Lot of jealousy for the ladies in the summer. They swan in to court with a skirt and t-shirt or dress, simply add a jacket and collarette plus wig and gown and they’re done.
Meanwhile, I’m wearing exactly the same clothes I wear mid winter.
3 Likes
They do appear to be of a “slim fit” cut in the pictures.
That said, I wish they came in different cuts anyway - slim fit would look a lot better on the likes of me than the straight/regular fit that exists now. Shirts are a crumply mess after moving about for a bit, even folding a pleat into my trousers both sides.
OR… If open collar then switch to chest/height like MTP.
I wouldn’t mind a slimmer fit shirt in no1s, In order to get the right sleeve length I have a shirt that gets wrapped up in my jacket, which utterly defeats the point of ironing it.
I have been known to wear a civvy shirt in its place, double cuff, of course.
1 Like
Easy fix…
In summers, simply nominate yourself a different gender.
Come on… its 2022, not 2002!
1 Like
Only issue with slim fit shirts is throwing up a salute, pulls the shirt out of the waist. Pretty annoying.
Look how the general public dress these days.
Generations ago, the norm was a suit, collar, hat. Mostly, smart casual for me, is smart polo and trousers.
When I started my employment, it was overalls for the workers, suit for the bosses. Now we are in a smart two-piece workwear. Where even if we met external visitors, we looked smart.
The RAF are just moving with the times. Do you really need to be in collar and tie to work in an office? However, I’m not keen on all of the pics.
2 Likes
In which case I’d say that it doesn’t actually fit you… 
1 Like
The school I worked at for CCF was hierarchical for dress, especially for males. Support staff - Open Collar / polo shirt. Teacher - Collar and Tie. Senior Leaders - Suit and Tie. Was just the school “norm”.
Clearly, the leaked presentation is not a reflection of what’s actually happening.
But if there is an appetite for a utility type general working rig then all one needs to do is look at what the RN have been doing. They wore RN PCS as standard. Now they’ve tweaked and have a more ‘barrack shirt styled’ option.
We could very simply do the same. Change the colour if they must.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
3 Likes
To be fair, even the Army have done that. The PCS LW jacket is just not comfortable enough for day to day wear in an office, and people have stopped pretending it is.
Best option, adopt the MTP barrack shirt, ditch No2. Allow the jumper in No3 perhaps. Works for the Army and they have quite a few different jumper colours.
Keep No1 as the Blue option. IIRC there is already a nice branded RAF TRF option for non combat operations. Works for Canada and others.
For us, with No1s private purchase for most, I’m on the fence as to whether to keep No2 for staff in lieu of No1s.
I can imagine that having No 2 as an option for those ‘command types’ might be good.
But for general duty, this can look suitably smart… Certainly far better than a wedgewood shirt, buttoned to the collar ‘Essex boi style’ worn with two-tone Chavoflauge combat trouser.
If they want to differentiate for identity, then we don’t need to go quite as grey as Honk Kong but A slightly lighter shade of blue would work.
1 Like
Then it was meant to be worn untucked US style, until people messed with the idea to ‘smarten’ it.
Precisely, because they tried to wear a jacket, as a shirt. They should never have ditched the shirt option in the first place.
The shirt is a working blue shirt sans pockets which I cant understand (do they make you hotter?). Probably a cost reduction. Nothing wrong with RMPCS, woolly pully over the top, job done.
Keep no1 and wedgewood long sleeve for best blue.
RM PCS RAFFed up eg Mini RAF ensign, and force identifier as per DPM with pully if cold. Bin oof short sleeved shirt
No3 three for ground defence etc
Job done. I could save the RAF millions.
Personally, the primary thing that I think is wrong with the current male pattern No 2 is that they cut about 1.5" off the rise of the trousers, so now they sit too low on the waist.
Collar size vs chest size of shirts is a small fix that many say they need. I used too as well, but I’ve sort of grown into it now. 
All the claims of “it’s terrible quality” seem unfounded to me. It’s not Saville Row, obviously; but it’s nowhere near as bad as the polyester stuff that the Home Office wear.
Perfectly usable, but could benefit from a couple of minor tweaks.
Ultimately, the RN have a greater claim to need a utility working rig, since their primary operating environment is on board warships. Something with a good range of movement and a bit hardwearing is sensible. Remembering of course that the RN still have No 3 for office work (equivalent to our No 2).
The RAF have far less of a need for a utility uniform to replace No 2, so it can really only come down to a question of style and aesthetic - ‘What does the future RAF want to look like?’
I think I’d be a bit disappointed to see No 2 as we know it disappear; but it’d be a quick adjustment into a new uniform akin to the RNs.
It’d be an impossible task to adjust to wearing a damned polo shirt instead though; and might push me over to the SCC
1 Like
Why are people getting hung up on the new RAF clothing 
Some dude in High Wycombe will put out an email banning stations from issuing it to RAFAC 
1 Like
Probably for the best.
With any luck that email will include the issuing it to us full timers as well…
2 Likes
I think they will have to issue us something, and if that’s all there will be - they arn’t going to maintain contracts just for the Air Cadets
I would argue that we 100% should have a separate contract.
RAF Regular Numbers in 2021: 33,380
RAF Reserve Numbers in 2021: 3,280
RAFAC Cadet Numbers in 2021: 35,130
RAFAC CFAV Numbers in 2021: 11,230
Figures above don’t break down uniformed CFAVs but our demand is clearly slightly greater and we have rather unique sizing requirements due to the age of our cadets (and perhaps the waistlines of some of our staff ). Piggybacking on to the existing MoD RAF contract isn’t the best solution IMHO.
MB
2 Likes