This is one of those things that's been in development-hell. For around two years it's been appearing on screen, and every time, we're inundated with questions about where you can get one.
Slowly creeping up in price and dwindling in stock on the second-hand market, we've decided to totally dunk on said second-hand market for Reversible Desert Night Camo Parkas, keeping all the looks and feels of the originals.
By the time the commonly issued "fishtail" parka and over-trousers in Desert Night Camo were issued, Soviet night vision technology had already gotten good enough to defeat the engineering of DNC. Worse yet, it was found out that it was more visible than the regular desert uniforms and sometimes even overwhites through Gen 3 Night vision less than 2 decades later.
So why does every gear-queer from here to the moon love DNC still? Ivan's answer is: "I mean, look at it."
The reversible Gore-Tex parka made by Adventure-Tech (and others) later emerged with the updated 3-color desert pattern on the "outside" and DNC on the "inside" despite it's drawbacks.
In resurrecting it ourselves, we added a few modern comforts we've come to appreciate from modern jackets: Quality zipper pulls, a double zip main zipper for mobility & ventilation, and the ability to stuff the jacket inside its own pocket for portability.
The result is the look, feel, and vibe of the original without getting too deep in the mission creep.
Specs
The Parka features a DWR outer shell and a 70D Nylon ripstop inner shell, which requires special attention when laundering.
Machine wash it on cold with only a small amount of liquid detergent, always avoid bleach & fabric softeners, and tumble dry on a warm setting for 20-30 minutes to re-activate the water-repellant treatment. If you can't use a dryer, you can iron it on a warm, low-steam setting with a cloth between the iron and the jacket.
You can re-apply DWR treatment to the DCU shell of the jacket as needed, such as Revivex and Nikwax. Seek out the original manufacturer's instructions for applying those, as the process can vary from treatment to treatment.
KSGI Reversible DNC/DCU Parka
Desert Night Camouflage, or "DNC" was one of the very first camouflages designed specifically to confuse night vision devices with it's pattern.
In the early 70s, DNC was developed with the sole purpose of being hard to see with first-generation Soviet Night vision — it's grid pattern & random "speckles" broke up the shape of a soldier and blended them into their terrain when viewed through low-resolution night vision
To their credit, it allegedly does its job pretty well. Widely issued to troops to wear over their "Chocolate Chip" BDUs was a "fishtail" parka and trousers with pass-through pockets to allow access to gear underneath.
There was one problem with the combo: the desert at night is borderline frigid cold.
To remedy this, "woobie" parka liners could be buttoned into some of the fishtail parkas, but a higher tech solution was on the horizon that, while not officially issued, would cement itself as a legend in the military surplus world decades later.
The short lived "Chocolate chip" desert pattern was already being phased out by the end of the Gulf War, to be replaced by "DCU", a 3-color desert pattern that would serve well into the 2000s.
With the introduction of DCU, an experimental garment was sent to Special Forces in limited numbers: A reversible day-night Jacket & Trousers combo with a GORE-TEX Membrane.
The reversible parka, even though it's been proven to not be quite as effective as intended when used against night vision, became a lasting "Grail" in the tactical gear community.
Making it again wasn't as easy as turning the production lines back on - with companies defunct and patterns missing, we had to roll up our sleeves and work tirelessly to get it right.
The Reversible Parka may have seen limited use but the reversible nature of it and the then-high-tech GORE-TEX made it an ideal desert combat jacket. It even had real pockets. Seen in use into the early 2000s along with DCU, it became known for its more modern cut and adornment by tier 1 special forces.
Years later, fashion brands would pick up the camo and it's reversibility as a drippy statement. From Big hypebeast Brands like Supreme to cult-followed Qilo Tactical, Desert Night Camo became the #1 "hypebeast" camo of choice.
While short lived due to the advancement of enemy night vision technology, the rule of cool keeps DNC alive and well over 30 years later.
Whether you're a tactical gear guru or a hypebeast yourself, you've seen it, you've wanted it, and checking eBay & other sites for real-deal reversible parkas might have left you wallet-shy. That was us, so we decided to just do it ourselves.
We wanted to bring it back into the spotlight and make it accessible to everyone without perverting the original patterns (looking at you, Supreme) or straying too far from the garment that made the camo famous.
It looks, feels, and functions just like the original without the need to go "grail" hunting. So you can get out there and use it.
KSGI is made for fans of NATO kit that just keeps working, whether you're snuffing out insurgencies in caves or playing war in the sandbox...
It's not the gear that makes the operator, it's the stories of those operators that makes the gear legendary.
| Overall Quality |
Rated 4 out of 5
|
| Performance/Durability |
Rated 4 out of 5
|
Pretty solid purchase , my brother got one and convinced me to grab one. Works exactly as advertised and looks amazing.
| Overall Quality |
Rated 5 out of 5
|
|---|---|
| Performance/Durability |
Rated 5 out of 5
|
Amazing bit of kit really lightweight & comfy to wear
I’m 5ft 9 & 16 stone (224lbs) for Americans. Plenty of room in this, would 100% be able to wear this over the top of a plate carrier
Would 100% recommend 🤙🏽
| Overall Quality |
Rated 5 out of 5
|
|---|---|
| Performance/Durability |
Rated 5 out of 5
|
Drip for days? Yup
| Overall Quality |
Rated 5 out of 5
|
|---|---|
| Performance/Durability |
Rated 5 out of 5
|
Looks great, feels great, but is baggy. I'm 6'1 170 and it felt like i was wearing a tent
| Overall Quality |
Rated 5 out of 5
|
|---|---|
| Performance/Durability |
Rated 5 out of 5
|
This hits the mark. The only thing I would suggest would be pit zips.
| Overall Quality |
Rated 5 out of 5
|
|---|---|
| Performance/Durability |
Rated 5 out of 5
|
