Uniform Prices

[Jumping_Jack]

Hey have any other currently serving folks spotted the MAHOOSIVE increase in uniform costs since April?! Just been to clothing stores, shirts have doubled in price (for identical item), Oxford shoes have gone up from £47 to £130!!!!!!! Can we expect a doubling of our tax allowance to compensate? Jog on.......:ouch: (and no, I'm not feeling 'valued' yet....)

[GipsyMagpie]

Good job as aircrew I wear my all-purpose drinking tracksuit all day long. I think I saw my blues lurking at the back of my wardrobe a few months ago but not sure.

[Wander00]

Oxford shoes - try www.samuel-windsor.co.uk/‎
[/URL]
or [URL="http://www.savilerowco.com"]www.savilerowco.com (https://www.google.co.uk/search?site=&source=hp&q=Samuel+Windsor&oq=Samuel+Windsor&gs_l=hp.3..0l10.2265.9898.0.11531.14.14.0.0.0.0.231.2817.0j6 j8.14.0...0.0...1c.1.18.hp.OdxfCD8pZuw#) (no connection). Big discounts and SWs shoes are excellent

[Bastardeux]

I bought a marcello shirt recently and the stores lady took great delight in pointing out that if I had bought it a day earlier then I would have saved myself £4!

[CoffmanStarter]

Are they still those crap officers shoes from Bata out of Stores ?

[SirToppamHat]

Last time I tried to get Oxpats in stores they only had Size 14 because all the others were withdrawn due to the rubber patches falling off the soles (so they said). Maybe they've sourced some decent ones and the price reflects this (+ a significant mark-up).

Anyway, wasn't there talk of free uniforms for all? The tax relief is OK for a few shirts a year and the odd pair of trousers/DMS shoes, but as soon as anything significant needs replacing, it's nowhere near.

STH

[Just This Once...]

Would explain the rubber sole falling out of my Oxpats after just 6 months. Didn't pay the silly price quoted so the idea that the replacements will cost £130 is just mad.

Can we treat stores like any other shop and return stuff that is clearly not up to the job and demand a refund / replacement?

[Wensleydale]

I always found that Clarks did a good line in oxford shoes that were superior to those in stores and cheap enough when bought in the sales!:ok:

[CoffmanStarter]

Guys ...

Just did a random search ... How about £10.95 a pop for a shirt ?

MANS ROYAL AIR FORCE BLUE SHIRT (http://www.cadetdirect.com/order1.php?pg=2131)

They also do DMS Shoes at £44.95 a pop ...

Looks like MOD Supplier kit.

Best

Coff.

[Haraka]

Eddie Bedford in Newark was my favoured outfitter.
This was after I threatened one of the "official" outfitters with court action following a dispute over an item paid for in cash that turned up 18 months later on my account.
I let them go though all the litany of increasingly offensive letters, always replying protesting my innocence, before finally producing the receipt.
No apology of course.

I never could understand why I had some flunky draw around my foot for the "fitting" of my OP shoes.
These, then, after great cost to my uniform allowance, turned up stamped "SIZE 10".

[Pontius Navigator]

JJ et al, the uniform tax relief is a deal made between the MOD and HMRC. It is not part of your pay.

I suggest you do the following:

Get stores to give you a price for every item of basic uniform clothing from head to foot. Then ask them the expected life of each item. Then calculate the cost of replacement of all the items over the longest period.

For instance, say a wooly pulley lasts 5 years, shirts 2, shoes 18 months, then add up the cost of one pulley, 8 shirts, 3.5 pairs of shoes etc. Divide by the longest period and you get an annual replacement cost.

When I did this sum it was near the £367 that it was until a couple of years ago. In other words I was getting my full entitlement of tax relief. Other items such as No 1s, 5s, SD Hat etc are extras.

Then, if you file a tax return you can claim the additional cost of routine items over the basic relief given at source. Then if you replace the extra items claim their cost too. Keep receipts for everything should the tax man challenge.

In addition to the replacement costs you can also claim maintenance costs. Keep dry cleaning bills, and it you really want to go there, calculate the cost of laundry items as well.

In Mrs PN's case her union agree relief was £18 per year. We claimed around £200 to cover daily laundry and ironing (she was a nurse and sometimes had several changes in a day). They paid without demur.

If you live in a growbag day in and day out then morally you should not try and claim more. You certainly can't claim growbag laundry costs as these should be laundered at work as should all dirty work clothes - H&S would you believe.

[Melchett01]

Can we treat stores like any other shop and return stuff that is clearly not up to the job and demand a refund / replacement?

I find trousers are the worst - I am on my 6th pair in 18 months. I recently got said 6th pair from Stores and whilst there complained that this was the 6th pair as they kept shrinking. At first I thought it was just me, more time in the gym and less time in the biscuit barrel required; but when I started getting comments about trousers at half mast along with still being able to easily fit into my original No1s and 5s, I was pretty well convinced that the trousers do actually shrink over a short period of time. Stores' answer was that I was supposed to get them dry cleaned each week rather than wash them. And how much would that cost I wonder?!

