Combat Threads Weekly Roundup

Team USA's uniforms, a new archival resource, and video content

This is a Combat Threads roundup, a series of short thoughts and links. I hope to make this a more regular series going forward. Stay tuned for more Combat Threads this coming week.

(Team USA’s uniforms)

Team USA Olympic Uniform

Last night was the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. As usual, Team USA’s uniforms were designed by Ralph Lauren, who has been doing them for 20 years. As could be expected from Ralph, the opening ceremony uniforms are a mix of historical references with a dash of red, white, and blue. What caught my eye was the wool coat that all the athletes were wearing. Ralph Lauren went with a heavy white wool duffle coat – distinctive for its rope-and-wood toggle closures. These coats, like so much of traditional men’s clothing, has military roots, just not in the United States. The duffle coat is an iconic British military coat, most commonly worn by the Royal Navy. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery famously often wore one. The white style duffle coat is a reference to the Royal Navy’s Fearnought coats.

(Royal Navy sailors in duffle coats, via IWM)

All of this is to say, I found it a poor choice for Team USA’s uniform. The duffle coat could not be more British – Paddington wears one for Christ’s sake! It is as close to a national piece of outerwear as you could get. And the American outerwear closet is so deep and full of amazing designs that embody the best the nation has to offer. For example, an amazing reference to pull on would be the US Army’s WWII winter and ski parkas worn by, among others, the troops of the 10th Mountain Division that fought to help liberate Italy from Fascism. I could not think of a better reference to pull on. Ok, that’s enough of my backseat fashion designing.

(“M/Sgt. Stanley S. Osowski is shown the new type of reversible coat which can be used as camouflage both with and without snow on the ground. He is wearing the white side out and the hood over his helmet.” via War Department Archives)

War Department Archives

This week, a few of my good friends launched their new project, War Department Archives. This is a really cool project that offers access to a growing collection of primary source material — including official documents, technical manuals, photographs, correspondence, and more. All the WWII photos in this post come from their collection of 1000s of photographs already in the archive. Beyond photos, they have amazing unit documents, Quartermaster specifications, and you can submit requests for research you are looking for. If you have even a passing interest in WWII US military history, WD Archives is worth a look. And they are adding new documents and photos every week. (This is a reference to the WWII name of what is today the DoD; it has nothing to do with the Trump admin’s desire to rename the department.)

(“Members of a Parachute Infantry Battalion stationed in the French Alps, starting out on a regular patrol” via War Department Archives)

Standard & Strange Uniform Histories

One of my other day jobs is working with the amazing folks over at Standard & Strange. Recently, I have started hosting a bi-weekly video series breaking down the histories behind common military uniform pieces that are prominent in contemporary fashion. So far, I have tackled pieces such as the tanker jacket and the development of the US Army’s footwear in WWII. If you like Combat Threads, I am sure you will dig these videos. And if you have any ideas of what I should cover next, let me know!

Combat Threads Merch! kind of …

Long-time readers of Combat Threads will know that one facet of this project is to create one off objects and faithful reproductions. Like the reproduction WWII jungle sweaters or the reproduction Falklands War t-shirts I have done over the years. My latest is a bit different. I recently came across an amazing issue of the CPUSA-aligned magazine New Masses from July of 1944. The issue, the epitome of the broad popular front politics of the war years, is an endorsement of FDR’s 1944 reelection campaign. The cover is amazing, a striking woodcut portrait of FDR with each of his Four Freedoms represented below, and the cover line “Democracy’s Man” above. With an original issue in hand, I set about reproducing the whole issue and produced a small run of 20 professionally printed and stapled. Buy it for the amazing cover art and enjoy the entire issue, a window into the American Communist Party’s view of the war and American politics at the height of WWII. You can buy a copy here. These were really fun to produce, and I hope some of you will enjoy them as well.

Till next time,

C.W.M.