Camo outerwear

barnabus · Nov 1, 2026

What do we think about camo for everyday wear?

Not for hunting or manoeuvres or Airsoft or whatever, just as a fashion choice.

Not so long ago I picked up a woodland camo M-65 from Golden Mfg, and I love it to bits. But at the moment I feel like I love it in spite of it being camo.

So far, I feel a little self conscious wearing it in everyday situations, as though folks will expect it to represent a certain lifestyle choice. When all it actually is to me, is a cool jacket.

Funny thing is, I've worn camo cargo shorts for about as long as I can remember. I still wear them now, when it's shorts weather. But I haven't worn full length camo trousers of any description since I was about 22. I'm almost 60 now, btw.

This whole thought has been prompted by @jeo , who just posted in WJAYWT in camo pants looking about as cool as I've ever seen anyone look.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/what-jacket-are-you-wearing-today.82949/post-3279527

So that's my question, really. Do/would you wear camo for everyday? So you have any notional guardrails, like I do for full length trousers? Genuinely interested in people's thoughts.

hardlyworkingman · Nov 1, 2026

Camo shirts/jackets and shorts are neat.

Camo Pants, as i got older i stopped wearing them casually, except during hunting season

Bfd70 · Nov 1, 2026

I don’t think there is any reason not to. I wouldn’t but only because i dont care for the aesthetic

Zoro · Nov 1, 2026

For regular clothing, no, I haven't worn camo since I was in my early 20s, and even then I only had like a couple tshirts. I wouldn't wear it at all as of today. I find it tacky and also quite ironic as nowadays you will actually stand out wearing camo. I wouldn't particularly mind it as a jacket's liner though, which is something I've seen (I think Himel did it? Some Vanson collabs?).

I actually do not have any camo clothing at all, but I wouldn't mind it for training. I was close to buying camo shorts for when I train grappling, only reason I didn't was they were quite expensive and I had enough shorts so it's not like I even needed them.

barnabus · Nov 1, 2026

Zoro said:
I wouldn't particularly mind it as a jacket's liner though, which is something I've seen

I have a denim motorcycle jacket from Revit that has quite a nice camo liner with a sort of modernist twist.

JeremyT · Nov 1, 2026

I had these really nice Ralph pants for a decade and only wore them once. Ended up selling them for cheap

JeremyT · Nov 1, 2026

JeremyT said:
I had these really nice Ralph pants for a decade and only wore them once. Ended up selling for cheap

raf · Nov 3, 2026

Personally, I would be highly reluctant to wear military camo in public. It kinda smacks of "survivalist" mind set, and in so doing, works against the "Grey Man" public clothing and associated gear protocol.

barnabus · Nov 3, 2026

raf said:
and in so doing, works against the "Grey Man" public clothing and associated gear protocol

Lucky for me I'm not interested in blending in, as I've just worn my woodland M-65 to Sainsbury's.

BloodEagle · Nov 3, 2026

Ive got a tiger stipe camo M-65 which I wear all the time - I think the key is selecting what to wear it with that makes it look cool, not like you're some crazy survivalist/SoF type. Your picture earlier definitely falls into the 'cool' category - looks awesome.

TLW '90 · Nov 3, 2026

I've been wearing hand me down M81 Woodland from my dad since I was a kid.
he kept all his BDU pants to wear.
but I got his m65's, his patrol caps, and the BDU shirts which I mostly cut off into fishing vests.

I've been wearing a USGI patrol cap every day since I was 12, yes I wear a hat inside.
these days I may put on my m81 boonie outside in the summer and my outback outside in the cooler months .
but in the house, in my workshop, and other times where I just don't feel like swapping my hat out it's my patrol cap.
from 12-27 or so it was my patrol cap all day every day for everything.

DogFacePonySoldier · Wednesday at 3:02 AM

barnabus said:
This whole thought has been prompted by @jeo , who just posted in WJAYWT in camo pants looking about as cool as I've ever seen anyone look.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/what-jacket-are-you-wearing-today.82949/post-3279527

So that's my question, really. Do/would you wear camo for everyday? So you have any notional guardrails, like I do for full length trousers? Genuinely interested in people's thoughts.

i believe those are the real mcoys reversible camo frog/duck. Frog having that bit of green and duck more brown (dont quote me tho) I have a pair of duxbak duck camo pants, no green just brown and tan.

its construction beats any pants i have in terms of strength. I especially like the reinforcements to prevent crotch rip inside the pants. Its silhouette is also nice It looks great with a white tee shirt and boots. Since its vintage it has a nice warm patina. However its not as versatile as some indigo or black jeans.

I would not wear everyday as I enjoy putting my denim to the paces

BloodEagle · Wednesday at 9:23 AM

RMCs tiger stripe camo m-65, also about to be worn on a shopping trip to Sainsbury's.

barnabus · Wednesday at 11:33 AM

BloodEagle said:
RMCs tiger stripe camo m-65, also about to be worn on a shopping trip to Sainsbury's.
View attachment 821850

Cool sweater. Reminds me of Lee Marvin in The Wild One.

tweedydon · Thursday at 1:19 AM

BloodEagle said:
RMCs tiger stripe camo m-65, also about to be worn on a shopping trip to Sainsbury's.
View attachment 821850

Where’s the sweater from?

Edward · Thursday at 2:10 PM

barnabus said:
Cool sweater. Reminds me of Lee Marvin in The Wild One.

Legend has it Sonny Barger bought the original after filming, and wore it to early HAMC California meetings.

jeo · Thursday at 10:02 PM

barnabus said:
What do we think about camo for everyday wear?

Not for hunting or manoeuvres or Airsoft or whatever, just as a fashion choice.

