WWII BRITISH BERETS TRAITS AND CONSTRUCTION

[ASR142]

The leather band on the industries examples are thicker and wider than the other makers and tend to be a lot smother in all better made than all of the others being attached by 2 stitched lines all the way round . There are 3 lines of stitching which holds the leather band and internal stiffening material to the brim of the beret in place which is 1 more than the other makers also note the internal lose stitch is in fact a 4th line of machine stitching which is unique to this maker
1st , 2nd & 3rd pictures show the stitching and the leather internal patch
4th and 5th pictures show the difference in width and texture of the leather band which is finished in the lap over method .

[ASR142]

The makers stamping is set in a smaller diamond shape than other makers and appears not to edged in any manor for the machinist to follow round the internal brim is done the same as kangol other than the extra row of stitching which the pictures show below .
note on this example appears to have a AID ( ARMY INSPECTION DEPARTMENT ) stamp rather than a WD stamp to the center .

[ASR142]

Hi Guys
I found a scarce / rare example example this week a 1942 dated green / brown Kangol wear ltd beret which has the the makers date stamp for 1942 with a wd inspection date stamp for 1943 so it appears to be a late 1942 made example which did not get checked until 1943 here's some pics Steve
ps it came in with some uniform bits from the same regt THE AJMER REGIMENT including a service dress jacket with bullion 26TH Indian division patches , a KD jacket made in Calcutta with AJMER shoulder slides with the rank of captain sadly no name .

[ASR142]

A FAIRLY GOOD LIST OF THE DATE CODES IS BELOW THESE ARE TAKEN FROM EXAMPLES I HAVE OR HAD , PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE LETTER CODES CAN ON OCCASIONS APPEAR ON EARLY DATED BERETS BUT NEVER LATER EXAMPLES THIS IS DUE TO THE STOCK BEING IN PILES TO BE GONE THROUGH AND THE TIME OF YEAR THAT ITEMS GET INSPECTED .
DATE CODES NOTE THE N IS INVERTED TO SHOW THE LAST BATCH IN A CONTRACTED NUMBER DURING 1944 - 1945
1937 = T
1938 = S
1939 = R ALSO A PLAIN W/l\D HAS BEEN NOTED FOR THIS YEAR
1940 = Q
1941 = P
1942 = O
1943 = N
1944 = M OR Z
1945 = L OR Z ALSO A PLAIN W/l\D HAS BEEN NOTED FOR THIS YEAR
1946 = K + SEE BERET INDUSTRIES WITH 1946 & A Z
1947 = J , R MAY BE A LATE 1947 A E STAMP APPEARS ON BERETS FOR THIS YEAR
1948 = I , R
1949 = A
1950 = B
1951 = B & C
1952 = C / D
1953 = J
1954 = M & O
1955 = S & T POSS LATE 55 & CHECKED IN 1956
1956 = T
1961 = X Not seen a WD stamp arfter this date this example was in a 1961 dated beret . the army wd stamp went over to a arrow and a 3 or 4 digit number .

[ASR142]

PLEASE DO NOT ADD TO THIS THREAD SEE THE 1ST POST ANY POSTS WILL BE DELETED STEVE

[ASR142]

A good scarce example of the early pre 1944 example shown is 1943 dated beret industries internal marking before they changed it to the later type shown in post in the 43 or earlier examples the lettering is all the same size whereas in the later ones the 1st letters in each word are larger the early berets dont turn up and are extremely hard to find this one is a RTR / RAC black example and has the wd stamp to the internal rim the lettering is smaller overall nice rare example its taken a while to find a good example with clear lettering of this beret for this thread .

[ASR142]

PLEASE DO NOT ADD TO THIS THREAD SEE THE 1ST POST ANY POSTS WILL BE DELETED STEVE