EC Does It,
Have you no imagination, us freight dogs got around the problem years ago. We have them printed on the T-shirt shoulders, problem solved.
I have heard many theories re engineers having maroon between the gold. Every one feasible. Basically all the colours were carried over from the navy. In the Netherlands these colours were used to denote different functions, although I recall only Maroon being used with British companies. Also, only the French and Belgians retained the cirlicue (hope that how it is spelt), on the upper ring. Italians use a star above the top ring to denote training captain.
Any more variations to chew over a beer or two?