Army Military Police Security Uniform

The pads are in the gear, not in your crib bag.

Strap-on knee pads are the first thing you stop bothering with. They twist, they slide down your shin by smoko, and after the third time you pull them off to get in the ute they live in the toolbox instead of on your knees. Then you spend the afternoon kneeling on gravel and steel with nothing between you and it, and by the end of the week the trousers have gone through at the knee anyway.

This is a long-sleeve shirt and a pair of cargo trousers sold together, with the padding built into the garment. Two hard-shell knee pads slide into pockets in the trouser legs. Two elbow pads slide into pockets in the shirt sleeves. Four pads in the box, and all four are in place the moment you get dressed rather than sitting in a bag somewhere.

The rest of it is cut for moving. There are stretch panels above each knee and across the back of the waist, so squatting and reaching does not pull the cloth tight, and the sleeve and ankle cuffs cinch down with hook-and-loop to keep dust and grass seed out.

It is styled like a service uniform. That is styling, not provenance. This is not the uniform of any army, police force, security firm or other agency, no service issues it, no service approves it, and wearing it gives you no authority, no entitlement and no standing of any kind. It is a shirt and a pair of trousers with pads in them. Everything it is not is set out under Limits below.

What It Does

• Carries its own padding: two knee pads and two elbow pads come with the set and slide into pockets in the garment, so there is nothing to strap on and nothing to leave behind.
• Moves when you squat: elastic panels sit above each knee and across the back waist instead of a single flat piece of cloth.
• Shuts out the dust: hook-and-loop cuffs at both wrists and both ankles pull in over gloves and boots.
• Keeps small kit on you: pockets on the thighs, the calves, both hips, the seat and both sleeves, several of them zipped.
• Vents where you sweat: the shirt body is a knit panel and only the sleeves and shoulders are the heavier woven camouflage, so a pack or a vest sits on the breathable part.
• Ten colourways, eight sizes: every combination is the same price, so you pick on fit and pattern rather than on cost.

Key Features

• Four pads included: two knee and two elbow, each a hard outer shell over a padded backing. They appear alongside the shirt and trousers in the supplier's photograph of every colourway.
• Pads are removable: they sit in pockets rather than being sewn in, so the garment can be worn without them.
• Quarter-zip stand collar: the shirt opens at the throat with a short zip and closes up to a stand collar under a chin strap or a pack strap.
• Two sleeve pockets: one flap pocket on each upper arm, closed with hook-and-loop.
• Loop panels on the shoulders: a hook-and-loop panel on each shoulder takes a name tape or a patch if you want one there.
• Reinforced elbows and seat: a second layer of cloth over the elbows and across the seat and hips, where a garment like this wears through first.
• Trouser pocket layout: slant hand pockets on both sides, cargo pockets on both thighs, a pocket low on each calf, flap pockets at the rear and zipped openings at one rear pocket and one thigh.
• Elastic waist section: the back of the waistband is a stretch panel, with ordinary belt loops around the rest of it.
• Adjustable ankle cuffs: a hook-and-loop tab at each hem draws the cuff in over a boot.
• Full size run published: the supplier's own shirt and trouser measurement charts are reproduced as text under Specs, in centimetres and millimetres.

