EARNING THEIR STRIPES

IN KEEPING WITH THIS ISSUE’S NAM-THEME, AS WELL AS THAT OF STEWBACCA’S ONGOING “INDUSTRY INSIDER” LILT OF ARTICLES TOWARDS THE FACES AND NAMES BEHIND PRODUCTS, AND ALSO IN AN EFFORT TO RAISE AWARENESS OF SMALLER FAMILY COMPANIES WORKING HARD TO MAKE THEIR NAMES KNOWN IN AN EVER-GROWING INDUSTRY THAT CAN DROWN OUT THEIR EFFORTS GIVEN SOME OF THE INDUSTRY LEVIATHANS IN PLAY, HE FINALLY GOT AROUND TO SITTING DOWN WITH THE FOLKS BEHIND “HIMALAYA WORKS TAIWAN”, A SMALL FAMILY RUN TEXTILES COMPANY THAT’S BEEN A THING IN TAIWAN AS LONG AS HE HAS!

If you follow my exploits on my own social media you’ll no doubt be aware of my opinion that “‘Tigerstripe is a perpetual drip” as the youth would phrase it these days! There’s just something timelessly cool about the way a boonie, ball cap, jacket or even full BDUs look emblazoned with the dark and light strokes of the pattern synonymous with the Vietnam War and ARVN advisors and translators, as well as some of the really sharp end of the spear guys of the deployed US forces themselves. Bottom line... it just looks badass!

For the last few years I’ve been aware of Himalaya Works Taiwan, a small but increasingly popular literal “mom n pop OP”’ working out of their facilities in the plains of Taoyuan just southwest of Taiwan’s major airport.

Encircled by verdant farmland and small reservoirs, my trip out to them in mid-May certainly echoed that “welcome to the rice-fields” vibe I initially got when first landing in Taiwan back in summer 2017, coincidentally around the same time they were setting up shop under their own business name and logo that now adorns the roller shutter of their front entrance and the main wall inside their workshop.

Hien Nguyen is a lady of fastidious workmanship and obvious skill and diligence; originally hailing from Vietnam herself and moving to Taiwan around twenty-four years ago, she studied seamstressing and textiles under a master of the craft who just so happened to be a tailoring provider and advisor to those very same aforementioned US and allied forces stationed in Vietnam during the 1960s-1970s and whose clothing now draws our interest.

Her husband, Chia Chin ‘Uzi’ Chiang, happens to be a talented artist who makes use of his great hand drawings to produce advertisements, instruction manuals or sizing guides for many of the couple’s increasingly varied products, as well as being a fellow former contributor to the now sadly defunct “Combat King Monthly” magazine like myself, and “Target” magazine of Japan. Myriad copies of both fill his personal library along with numerous other reference material.

“CHIA CHIN ‘UZI’ CHIANG, HAPPENS TO BE A TALENTED ARTIST WHO MAKES USE OF HIS GREAT HAND DRAWINGS TO PRODUCE ADVERTISEMENTS, INSTRUCTION MANUALS OR SIZING GUIDES FOR MANY OF THE COUPLE’S INCREASINGLY VARIED PRODUCTS”

Uzi’s “airsoft ‘career” has taken him overseas numerous times to report on military or airsoft activities in various far flung corners of Asia and even further afield.

Adorning his upstairs study, the inner sanctum apparently very few get invited up to see, is one of a number of framed certificates, extolling his completion of the 3rd International Parachuter March Competition.

Back in September 2005 he was clambering through the hills of Austria with their infantry school and a smorgasbord of other international participants from military units all over Europe and further afield, joining in with the military and cultural exchange as well as the movements through challenging terrain encumbered by tactical gear, sharing lots of stories and ideas with his compatriots and taking numerous photos of their exploits to report in greater depth for CKM at the time.

As it happens, he did his own National Service as frontline infantry on the PengHu islands in the Taiwan strait of “Spy Game” fame and my own previous exploits visiting PAF Airsoft at their older HQ there, as well as MilSim activities that have gone on there and will follow later in the year.

Apparently, something caught his eye and stuck with him during his Austrian exploits: the Edelweiss flower.

Much like the lore of “Batman Begins”, this flower only grows at pretty extreme altitudes and also has medicinal properties, and only those who venture to the most rugged environments are likely to encounter it. The Edelweiss is not only Switzerland’s national flower, but also grows on the legendary tallest peaks of Taiwan’s stark central mountains, so it kind of makes for an ideal logo that encompasses not only Uzi’s personal accomplishments, but the link between them and the company ethos of striving to reach a pinnacle of sorts, and now it’s literally woven into a number of their products ...and their story.

Detail Is Everything

While I visited their workshop Hien was busying herself not only with being an excellent hostess, but assembling one of their very popular boonie hats, an effort which took her the majority of my stay, the space of but a few precious hours, from initially pinning and cutting the base material using her pattern table and the appropriate pattern sheets from an apparently ever-growing library of products, she took it from raw Tigerstripe material to finished reversible boonie hat with almost robotic precision!

