A different look at uniforms
It seems to me that there would not be one common uniform for several reasons.
Procurement would be by sector or by fleet. There would not be one huge contract Imperium wide to a bunch of uniform makers. There would also be competitions between the fleets. There might even by competitions between sub sectors.
As we know there is a very close relationship between the office corp, and the nobility. That means each region is going to give at least a wink and a nod to local fashion among the nobility. Also don't forget the the fuel that drives the Imperium is crony capitalism. Each local procurement office is going to make sure that the clothing maker that they are in bed with gets the contract, and that means padding the budget as much as they can, and that would be bound to make differences too.
Finally, every time someone says, "Shouldn't we have one standard uniform?" varies efforts to meet that stadard, more or less would sweep back and forth, moving form fleet to fleet over several years.
Also again, since the Navy has a tradition of being close to the nobility, and here is no reason to prevent it, uniforms could be obscenely ornate.
Duty uniforms for mechanical ratings, small craft crew, and those that might be working in Vacsuits might be little more than coveralls, Dress uniforms might be overly decorative and complicated to compensate.
Remember how ridiculous navel uniforms look from the age of sail when even line officers would have to get their hands dirty from time to time. Add the technology to produce fabrics that would be MUCH more durable, especially in difficult conditions, and major improvements in cleaning and refurbishing uniform parts, and you might end up with some uniforms that take an hour or more, per day to don.
For all of these reasons, I would believe that virtually anything anyone could conceive of would be a "standard" service uniform in the IN at some location at some time.
What, do we change every ten years or so? It is 4 years COMMUNICATION time from one end of the Imperium to the other. How many CENTURIES could it take to adopt a change across that much space.
Just some thought from the mind of
Mr Tek
It seems to me that there would not be one common uniform for several reasons.
Procurement would be by sector or by fleet. There would not be one huge contract Imperium wide to a bunch of uniform makers. There would also be competitions between the fleets. There might even by competitions between sub sectors.
As we know there is a very close relationship between the office corp, and the nobility. That means each region is going to give at least a wink and a nod to local fashion among the nobility. Also don't forget the the fuel that drives the Imperium is crony capitalism. Each local procurement office is going to make sure that the clothing maker that they are in bed with gets the contract, and that means padding the budget as much as they can, and that would be bound to make differences too.
Finally, every time someone says, "Shouldn't we have one standard uniform?" varies efforts to meet that stadard, more or less would sweep back and forth, moving form fleet to fleet over several years.
Also again, since the Navy has a tradition of being close to the nobility, and here is no reason to prevent it, uniforms could be obscenely ornate.
Duty uniforms for mechanical ratings, small craft crew, and those that might be working in Vacsuits might be little more than coveralls, Dress uniforms might be overly decorative and complicated to compensate.
Remember how ridiculous navel uniforms look from the age of sail when even line officers would have to get their hands dirty from time to time. Add the technology to produce fabrics that would be MUCH more durable, especially in difficult conditions, and major improvements in cleaning and refurbishing uniform parts, and you might end up with some uniforms that take an hour or more, per day to don.
For all of these reasons, I would believe that virtually anything anyone could conceive of would be a "standard" service uniform in the IN at some location at some time.
What, do we change every ten years or so? It is 4 years COMMUNICATION time from one end of the Imperium to the other. How many CENTURIES could it take to adopt a change across that much space.
Just some thought from the mind of
Mr Tek
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