Female Airsofters: Gear Questions
 

I've been playing airsoft for about a year and having been looking for BDUs that actually fit - no luck with typical surplus (fit is way off - I am in no way shaped like a dude) and the reviews re. 5.11's Womens' line are very mixed. Googling only pulls up women's section in online surplus stores, completely consisting of unusable booty shorts and camo bikinis.

So - female airsofters - what do you game in (BDUs, gloves, boots, etc) and where can I get some?

Well in the army they don't make female clothes so your going to have to just try and find the closest fitting bdus.

I am 5'2" and typically can make a SM Regular pant and SM Short top work for BDUs. Army Issue has been a good source for small sizes recently for me (especially for Military Surplus Fleece which is hard to find). Also, if you are in the north Toronto area, the Stouffville Fleamarket had a number of vendors last year that had tonnes of surplus camo at dirt cheap prices and size small was available.

If you are looking for solid colour pants that can be abused, ironically I like the Costco cargo pants (men's section)...hard to find SM but they are there. They fit rather baggy and a bit long but you can beat the hell out of them and they are cheap. When you are crawling around the field, they are quite comfortable.

Gloves are a bitch to find in small sizes but try subbing in bike gloves or the ones I like now are ones I found at Marks Work Warehouse...I Krylon'ed the non-OD and Black parts and they fit perfect.

Boots - Army Issue...I have bought three pair from him and they are great. Another place you can check is eBay...sometimes you can find great deals online there.

Underarmour - Brigade Quartermaster (in US)... I've ordered online and had great customer service each time. Recommend you ask them to ship via Ground Postage (not UPS) to avoid customs/duty at the border.

Happy hunting (on and off the field).

you could try the French BDUs, either woodland or OD, they have a tight fit that might suit you, and they are very comfortable.

like this

http://www.rddusa.com/Army-Clothing-...-Clothing.html

One of our teammate has the same problem and on top of that she got a small frame.

For glove I know the company www.manzella.com are making womem, tactical glove. I'm not sure they have them on their web site but check it out and maybe try contact them for more info.

You may want to check for large boys camo pants in retail stores, these will fit you more closely. However all female soldiers have this problem. The pants and jackets will always be very baggy on you.

Here I found this link it has the usual bikini's but it also has some womans fatigues.

http://www.camoclothingonline.com/si...00/page/740689

Actually, excellent suggestion...I have bought Boy's L or XL shirts (Tan and OD'ish) dirt cheap...plus no tax on kids clothes.

Careful with the "women's line" of camo - you usually end up with Gucci-flage instead of real issue.

If wou want flight gloves, those are availble in very small size. I've got a pair used but as new out of eBay, but there's usually quite a lot in surplus.

As Miz said, gloves are a bitch to find in smalls and extra smalls, subbing bike gloves or the like is a great option, and you'll definitly want gloves.
Otherwise, to repeat and reafirm the above, Army Issue's where I get my pant's, I've had the same problem where the crotch on bdu's are either at my knees and it looks like I laid a loaf, or if they're pulled up on the waste - well, I dont like camel impressions.
Found the XS Reg's work the best for me, and everythings unisex, unless again if you do like the above and ditch the camo's all together and go in solid color, then just opt for cargos or whatever you like best.
Best bet's to just hit an army surplus store and try on everything you can. Different print's have different cut's too so if your heart's set on say woodlands, try ACU or MC, you may find they fit more comfortably.
Good luck!

A quick note on BDUs...keep in mind that they are functional pieces of equipment just like your gear. You are going to be running around a field or in a building and you want comfort rather than "tight fitting jeans". Although we all know what fashion/gear sluts Airsofters can be, when you arrive at the field, you are typically in uniform with the team you are running with. As long as you are not tripping over the pants or your hands are covered by the sleeves, you are good to go.

Shop at COSTCO's in predominantly Asian populated areas. They carry smaller sizes.

My only experience with buying surplus BDUs was with a M Reg and it was definitely way too tight around the hips and very loose around the waist. I never end though of trying the Large Boys clothes - thanks for the tip. :)

Will probably end up ditching camo altogether and going for solid cargoes/UnderArmour - will have to check out Brigade QM. I'm not a gear slut at all (all my money goes to parts. ;p) but I hate having loose clothing - I find it really gets in my way. I'm not on any teams, so I'm not too worried about coordinating, either. I just hate wearing everyday civvies to the field, esp. when I know I can find better suited stuff out there.

Really noticed the "Gucci-flage" on a lot of surplus sites, including the women's section in that Camo Clothing site. Meh.

