Slangvel is a custom hat maker who specializes in modern-era military headwear. He is also a disabled Veteran. Somehow he comes up with some great camouflage fabrics and every once in a while he catches my eye with something like this French Lizard Pattern. One of his specialties is the M43-style cap, which has been adopted at one time or another by several armies. In fact, they are still used by the Germans.
In addition to M43s, Slangvel also makes Boonies, Rhodesian-style kepis, Bigeards, Helmet Covers and the occasional Smock. To keep track of what he has for sale, follow him on Facebook or eBay.
Tags: Slangvel
Sorry if you classify this as spam, but Ivan over at KommandoStore (milsurp wear) has finally started receiving historically accurate Rhodesian camo cloth and wearables made from this material. I’ve been on an email list and it has easily been a two year process of research and manufacturer.
I thought someone here would be interested.
I love his stuff – bought quite a bit of it over the years – and I also got one of those awesome “Devil’s Guard” hats in French lizard camo.
The only thing that irks me a bit about his “M43” caps is that they actually are more like a repro of the Gebirgsmuetze, which has a higher peaked crown the the M43. The slightly lower peak of the M43 is actually a better profile in my opinion.
Just my $.02, but why all the hats? You guys post tons of awesome articles about new stuff, events, industry information, etc., but I’ll never understand why all that hat postings, or why every manufacturer of gear thinks their hat is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
I’ve asked, answered and overheard a lot of questions over the years. Guys will ask bout everything from the rifle to the ammo to the kit and the car, but I’ve never heard someone asking about a hat on the range, or down range. It’s a hat. slap a patch on it or don’t and move on to making products that actually make the warfighter’s life better (or would, if the government didn’t have its head up its ass).
Well I wrote the M43 article awhile back as a filler article. It kept getting pushed to the right. I was hunting in rural Texas last week and simultaneously dealing with a legal issue with a company that wasn’t happy about what I had written about them, so I decided to finally post it so I could concentrate on other things. The other hat was released the day before but my hands were full keeping SSD from being taken down by a bogus claim, so it too was slipped to the right. Sorry you had to be exposed to two hat articles in the same day.
SSD- maybe you should write more stories about berets….
#beretsmattertoo
Actually, we are LONG overdue some tatical Shako articles!
http://www.fjminc.com/shako-hat-8.html
That’s pretty funny