Uniforms and real life performance opinions

[wannalancit]

So my son is a couple months away from crossing over into Boy Scouts. Soon he will be investing in a new uniform. The question is which one? If you go on scoutstuff.org you can get the Centennial Supplex Nylon Shirt. Or you can get the Centennial Cotton Rich Poplin Shirt. Or you can get the Polyester Microfiber Shirt.

For pants there is the Centennial Canvas Convertible Pants, or the Centennial Switchbacks Uniform Pants, or the Polyester Microfiber Switchbacks.

Looking for opinions on how well they hold up in real life.

 

Thanks

 

[Basementdweller]

depends on the type of troop

 

Active in the outdoors the microfleece is hard to beat......Washes up good in a fire bucket, dries quickly at camp....It is cooler when no cotton shirt is worn under it. Had mine for nearly a year...

 

I have a variety of shirts, the micro fleece is the one I usually grab....

[OwntheNight]

I just picked up the microfiber tan for my soon to be Webelos partly because of Base's advice and my son liked how it felt, it is very soft and comfy. I do like the vented back on it after looking at it, Might have to pick one up for myself!

 

I have 2 of the original Centennial uni's the 67/33 blend. Those are nice for formal stuff, since they don't look so wrinkled and keep their characteristics, but man those things get warm during spring and summer!

 

Some of the new boys in the troop are starting to get either the nylon or the microfiber shirts as well. The older boys have the cotton shirts, and of course once we hit the campsite, those are off and the boys are in their troop activity shirts. We do go with a supplex activity shirt. Those are my personal t-shirt of choice, for everyday use now.

 

Same thing with convertible canvas pants, I have a pair of those and they look great for formal occasions, but they get warm as well. Get them wet and they just feel heavy and don't completely dry out, especially during a rainy weekend. I've found myself going to the switchbacks for my daily activity pants.They take any abuse I give them. I just wish they would put the boot zippers back on them like the old switchbacks. SIGH! I haven't tried the microfiber pants yet, but haven't seen too many reviews yet for their durability, they just look like a real light version of the switchbacks.

 

Now if they could get all the coloring the same for all the uniforms, so we could actually look uniform wearing the different combinations, then supply would be onto something.

[Deaf Scouter]

I would refrain from getting the backpacking one. One doesn't wear it backpacking anyways as they wear Tees. We never even packed our uniform in the backpack because of their weight. (this might change with the new uniforms so please refrain from killing me on this remark.. *grins)

 

The new backpacking ones are TERRIBLE for adding on patches as they slide against the patches even if one staples before hand. This will make it tough if one is pushing scouts to do their own sewing. Prefer the polyster/ cotton blend any day.. *smiles

[Basementdweller]

no idea that the BSA had a new backpacking Uniform shirt??????

 

I am interested could you provide a link???

[dkurtenbach]

OwntheNight wrote: "Now if they could get all the coloring the same for all the uniforms, so we could actually look uniform wearing the different combinations, then supply would be onto something."

 

Back when they were moving to the newer version of the Switchback pants, I bought four more pairs of the original Switchbacks on the ScoutStuff buy one/get one free sale. That made five pairs altogether that I own, and I wear them a lot -- and wash them a lot. They have all faded to different degrees and to different shades, ranging from light gray/green to brown. But they are all still going strong. I did alter them a bit by running shock cord through the bottom hems -- the elastic hems now fit snugly over my boots, both to help keep out ticks and other critters, and take care of those slightly too long pant legs.

 

I've got the Supplex nylon shirt as my "troop" shirt and the microfiber shirt as my "district" shirt. Overall, I prefer the look and fit of the Supplex nylon shirt over the microfiber. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of the microfiber shirt is that it doesn't have that danged "smokes" pocket that is on the sleeve of the nylon shirt. With a patch sewn on it, that thing always catches when I'm trying to put on a jacket. Besides the vented back, the chest pockets on the microfiber shirt have rounded corners, the "Boy Scouts of America" and flag are embroidered, and the pockets both have buttons on the underside of the flaps for hanging doo-dads.

 

Dan Kurtenbach

Fairfax, VA

[Deaf Scouter]

Basement...

Columbia shirts just came out this past week. Here is the link for them:

http://www.scoutstuff.org/bsa/apparel/mens/shirts/shrt-ss-sr-stocklogo.html

 

The backpacking ones I'm referring to is here under Supplex:

http://www.scoutstuff.org/bsa/uniforms-insignia/mens/shirts/centennial-boy-scout-male-leader-short-sleeve-supplex-nylon-uniform-shirt.html

 

All the offerings for men:

Shirts:

http://www.scoutstuff.org/bsa/apparel/mens/shirts.html

 

Uniform shirts:

http://www.scoutstuff.org/bsa/uniforms-insignia/mens/shirts.html

 

Have fun Scouting clothing.. *teasing grin

[blw2]

What's the idea behind those columbia shirts?

They don't look like uniform shirts, so are they meant jsut for casual wear?...

....an alternative to pack activity T-shirts?

[blw2]

To the orginal poster's question.... unfortunatly I don't have a lot of miles on it yet, but I just started in leadership and bought the microfiber uniform shirt.

I was a bit worried about how well it will hold up..... seems like it would have a tendancy to get 'picked' a lot. (like in a briar patch, there would be threads pulled out all over the place....). I have been told that they hold up well.

I can confirm that it is comfortable and looks good.

 

Re Def Scouter's point of difficulty sewing patches on. I was able to do it without much trouple on the microfiber, but do recognize what you mean. the first few patches I sewed on, i used some leftover badge magic stick-up that I had, to hold the patches into place while sewing. I had to remove and resew one patch becuse the fabric sort of pillowed under teh patch and it didn't lay right....

[Deaf Scouter]

blw2...

I don't even bother to spending money for that magic stuff.

I googled online for a way to teach the scouts how to do their own since parents are too busy these days after seeing a comment in one of the boards here. I really liked the idea of it being the scouts responsibility and now carry thread, needles and stapler in our mailbox. Pins have a tendency to stick a scout which is why I liked the stapler method. Stapling it beforehand holds it in perfect place for sewing. Try it on the nylon and you'll quickly see how difficult the sleeves are.