I don't know where to start with this, one of the best, most stylish and most practical garment designs to come out of WW2. Designed before the war, the zip jacket was issued from early 1941 until replaced in 1942/43 by the more common hook deck. The thinking by the Navy was the front zipper was too challenging to open whilst cold or wearing heavy gloves, and so they took inspiration from fireman's clothing of the time and changed the zip for hooks. Today the zip decks are far rarer than the already rare hook jackets, but (in my humble opinion) are a much better fit.
Built of a solid outer shell of durable blue jungle cloth, with a wool liner, these jackets were made to last in extremes. And last they did. This particular example is later for a zip deck. The contract number, 15462 dates it to October 1942, manufactured by Haverhill Sportswear in Massachusetts. However, given it's slight later manufacturing run for a zip deck, that means it includes the highly desirable US NAVY stencil to the reverse.
Condition
This example came to me in a complete mess. I believe the jacket has been nuked in a dryer, the lining badly shrunk, and a previous owner made a poor attempt to extend it. I've removed the old lining repairs and replaced them with much better crafted fabric, using original deck lining, matching the panel seams etc. The zipper has been replaced with a ghastly 70s Talon, which again I've removed and replaced with a NOS m41 Talon and even used a pull from an old pair of deck pants complete with original blue jungle cloth pull tab, and finally replaced some destroyed cuffs with a new set made from original WW2 knits. Fully restored as closely as possible to its orginal configuration.
Size
- Tagged a 36
- Fits a modern small/medium - I can get my 40" chest into it snuggly
- Pit to pit 21"
- Shoulder to shoulder 18"
- Shoulder to cuff 25"
- Collar to hem 25"