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Originally Posted by
Piobair
I’ve watched doublets and tunics from Pakistan go through an evolution in quality, so I was curious if their jackets were getting any better.
The thing is, there are so many Indian Subcontinent firms, they pop up all the time, they come and go, so that one can't make a general statement as to quality.
With doublets too, I've been watching I.S. doublets for 30 years and still today there are plenty of I.S. firms that make horrid ones, as well as the occasional firm that makes passable ones.
In one regard I.S. doublets have been steadily getting worse: length.
Actual military doublets have always been high-waisted, with the waist of the doublet at around elbow height. This is in line with traditional mens jackets of all sorts, and traditional mens trousers.
But mens trousers, both jeans and suit pants, have been made for years now with the waist several inches lower, at the hip bone, well below the natural waist.
Especially in the USA this has led to men having their kilts made shorter and shorter, the waist lower and lower, meaning that if you wear a traditional doublet with a modern American kilt there's a large gap. The I.S. doublet makers have responded by lengthening their doublets to a point where, to my traditional eye, they look absurd.
The only reliable good doublets I know of are the ones by Replicaters (yes the firm name is misspelt) and theirs are only reliably correct if you send them one to replicate.
Traditional Scottish-made Archer Green piper's doublet, made identically (Thos Gordon) for both military and civilian use.
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Being worn; note the waistbelt is worn elbow-height
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Modern I.S. doublet; the waist is a tad low, not too bad, the flaps are crudely shaped, the shells are made incorrectly
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Another modern I.S. doublet, absurdly long, waist at cuff height
Last edited by OC Richard; 16th September 19 at 03:06 AM.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
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