My answer was to get a pair of trousers a size too big and long in the hope that they last 12 months rather than the usual 6. Alternatively, as I am working in an Army heavy HQ environment, I suspect I could get away with wearing PCS. Whilst more than happy to pay for uniform, if the MOD persists in flogging cheap tat that isn't fit for purpose, I may well just go into PCS permanently, only digging blues out as required.

[Pontius Navigator]

If the care label says dry clean then they sound like the cr^p M&S used to sell (we always check M&S care labels). If the label says machine wash then Stores are liable just like any other outlet.

IIRC I have once in the dim and distant past had an exchange.

If the label is dry clean, and you chose that route, then add the dry cleaning bills (keep receipts) to your tax expenses.

But I remember a time when you could not buy the stuff from stores and bought it off a snooker table in the Mess from one of the itinerate military tailors.

[Melchett01]

PN,

The label says dry clean OR machine wash as wool. But clearly putting them anywhere near a washing machine cuses them to shrink. Apparently the new Army FAD trousers are the same as our trousers ... I wonder if there will be an increase in quality as a result.

[Tankertrashnav]

But I remember a time when you could not buy the stuff from stores and bought it off a snooker table in the Mess from one of the itinerate military tailors.


Indeed PN. A tight-arsed stude on my nav course at Gaydon insisted on continuing to wear the hairy blue No 2 he had been issued with, in spite of the fact that everyone else had ditched theirs after leaving South Cerney. He was impervious to the mockery he received and continued to wear it until we raided his room on 5th November and put his hairy BD on the guy on the station bonfire.

"They're burning some poor sod's uniform", he was heard to remark, as he watched it go up in flames.

[dallas]

I left in 2009 and just before then there was a feedback system for crap uniform called Threads (I think). I don't know if their submission achieves anything individually, but you would hope that if everyone uses them as intended it would highlight shoddy kit? I submitted one against the DMS shoes issued around 2002 when they went slightly pointier in the toe and ended up nearly crippling me just through normal daily wear.

[Gnd]

The other option is join the Army, they get given the uniform - I am sure that makes them feel valued?

[Pontius Navigator]

TTN, I am surprised it lasted that long. My initial issue trousers wore out half way through initial training. As it happens I was picked up to do a visit to my old school as ADC to Sir Gus Walker. I took a few minutes out to visit the old SSI and swap my old pair for a new pair.

Not long after that we all got our Barathea No 2s which lasted a good few years as after training I got a V-force zuit suit.

PS,

Back on the OP, I remember the initial issue of black socks. Two pairs of practically indestructible heavy duty ones and two pairs of lighter ones for use with shoes. The lightweight ones were, I think, about 1951 vintage and 10 years old. Holding the grip top firmly and pulling them on the top simply parted from the sock.

I had to buy some new ones from my clothing allowance. These were a nylon mix and I still have one pair, now vintage, that are still near perfect except for one hole in the upper part. I shall be putting them on eBay in 2021, their 50th birthday. [I just sold my grandfather's toiletry case on eBay even though it was falling to bits].

[BEagle]

These were a nylon mix and I still have one pair, now vintage, that are still near perfect except for one hole in the upper part. I shall be putting them on eBay in 2021, their 50th birthday. [I just sold my grandfather's toiletry case on eBay even though it was falling to bits].


I've heard of some odd things being sold on eBay, but a pair of old socks and grandad's sponge bag must be just about the weirdest!

[pasir]

Further to the quality of army vs airforce uniform issue -
After ww2 Dickins and Jones of Sloane St were selling US army airforce surplus battledress tops and trousers - being almost identical to British issue with the big difference that the US quality, cut fit and attention to detail were absolutely superb. Photos exist in various books showing the late General Montgomery dressed in US ARMY kit although most probably assumed the photo showed him wearing British issue. Not sure if present day items of US airforce issue would match RAF shades but there may still be a well known forces surplus store near Euston Rd that may be worth a visit for some items.

[Pontius Navigator]

BEagle, don't you believe it, 40 year old worn acrylan pile underwear, aircrew shirts (well used), socks ditto, the green pongo T-shirts (like a nightshirt or for commando), 30 year old flying boots (the buyer - she - was delighted), 30 year old lightweight flying boots.

If it is vintage someone will buy it. If it is newer some scally will by it.

[BEagle]

It beats me why anyone would bother to keep 40 year old socks and underwear, let alone try to sell it.....

Don't you feel any shame?

[NutLoose]

These were a nylon mix and I still have one pair, now vintage, that are still near perfect except for one hole in the upper part

Of course they have PN, how else would one put ones foot in it :p