Not so long ago I picked up a woodland camo M-65 from Golden Mfg, and I love it to bits. But at the moment I feel like I love it in spite of it being camo.

So far, I feel a little self conscious wearing it in everyday situations, as though folks will expect it to represent a certain lifestyle choice. When all it actually is to me, is a cool jacket.

Funny thing is, I've worn camo cargo shorts for about as long as I can remember. I still wear them now, when it's shorts weather. But I haven't worn full length camo trousers of any description since I was about 22. I'm almost 60 now, btw.

This whole thought has been prompted by @jeo , who just posted in WJAYWT in camo pants looking about as cool as I've ever seen anyone look.

Haha thanks man, I appreciate that!

As a young metal head growing up I’d wear camo all the time. Then starting in my mid 20’s I stopped. I guess I wanted to dress more “grown up”.

Now in my early 40’s I don’t care and really enjoying wearing camo again.

barnabus said:
So that's my question, really. Do/would you wear camo for everyday? So you have any notional guardrails, like I do for full length trousers? Genuinely interested in people's thoughts.

I feel like there’s a parallel between how some people feel about a black leather motorcycle jacket and how they feel about camo in that they’ll say stuff like “it’s not me” or they feel like they’re cosplaying or don’t deserve to wear it because they are not in the military.

coolhandluke_7 · Friday at 2:14 AM

I think that the modern USGI patterns like woodland, chocolate chip, digital, etc are really difficult to pull off. Especially since Hollywood has used those types of camouflage (mostly woodland) as their standard wardrobe in portrayals of right wing extremist, militia, and redneck criminal types. European camouflage patterns seem to be the easiest to wear IMO.

Illya S. (Illcutz on Instagram) and Thomas K. ( @4444Design on here and heritage_jacket_tom on Instagram) both mix in camouflage patterns with their wardrobes regularly and it always looks amazing.

The only USGI patterns that I care for are frogskin and tiger stripe (and maybe ERDL). The only two articles of camouflage clothing that I own are a pair of Levis ripstop frogskin cargo pants and a golden tiger stripe smock from Bronson.

Edward · Friday at 11:52 AM

I've long found a genuine amusement in how something designed originally to prevent the wearer from being seen has evolved into a fashion item that is intended to be seen. Camo isn't something that has ever featured heavily in my wardrobe. As a kid about the age of six around 1982, I was gagging for a camo jacket, but was never allowed one for obvious reasons, growing p in the north of Ireland in an era when everyone was six degrees of separation from a story about a kid being mistaken for a target and shot. (One case I particularly recall was a kid in Derry who was hit when a squaddie just saw a silhouette in the sun; kid had a cut-out wooden ***** with a length of copper pipe for a barrel that also glinted in the light and looked like the real thing.) Understandable my parents were wary of that sort of thing back in the day. When I was around nineteen, I bought a NATO desert-camo jacket that would have been surplus from circa Desert Storm. Didn't wear it much - brown wasn't a big part of my wardrobe at the time. Overdyed it blue early on, and that got worn quite a lot. Some years later I bought a short-sleeved shacket sort of thing in a green camo in a vintage store in Copenhagen. This would have been 2001, on a work trip. I wore it a bit, had a sort of Fidel Castro vibe to it, but it was never really me. The only camo thing I've worn in the last twenty-five odd years is a Bronson Daisy May I picked up about three years ago. I can't really see me wearing much else; I did once buy a Heer camo Panzerwrap, but never wore it outside the house. There are some pre-1945 camos I can see wearing as a jacket liner now, but otherwise it's not really me. Some camos I wouldn't be comfortable wearing because of very specific associations, but otherwise purely an aesthetic choice.

barnabus · Friday at 2:56 PM

Edward said:
I've long found a genuine amusement in how something designed originally to prevent the wearer from being seen has evolved into a fashion item that is intended to be seen. Camo isn't something that has ever featured heavily in my wardrobe. As a kid about the age of six around 1982, I was gagging for a camo jacket, but was never allowed one for obvious reasons, growing p in the north of Ireland in an era when everyone was six degrees of separation from a story about a kid being mistaken for a target and shot. (One case I particularly recall was a kid in Derry who was hit when a squaddie just saw a silhouette in the sun; kid had a cut-out wooden ***** with a length of copper pipe for a barrel that also glinted in the light and looked like the real thing.) Understandable my parents were wary of that sort of thing back in the day. When I was around nineteen, I bought a NATO desert-camo jacket that would have been surplus from circa Desert Storm. Didn't wear it much - brown wasn't a big part of my wardrobe at the time. Overdyed it blue early on, and that got worn quite a lot. Some years later I bought a short-sleeved shacket sort of thing in a green camo in a vintage store in Copenhagen. This would have been 2001, on a work trip. I wore it a bit, had a sort of Fidel Castro vibe to it, but it was never really me. The only camo thing I've worn in the last twenty-five odd years is a Bronson Daisy May I picked up about three years ago. I can't really see me wearing much else; I did once buy a Heer camo Panzerwrap, but never wore it outside the house. There are some pre-1945 camos I can see wearing as a jacket liner now, but otherwise it's not really me. Some camos I wouldn't be comfortable wearing because of very specific associations, but otherwise purely an aesthetic choice.

Funny how camo has so much cultural baggage. Moreso than other styles or fabrics we enjoy on here.

Forex, no one wearing a double rider would fear a derisive "where's your bike?" comment from anyone other than those of feeblest imagination.

Just as with anything in our post-modern jumble of a culture, clothes are just clothes, and I'm getting closer to be comfortable with that for my woodland.

I wore it again this morning, heading off to help with a house clearance. It feels like an honest piece of utility wear - more than an expensive repro that encourages babying I think.

Feel free to disregard this while post btw, it's just my half-formed thoughts falling out.

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