Upgraded uniforms aren't even new issue, but the old uniform being returned with the extra stripes.
You were lucky. My old outfit used to send you to uniform stores to be issued with two strips of gold braid which you sewed onto your jacket yourself! In fairness though, they did give you a new set of epaulettes.
And the point about hats in emergencies - early item on the evac. checklist IIRC was "Captain....Don cap". I noticed recently that Easy flightdeck don't wear hats (or wings?) but they do have a little orange label on the seam of their jackets - rather in the style of London Transport uniforms. Nice.