uniform Office.

There’s no word yet on how much it will cost or exactly when the final version will hit the fleet, although officials say it’ll be sometime early in 2009. Uniform officials also haven’t yet developed a formal manner of wear for the running suit, although it’ll likely be worn along with the PT shirt and shorts now making their way into exchanges.

Officials said there was also no determination yet whether the Navy would pay for the running suits through each sailor’s uniform allowance, or whether officers would have to buy their own. The Marine Corps announced in February that officers and enlisted Marines would each get a running suit, which cost $112 apiece, for free.

About 80 sailors in Washington, D.C., and at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tenn., began wear-testing the running suits in April, and they’ll do so until the start of July, officials said.

With a polyester outer shell and an inner polyester lining, the running suit is a cold-weather supplement to the T-shirt and shorts, although the jacket has back and under-arm zipped vents that let it breathe. The jacket and pants also have reflective piping and drawstrings that cinch closed for a better fit.

The jacket has two zipped pockets and, on the breast, a single-color stitched version of the Navy’s “anchor, Constitution and eagle” logo — borrowed from the symbol on the Navy’s official flag. In back, above the vent hidden in the “V” design, is the word “Navy” in stitched blue block letters.

There’s also a bright silver stitched “Navy” down the left leg of the pants, which also have two pockets that did not zip closed on the prototype viewed by Navy Times.

The pants had an elastic waistband and zip-up openings on the cuffs.

Although the Navy still has a few weeks left in the running suit wear test, uniform officials said that response from testers has so far been good. Command Master Chief (SW/AW) Art Rivers, who works in the Navy’s uniform office, said sailors in Washington often ask him about his running suit.

“They like the appearance of it, they like the colors; they want to know when it’s going to hit the streets,” he said.

Yeoman 1st Class (SW) Chris Byard, who works in the office of the chief of the Navy Reserve, said he liked the colors and fit of his running suit prototype. He also said his test uniform was well made for inclement weather.

“I went running with it in the rain — the only thing that particularly that got wet in the rain was my head,” Byard said. “I’ve beaten it up as hard as I can.”

Rivers said the running suit will be available in single sizes worn by men and women, but with multiple permutations such as “medium-tall” or “large-regular” to give the best fit possible.

The running suit prototype appeared just after the Navy began rolling out its first PT T-shirt and shorts, which had been in the works for months and demonstrate the sorts of changes that could happen to the new running suit.

Initial versions of the gold T-shirt and blue shorts had different artwork than the final product, which now feature a reflective block-letter “Navy.” Early copies also were made from a different material that disappointed then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen, who in May 2007 rejected the first uniform because he said the fabric wasn’t good enough.

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