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I have seen a small proliferation of posts asking, "What do you think about Sutler Q?" As opposed to making several posts on several threads, I thought I'd jot down some thoughts on searching for good gear, based on my experience in the cph end of the hobby.
Ideally, a newcomer to the history heavy side of the hobby will join a unit with a well developed vendor list to choose from. But we all know that doesn't always happen. A good number of us began our journey to authenticity as a lone convert in a mainstream unit. So what to do when the "all knowing" officers & NCOs steer their members to the cheapest "looks kinda like CW gear" sutlers out there?
Way back in the olden days, there wasn't a nice compiled list such as the one here on the A-C. I learned about who made what from several sources - the first was from guys that actually owned the good stuff. That requires going to events where you can find people wearing good gear. I didn't find out about good gear at the Punkin Holler Spinach Fest and Civil War Reenactment. Falling in with the Army of the Pacific was my first step in the route.
Another source was the websites of units that had the same goal that I had. Also, the posted authenticity standards of good events. Most unit websites will have recommendations on their favorite vendors of good gear, the same can be said of some event standards.
Another source was my own eyes. As the fog of farbdom cleared, I was able to see the differences in my sutler row gear and the gear that I had been looking at in display cases of museums and battlefield visitor centers since I was a young boy. My $55 sutler row sack coat just didnt' look like the arifact uniforms I saw. My fatigue blouse from a reputable vendor did.
As the A-C developed, the quest for good gear was made much easier. A nice concise vendor list made looking for gear a breeze. I saw many vendors that were very familiar to me from the other methods of seeking gear. Some were new names, and I would ask someone with a "trusted opinion". I found out you could cherry pick a few decent quality items from mainstream sutlers, but you also had to be very careful. I still use these methods, and hope that some of the newcomers to the A-C will follow this advice and we may see less posts like "Is the K & M Sutler's $159 Orange Light Internet Special a good deal?"
In a perfect world, we would all be out there doing the research on gear on our own. Since that will never happen, we can at least take advantage of the hard work done by those that came before.
Phil Campbell
Still raisin' Co C, 82nd OVI for McDowell '05
Ideally, a newcomer to the history heavy side of the hobby will join a unit with a well developed vendor list to choose from. But we all know that doesn't always happen. A good number of us began our journey to authenticity as a lone convert in a mainstream unit. So what to do when the "all knowing" officers & NCOs steer their members to the cheapest "looks kinda like CW gear" sutlers out there?
Way back in the olden days, there wasn't a nice compiled list such as the one here on the A-C. I learned about who made what from several sources - the first was from guys that actually owned the good stuff. That requires going to events where you can find people wearing good gear. I didn't find out about good gear at the Punkin Holler Spinach Fest and Civil War Reenactment. Falling in with the Army of the Pacific was my first step in the route.
Another source was the websites of units that had the same goal that I had. Also, the posted authenticity standards of good events. Most unit websites will have recommendations on their favorite vendors of good gear, the same can be said of some event standards.
Another source was my own eyes. As the fog of farbdom cleared, I was able to see the differences in my sutler row gear and the gear that I had been looking at in display cases of museums and battlefield visitor centers since I was a young boy. My $55 sutler row sack coat just didnt' look like the arifact uniforms I saw. My fatigue blouse from a reputable vendor did.
As the A-C developed, the quest for good gear was made much easier. A nice concise vendor list made looking for gear a breeze. I saw many vendors that were very familiar to me from the other methods of seeking gear. Some were new names, and I would ask someone with a "trusted opinion". I found out you could cherry pick a few decent quality items from mainstream sutlers, but you also had to be very careful. I still use these methods, and hope that some of the newcomers to the A-C will follow this advice and we may see less posts like "Is the K & M Sutler's $159 Orange Light Internet Special a good deal?"
In a perfect world, we would all be out there doing the research on gear on our own. Since that will never happen, we can at least take advantage of the hard work done by those that came before.
Phil Campbell
Still raisin' Co C, 82nd OVI for McDowell '05