Limits

• Not issued kit: this is a workwear-styled shirt and trouser set. It is not the uniform of any army, police force, security firm, emergency service or government agency, none of them issues it, approves it or has anything to do with it, and wearing it confers no rank, no authority and no entitlement. The shoulder panels are blank hook-and-loop, not insignia.
• The pads are comfort padding: they spread the load when you kneel or lean on your elbow. No impact rating is printed on them, none is published, and no part of this set is tested or marked to EN 14404, the standard for knee protection for work in a kneeling position. Treat them as padding, not as protective equipment.
• Not certified workwear: no standard is printed on the garment and the supplier claims none. There is no flame, arc, cut or high-visibility rating, and no part of it is tested or marked to AS/NZS 4602.1 for high-visibility clothing or to EN ISO 11612 for heat and flame. If your site specifies rated clothing, this is not it.
• Not waterproof: the supplier's own artwork calls it "slightly waterproof" and shows water beading on the cloth. That describes a water-repellent finish, not a waterproof garment, and no rating or test standard sits behind it. It will shed a shower. It will wet through in steady rain and it has no taped seams.
• Fibre percentages are not published: the supplier lists the fibres as cotton, polyester and Lycra and stops there. No percentage split appears on the listing or on any supplier photograph, and we are not going to invent one for you.
• Three size scales disagree: the weight ranges printed in the size dropdown, the weight column on the shirt chart and the weight column on the trouser chart are all different. So is a fourth height-and-weight grid the supplier publishes. Go by the chest, waist and hip measurements under Specs and ignore the kilograms.
• Shirt chart stops early: 4XL and 5XL are offered in the dropdown, but the supplier publishes no shirt measurements beyond 3XL. Trouser measurements do run to 5XL and beyond.
• Colour names can mislead: one swatch image supplied under the name Desert Digital shows a green woodland digital pattern rather than a desert one. Judge the pattern from the photographs on this page, not from the name.
• Nothing else included: belts, boots, caps, helmets, gloves and eyewear all appear in the supplier's photographs. None of them is included.

Q & A

Is this genuine army or police issue?

No. It is a commercial workwear set cut in a service-uniform style and sold to anyone. No army, police force, security firm or agency issues it, approves it or is connected to it in any way, and it carries no insignia beyond blank hook-and-loop panels on the shoulders. It is styling, not provenance.

Do the knee and elbow pads actually come with it?

Yes. Two knee pads and two elbow pads are photographed alongside the shirt and trousers in every colourway the supplier shows. They slide into pockets in the trouser legs and the shirt sleeves and can be taken out again.

I am 178cm (1780 mm) and 82kg. What size do I take?

Measure yourself and read the charts under Specs rather than trusting the kilogram ranges, because they conflict. Measure around the fullest part of your chest and take the shirt row whose chest figure is a few centimetres larger. Do the same with your waist and your hips on the trouser chart. For what it is worth, at 178cm (1780 mm) and 82kg the shirt chart lands you on XL — but on the trouser chart your height points at XL and your weight points at XXL. That is exactly why the waist and hip figures are the ones to use.

Will it keep me dry?

Not in real rain. The supplier calls the finish "slightly waterproof", which is a repellent coating with no rating behind it, and there are no taped seams. It will shed a passing shower and beading is shown in the supplier's own photograph. Standing out in steady rain, you will get wet.

Can I wear this on a mine site or a construction site?

That depends entirely on what your site specifies, and the site rules are the thing to read. Nothing on this set carries a rating, so anywhere that calls for high-visibility, flame-resistant or otherwise rated clothing, it will not satisfy the requirement. Where it earns its keep is private property, farm work, hunting, four-wheel driving, land management, paintball and airsoft, and general work where no standard is specified.

What is the cloth actually made of?

Cotton, polyester and Lycra, which is the supplier's own listing of the fibres. What they do not publish is the percentage split, or which fibre goes where, so the shirt body, the sleeves and the trouser cloth cannot be broken down individually. The supplier's artwork does describe the shirt body as a breathable sweat-wicking knit and the panels above the knees and across the back waist as an elastic camouflage fabric.

How long will it take to arrive?

Ten to fourteen days from the day you order, and it is worth allowing up to three weeks. Regional and remote addresses take longer again. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs

Shirt Measurements

The supplier's own shirt chart, reproduced as text. Measure a shirt that fits you and compare, or measure around the fullest part of your chest and pick the row a few centimetres larger. Height and weight are the supplier's suggestion only, and they do not agree with the ranges printed in the size dropdown.

Trouser Measurements

The supplier's own trouser chart, reproduced as text for the eight sizes sold here. The chart continues to 8XL, but those sizes are not offered.

The charts are reproduced as the supplier published them, including the places where they contradict each other. The tidy version would be our guess rather than their data.