Quality of At The Front "imports" vs others
 

Hi guys,

I was wondering if anyone has ordered uniforms from At the Front and compared it with uniforms from other retailers. I was looking at this particular tunic:
http://www.atthefrontshop.com/Produc...ctCode=gujss43

ATF says this about their imported tunics:
"The first, and most affordable, are the "Imported" uniforms. These are made in China, by Sturm/Miltec."

Since those are made in China, how are they in comparison vs the ones in hikishop.net(or any other retailer)

http://hikishop.net/wwii-german-m43-...-ss-p-541.html

I haven't ordered from at the front yet...but have ordered lots of stuff from Hiki including a M43 tunic and pants (HBT version). I have nothing to compare to, but I find the quality pretty decent. I've had no issue with any of the clothing that I have purchased from Hiki. :)

Another good site to order from is gavinmilitaria - http://www.gavinmilitaria.com/index....&cPath=2_36_98.

I have ordered a M36 greatcoat, a m36 feldbluse and m37 trousers from them; and the quality of the wool is very good and the price are very decent.

The tunic costs $99 on ATF, $40 on hiki and $75 on Gavinmilitaria.
ATF says their is made by Sturm/Miltec and Gavinmilitaria says they make theirs themselves. I asked hiki who is the manufactuer for their's, but no response yet.

With the differences in prices, I would really like to know the differences in quality. Also, in terms of colour, Gavinmilitaria and ATF has looks more greyish while hiki's tunic look a bit more greenish. What's up with that?

Hard to tell by the pics... all tones are ok.. grey to greenish were all seen

I guess the only way is to check who made the uniforms. Please check to see if there are tags on your uniforms indicating who the manufactuer is. Hessenantique is selling the same Sturm/Miltec tunic as ATF for $20 more. If the $40 tunic on hiki is also by Sturm/Miltec, I'll just buy it from them.

The colours in the online pics can be very misleading...depending on lighting, flash...etc.

I checked my M43 and Dot44, no tags except for size.

ATF are known to be pretty much top of the line.

However (I don't know for the tunics) on certain items they buy from Sturm and change a few things.

Best example would be the ATF Haversack. It's actually a Sturm Haversack. But the Sturm Haversack has wrong spacing for the holes and cheap buttons. ATF change all of them.

And charge you more.

While I am not a fan of Hikishop myself, I have met plenty of people that have been more than satisfied will what they have received.

There cannot be much difference in quality between an Asian made $40 tunic and a $99 tunic also made in Asia. Neither of them are "spot on" reproductions.

Look at it this way, the top of the line (made in Mexico?) SM Wholesale SS tunics go for $300. The At The Front custom made ones for for $600.

If you are getting this tunic to play WW2 airsoft what would you rather get torn or ripped apart in the field?

The $40 / $99 tunic that looks the part for 1 to 4 games a year or the $300 / $600 that is as close to an exact copy as you can buy?

^ This

My personal favorite is WPG. Great prices, lots of reviews, super fast shipping and great inventory.

Not much good for German Tunics though

Hmm must depend of the product you choose yeah. I got two sets of US trousers and they were both top notch. And ATF US holsters (1916) are actually WPG holsters resold by ATF.

You can't go wrong with the quality of ATF product. They're reenactors as well ant pay close attention to detail. I bought their M39 jackboots and am pretty happy with them.

ATF good
Hiki good
Gavin no experience with them but haven't heard of any negativity from any of the other reenactors items.

I just got a reply from Hiki regrading who their manufacturer is:

"thank you for the message. i'm Hiki, the manufacturer. i own a garment factory and leather workshop."

Just be aware that WGP ship from Saudi Arabia even if the company is from the US... Got raped on shipping by them.