Earlier this month, I bought an officer's tunic from Gavin Militaria via eBay. I paid for the garment on the 31st July 2012 and it took two e-mails and a threat to seek a refund to finally get a tracking number from him. The tunic finally arrived on Monday 20th August 2012. Despite this, he was quick enough to respond to my e-mails. His responses, although apologetic, I found meaningless. He never mentioned at any time prior to entering into the contract that there would be at least a week between payment and actual postage.
Be warned though, don't expect a large box with your garment neatly folded and lavishly wrapped in bubble wrap, my tunic arrived in this..
Needless to say it was in a million creases.
I took the advice from this forum and bought a size up. I bought a Size "44 inches even though a Size "42 is more my size. The tunic does have a slim fit and in my case it fits quite well. Had I ordered a medium I would probably have had to send it back.
The Fabric
The weave is tricot and is identical to that of the Soldier of Fortune (SoF) one. However, the wool is much thinner and appears a little rougher. Although on closer inspection, it's just a different, slightly lower quality, thinner wool. The SoF one is a thicker wool, yet a finer wool blend. The Gavin Militaria tunic is a lot lighter, but this could be an advantage to a re-enactor. It certaintly doesn't look lighter and a man on a galloping horse is not going to notice.
The Colour
Most officers' tunics were private purchase and the colour often differed widely. The SoF tunic is a greener shade of green/grey where as the Gavin Militaria one is definitley more grey. I took some photos in the sunlight to show the contrast.
The one on the left is the SoF one.
Construction
There are of course differences in the construction of both tunics. One fault which always annoyed me about the SoF tunic was that the seams on the shoulders were too far forward as demonstrated in this photo...
No mistakes made with the Gavin Militaria tuinc though...
The collars on both tuincs are identical in size and shape save that the SoF one is of far superior quality. Firstly, the wool is much thicker and contains both stands and stiffners throughout. The collar on the Gavin Militaria one only has a plastic stand (the bit that goes around your neck) but nothing in the falls of the collars.
The collar width on both tunics are identical at 7cm.
Gavin Militaria
SoF
The French cuff lengths are identical also at 15.5cms as are the lower pockets at 21cms. The SoF breast pockets are slightly longer by 0.5cm but their widths are the same at 13.5cms each. The Gavin Militaria tunic is slightly shorter, depending on what size you order, by about 1.5 cms (in direct comparison). The Gavin Militaria tunic is a six button tunic while the SoF one is a five button one with painted buttons.
The buttons themselves are reasonably good quality on both tunics save the fact that the SoF tunics have their buttons sewn into the fabric fold (i.e. you can't see the stiching inside the tunic, unlike the Gavin Militaria one).
Gavin Militaria
The lower pockets on both tunics differ slightly in that the SoF pockets are complete bellow pockets sewn on to the tunic front, where as the Gavin Militaria pockets are front sided only.
SoF
Gavin Militaria
The lining on the SoF tunic is quilted across the upper breast and it has a lot of shoulder padding. In contrast the Gavin Militaria tunic has very little shoulder padding and has what appears to be a thin layer of inter-lining across the upper breast.
The Gavin Militaria tunic comes with two spare buttons, no insignia and a sword hanger.
The Gavin Militaria tunic is light, there is no doubt, but it's NOT the usual rubbish that comes out of China. Some of you will remember the polyester rubbish sold by Keith Hong Kong some years ago; with a sheen that made you look like a ringmaster in a circus, well Gavin Militaira are a millions miles away from that. The stiching in his tunic is good quality, the buttons are reasonable, the general look of the tunic is very good indeed. It is a bit light and the collars could do with improvement, but for £82.00 (€104.00) inclusive of postage, you can't go wrong. I recommend this tunic.
Guderian
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