Vintage US Military Denim Utility Trousers, 1996 - L.M. Chapman, Wide Leg - W33"

Modern size: 33 x 29 (waist x inseam, in inches).

Condition is great, and the cloth is very soft - which on issue clothing means it was laundered industrially, over and over, for years. These were worn.

Tagged 35R and measuring a 33 waist. Flat, in inches: waist 33, rise 12, inseam 29, thigh 23, leg opening 24. With a twelve inch rise they sit at the natural waist. Nothing about the shape is accidental; it was specified.

His name is on these twice. The patch sewn across the back reads CHAPMAN. Inside, written in pen in his own hand: Name: Chapman, L.M. Service No. 1470.

The number is almost certainly a unit roster or laundry number rather than a federal identifier - the American military stopped issuing service numbers in 1974 and used social security numbers after that, so four digits on a 1996 garment is the kind of number a quartermaster assigns, like the name tapes in a club laundry.

The contract number dates these to the year. Military contract numbers are a procurement record printed inside a garment. SP0100 is the Activity Address Code for the Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia, the agency that bought the American military's clothing. 96 is the fiscal year: 1996. D is the contract type and 0309 the sequence number. The year in a contract number is when the contract was awarded, not necessarily when the trousers were cut; production can run a year or more behind. So: a 1996 contract, and a garment made to it.

The blend tells the same story. Sixty-five cotton to thirty-five polyester is a specification, not a fashion choice - written that way so the trousers would hold a press, survive industrial laundering and dry fast.

Gibraltar, P.R., Inc. sewed them in Puerto Rico, which is where a great deal of American military clothing was made. Then Chapman wore them, and wrote his name in the waistband so he would get them back.

One of one. Sold as found.

No returns - as is.