The Redback Company, an outdoor clothing brand, they can be found by doing the clicky linky thing on this…
‘Outdoor clothing’ can cover a lot of bases the Military being one of them.
I was sent their Cierzro Shirt in all three flavours.
Interesting name…
…from Wiki (so it must be true) …” The cierzo is a strong, dry and usually cold wind that blows from the North or Northwest through the regions of Aragon, La Rioja and Navarra in the Ebro valley in Spain.”
Which, given the purpose of the shirt the name makes sense.
Those of us of a certain age will recognize the Cierzo as an update of the Zoot suit of ‘70s and ‘80s.
The Zoot suit was/is deemed an essential piece of equipment for SF and Para units. Originally made from old parachutes and used in the jungle for Wet and Dry drills.
This new iteration is just as good as the original.
Background
As I previously stated I was sent three of the shirts in OG/OD, camo and a very limited-edition genuine military parachute fabric (only 12 have been made).
Redback’s CEO understands this doesn’t mean that the review is guaranteed to be favourable.
Description
The two standard shirts are cut to same pattern and have the same design with the limited edition sharing the design but with manufacturing driven differences.
The, let’s just say green one, is made of a translucent 30D ripstop nylon.
The website says it weighs in at only 125g which is light as it is.
On our kitchen scales it says 100g…even lighter!
And when packed in it’s stuff sack it’s compact.
The camo one is of similar design and weight but since you’re all sceptics out there.
Bear in mind that the shirts aren’t compressed into the bags, so they will go into an ammo pouch, I know “ammo pouches are for ammo”…, very easily or, as shown below, British Tactical’s Micro Utility Pouch.
Just how do they achieve this? Well lightweight material helps but so does stripping the garment right down to the very very basics. There are no zips, toggles, cord locks or loop fields, just the basics done well. The manufacture is sound, well thought out and executed.
All internal seams are chain stitched and lie flat for comfort. At the waist and wrists there is an unusual detail known as Bonnadex and as I understand can only be done at a few places in Britain.
What is Bonnadex? well to the layman, me and you, it’s a fancy way of stitching the elastic into the hem and involves four parallel lines of stitching…
This makes for a comfortable fit without cutting off your circulation at the wrists. The Limited edition lacks the Bonnadex detail as the nature of the material and the cut wouldn’t go through the machine…
The shirts are also all manufactured in the UK.
Opinion
These things are great, worn underneath a damp outer layer to keep you warm or as a light outer layer when getting your admin on.
They’re not waterproof but they are windproof.
The camo shirt as you can imagine lends itself to the military as does the green, in fact all three styles lend themselves to anyone of the outdoor persuasion.
The Green shirt being translucent does show a shadow of whatever you’re wearing under it.
In Summary
A nice, simple well-designed shirt, if you’re going to make something simple, make it well. This is exactly what The Redback Company has done, a simple no frills garment made to a high standard.
It packs away to next to nothing so there is no excuse not to have it to hand.
I’m loathe to return these but Redback will be getting some of my hard earned… well cash!
Ratings
- Cost – £££: £36.99 ($45.99) with VAT comparable with what’s out there.
- Value for money 1-5: 4, Always nice to get VFM.
- Ease of use 1-5: 5, simple, it goes over your head, what can be simpler?
- Construction 1-5: 5, can’t fault it, no loose threads that I can find and it’s robust despite its looks.
- Allyness 1-5:
4 for the standard
6 for the Limited edition very old school and a one off.
This Kit Pest Review was written by Gorgeous Jim Shoebridge and reposted on Spotterup.com Hopefully you enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts or comments related to this article then leave a comment!