Thanks!

i've been rocking a pseudo PMC look. SO for that I went to a local Marks Work Wearhouse and bought a pair of women's double kneed cargo pants in an OD color. I just pair that up with a men's camo or OD shirt. Then wear my gear over that. It's not real milspec by any means...but it gets the job done.

If you go to Brigade QM website, keep a close eye on the Bargain link....they almost always have OD and Tan Underarmour on sale and they have women's sizes all the time.

BQ LINK

Go see army Issue in Port Credit if your ever in the area. You can sort through the clothes and see what fits. I have even found surplus clothes that fit my Daughter when she was 11 years old.

Try childrens sizing or Ebanned, their BDU are cut from asian builds you may find better fit.

ehm... .wear a belt? problem solved?
or check out the small waist - reg length.

I was wearing a belt. Too much fabric. Meh, I'll do the pseudo-PMC look. ;p

get a good quality set of BDU's and have them tailored. much easier than trying to find a set that fits. sure it might cost a few bucks more but it'll save you the frustration of running around trying different patterns and cuts.

My bro is actually built like a girl, he's tall and wiry (people have actually asked if he's malnourished).

We had to go to the surplus store and search through some BDU's to get his pants. Then I got him a tunic (long regular I believe). Best bet is to check out the surplus store and try them on so you can find a pattern with a good cut and a size that will fit you properly.

I'm pretty sure they have BDU's for females although from what people tell me tend to not fit "properly" but they're better than the male BDU cuts.

Check out ones made for Asians, they are probably cut to fit Asians better and therefore might be a better cut for you.

I find my pants to be a bit loose around the waist (fixed that with a belt). For the record I'm a 5' 6", 68 kg (150 lbs), Asian.

Dunno what pattern you're looking for, but if its not specific you may want to look at British kit: BDU trousers are sized by Waist AND Seat sizes, not just waist (in addition to length) so you might find something shaped a bit more like your body. Additionally they have a built-in drawstring around the waist in addition to buttons to adjust the waist size, so even if you have to buy a larger size to fit your hips comfortably, you can very easily cinch the waist, even without a belt.

The BDU shits are aren't very adjustable but you can probably forgo them in favor of a tshirt and use the Smock, which is very adjustable (draw string around the waist and bottom edge allows you to keep it from looking too puffy, even if you need to get a larger one to fit around you chest comfortably).

The problem with Asian measured clothes is Asians have no hips to speak of, I'm a guy with average guy hips and an Asian cut XXXL (I'm an XL in US sizes) fits me but is still tight coming over my hips.

I would go with the altered BDU's, could even sew them yourself (not a jab against women!) I accidentally came into possession of never used CADPAT AR BDU's but the pants where two sizes too small. I took the material out of the bottoms of the legs (boot flaps?) and added in some sections around the waist, thighs, and crotch to bring them up to size. With the camouflage pattern its barely noticeable, took less than an hour on my sewing machine.

now we see whitch side you on ;)

The best thing I could recommend is to decide what camouflage pattern - if any - you want to wear first. From there, you can size it to fit you properly. For example: If you get a pair of US Woodland BDU pants and they're too large in the waist, take them to a tailor and get them brought in.

As for doing the PMC loadout.......since it's still a relatively new idea (more teams have been apt to wearing specific camouflage and emulating said country's military) you are pretty open on that. And because PMC's all customize their own gear, there is no set design you need to follow.

Asian cuts may be smaller and slimmer but fail to account for feminine curves. Particularly in the Chinese mainland, even women don't really have any gazongas and have an insubstantial badonkadonk.

Bless you Duffman, you just made my day.

Asian cuts probably won't do unless you're built like the average chinese woman. I agree with CG, fiddle around with odd sizes like short medium or long small or what not til you find something that works. The only problem is alot of the knock offs/chinese made stuff is that they are only made in a few sizes. Small, med, large, xl, etc. You'll probably need to find something thats issued to find better sizing, which will most likely reduce you to cadpats, woodland, 3 colour desert, acu, marpat, or anything along those lines. Though anything from Tru-spec or Propper should be orderable in the off sizes. (I checked propper's site, and they do offer in the odd sizes, so I assume Tru-Spec does the same)

Gloves on the other hand, I find using civvie gloves work for me. Though apparently Oakley does XS and such, but I suspect I'd have to order from Oakley themselves to get my XS gloves. My wallet is already crying tears.

Personally though, I found the biggest pain in the ass are knee and elbow pads. Currently, I'm working with regular kneepads with ample amount of electrical tape for assistance. So far I haven't found luck with usable kid sized kneepads/elbow pads unfortunately.