Multicam Military Men Long Sleeve Shirt

Knit body where you sweat, ripstop where you tear.

A full woven ripstop shirt is close to indestructible at the elbows and miserable across the back. Put a pack or a harness over one on a hot day and the whole torso soaks and stays soaked, because ripstop does not stretch and it does not breathe. So most blokes give up and wear a plain tee instead — and then the first bit of scrub, or a sharp edge on the tray, opens up a sleeve.

Neither failure is dramatic. It is just a shirt you stop wearing: one lives in the ute because it is too hot, the other gets torn and binned. Either way you are back to bare forearms in country where you wanted them covered.

This one is built the way the combat-shirt cut solves it — two different fabrics in the one garment. The torso and the underarms are a thin stretch knit, so the half of the shirt that sits under your pack straps moves and vents. From the shoulder out, the sleeves are woven ripstop with a shaped double layer over each elbow, so the abrasion lands on the tough half. A quarter-length zip at a stand-up collar lets you dump heat, or close it up when the wind gets into you.

Read the sizing before you order. The supplier prints its chart in Chinese sizes and says on the face of it to choose one to two sizes bigger. The labels on this listing have already been shifted one step down to suit that — the shirt sold here as S carries the supplier’s M tag, and so on up the range. The supplier still rates the cut as fitted rather than loose. The measured chart is in the Specs tab; go by the numbers, not by the letter.

What It Does

• Vents under a pack: the torso and underarms are a thin stretch knit, which is the half of the shirt that sits under straps and webbing all day.
• Takes the scrub: woven ripstop from the shoulder out, where a sleeve drags through branches, over a tray edge or along a rock face.
• Doubles up at the elbow: a shaped, stitched second layer over the point that wears through first when you are on your elbows or leaning on things.
• Carries small gear high: a hook-and-loop flap pocket on each upper sleeve, clear of a belt, a harness and a seatbelt.
• Takes patches: a loop panel on the face of each sleeve pocket for hook-backed name tapes, call signs or flags.
• Adjusts hot to cold: quarter-length zip and stand-up collar open for heat, close against wind and sun on the back of the neck.
• Seals the cuff: a hook-and-loop tab on each wrist so the sleeve sits over a glove or pulls in tight.

Key Features

• Two-fabric build: stretch knit torso and underarm, woven ripstop shoulders and sleeves — both weaves are visible in the close-up photographs.
• Quarter-length front zip: stand-up collar with a zip pull cord.
• Two upper-sleeve pockets: one on each arm, flap closed with hook-and-loop.
• Two loop patch panels: one on the face of each sleeve pocket.
• Shaped elbow reinforcement: a second layer of ripstop stitched over each elbow.
• Adjustable cuffs: hook-and-loop wrist tabs on both sleeves.
• Eight colourways: three camouflage prints — ACU, CP and Digital Jungle — plus Black, Navy, Grey, Khaki and Army Green as solids.
• Stated weight: 300 g, printed on the supplier’s own information panel.
• Five sizes: S, M, L, XL and XXL, with the full measured chart in the Specs tab.

Limits

• It runs small: the supplier chart says so in print. The XXL sold here measures 1140 mm around the chest, which is a slim XXL by Australian and New Zealand habits. Measure your chest and read the chart before you pick a letter.
• No protective rating of any kind: this is ordinary clothing. Nothing on it is marked or tested to a flame, cut, arc or UPF standard, and no certificate has been sighted. Do not wear it as protective clothing near heat, flame or moving machinery.
• Elbow pads are not included: the elbow is a reinforced fabric panel, not a pad pocket. The supplier chart states plainly that this listing is the shirt only — no trousers, no pads, no patches.
• Not waterproof, not windproof: no water-resistant treatment is stated by the supplier and none should be assumed. The knit torso will wet out.
• Fibre percentages are not stated: the supplier panel says cotton and polyester and rates the fabric elastic, but gives no split and names no elastane.
• It is not issued kit: the camouflage prints are the supplier’s own take on common camouflage families. They will not match an issued uniform, and nothing here is approved by any defence force or agency.

Q & A

I take an Australian XL. What do I order?

Measure your chest and work off the chart in the Specs tab rather than off the letter. The XL sold here measures 1100 mm around the chest and the supplier rates the cut as fitted, so it leaves very little room. If your chest sits near the top of a size, or you want to wear anything under it, take the next one up. If you are over 1140 mm around the chest, this shirt does not go big enough for you.

Is the whole shirt ripstop?

No, and that is the point of it. The torso and underarm panels are a stretch knit; the shoulders, sleeves and collar are woven ripstop. On the camouflage colourways you can see the split straight away, because the knit torso is a plain colour and the ripstop sleeves carry the pattern. On the solid colours both fabrics are the same shade, so it shows up better in the close-up photographs than on the model shots.

Do elbow pads or trousers come with it?

No. You get the shirt on its own. The elbow is a shaped double layer of ripstop stitched to the sleeve, not an open pocket for a pad. The supplier size-chart artwork states in plain terms that the listing covers the shirt only.

Will my patches stick to it?

There is a loop panel on the face of each sleeve pocket, so a hook-backed patch will attach. The supplier does not state the panel dimensions, so if you run an oversized patch, measure it against the photographs before you count on it fitting.

Is this genuine issued kit?

No. It is a civilian shirt cut in a style borrowed from service clothing, sold for hunting, shooting, four-wheel driving, paintball, airsoft and general outdoor work. It carries no defence force or agency approval, and the prints are lookalike camouflage rather than any issued pattern. Buy it because the two-fabric build works, not because of what the pattern suggests.

How should I wash it?

No care instructions come with this listing and no care label is legible in the supplier photographs. Treat it as a cotton and polyester blend with a knit panel: cool machine wash, no bleach, and keep it out of a hot dryer so the knit does not shrink against the woven sleeves.

Specs

Size Chart

Taken from the supplier’s own printed chart. The supplier states these are hand measurements with a tolerance of 10–30 mm, and does not state whether they are taken on the body or flat on the garment. The supplier tag column is the size printed on the label you will actually receive — the store labels sit one step below it, so the shirt arrives tagged one size larger than the one you ordered.