If you care to look at the stitching on all their products, you’ll no doubt see her signature diligence. Uzi related to me that one of the reasons their products are noticeably more expensive than mass-produced equivalents is as a result of Hien’s perfectionist approach! If stitching goes awry she will likely scrap the whole piece, as even if you unpick a garment or hat, the sewing machine will have marred the material with the now-emptied stitch holes being put through it.

Thankfully, it seems she has her craft somewhat perfected so hopefully the scrap-rate is ever-decreasing; nonetheless they said it’s difficult to keep track of exact figures of their output given the sheer volume of different materials or particular camouflage styles as well as the growing range of different products they apply them too.

Uzi proudly showed me the ‘bible’ he’d managed to acquire (one which Bill noticed in my photos as a familiar, and not particularly cheap, purchase he had also made!), “Tiger Patterns - A guide to the Vietnam War’s Tigerstripe Combat Fatigue Patterns and Uniforms” by Sgt Richard Denis Johnson. While Hien was busy diligently assembling her work in progress we poured over the illustrations and discussed the sheer variety of patterns from different regions or eras in the country and conflict, as well as the ever-developing physical patterns and cuts of BDUs made for functional reasons depending on new body armour or flak vests and load bearing gear which might inhibit the use of pockets or features in previous designs.

Clearly, Uzi is a man possessed when it comes to the artisanal representation of these uniforms from quite distant eras.

Their workshop covers three floors and there are stacks of raw materials in various patterns as well as finished products for display and awaiting delivery to their local distributors or overseas partners. Some of our own crew have also relayed to me in the past how it can be difficult to source Tigerstripe garments or materials, and Uzi echoed this; while his personal collection of genuine garments and gear adorns his upstairs storage rooms and office, getting the material produced locally required some effort dealing with OEM pattern printing manufacturers. Taking sample original garments, or working from intheatre photographs from the war, Uzi used his artistic skills to hand draw the patterns at scale for printing and production, then the resulting product is further tested with rough handling and repeated machinewashing to ensure the fabrics are appropriately manufactured and protected from colour-seepage which can happen on cheaper raw materials and ruin the camouflage patterns as a result.

Once the raw fabric is delivered as one of the numerous rolls propped up in corners or laid out where space permits, Hien gets to work reverse engineering the original source garment, being very adept at not only relaying the original pattern but modifying it appropriately for the various sizing options they will offer them in, typically from small to XXL, with all her calculated dimensions nicely presented in posters on the walls beneath Uzi’s hand drawn impressions of the garments or products in question.

Small Yet Influential

It’s not just hats, jackets or full BDU’s on offer though; baseball caps, umbrellas, shopping tote bags, drinks carriers, wash-kit bags, camping chairs and equipment as well as canopies and other such utilitarian products all adding ample ability to customise your entry to the Tigerstripe craze!

Similarly there are a variety of colour schemes with standard, darker, blue and ‘gold’ style pattern materials available along with the aforementioned reversible options in some cases adding to the visual appeal and utility of their all-hand-made range of products. I’d already purchased some of my own volition previously, favouring their baseball cap and very comfortable short Tigerstripe zip-front jacket with OD lining at TMC Taipei who along with OTT Gear (where I used to live opposite and sourced my 5.11 gear and long serving laptop bag when I arrived here), represent their northern storefront stockists, along with ‘Lost Bird’, a Japanese outlet in Shinjuku station which sells military themed products.

Further afield, they’ve sent their products to the US, the UK, France, and elsewhere in Europe, although for now the vast majority of their business is still from Taiwan, with online shopping available through their Facebook page and Shopee portal, a popular online shopping app in Taiwan. They also provide uniforms and regalia for events and cooperate with the likes of our good friends at VFC and QRF Magazine, recently equipping a not insignificant number of airsofters and re-enactors for the “Chien dich Nha Trang - Operation Nam Trang Huy Part II”, a great gathering of local enthusiasts which was part MilSim/part baptism of fire and advertising opportunity for VFC’s growing retro AR range of GBBRs such as their excellent M16A1 which resides on the cover of this very issue and takes pride of place on my own gun wall, along with their

XM148 grenade launcher offering and XM177E2!

Many of my local friends were sharing the excellent photographs taken over the course of the event and afterwards, and throughout it all Himalaya Works Taiwan’s excellent gear was sharing the spotlight with all the guys and guns.

Storytelling itself is also just as important to Himalaya Works Taiwan; with Hien’s origins in Vietnam and Uzi’s love of the lore and history they have made numerous trips to firing ranges, militaria stores and museums “in country”, and they tend to select new products not only based upon customer feedback or requests, but also in consideration of pertinent pop culture trends or movie and video game influences of the time, as well as striving to pay due homage to the original camouflages and those who wore them and turn out a long lasting and quality product.

More recently, around three years ago, Hien also made a purchase of a very swish looking ‘Brother’ digital embroidery machine; I’ve been fortunate enough to use something similar when I was studying the textiles module of my rotation through my highly technical secondary school, and which alongside the CNC machinery, graphic design, woodwork and metal working that put me on my own career path, so naturally I got to geek out over their latest cool toy addition!

Hien now offers digital embroidery not only to personalise their militaria garments, but also as additional revenue stream providing corporate wear in the form of putting text or logos into polo shirts, shirts, jackets and the like for custom company uniforms; evidently they’re not resting on their laurels, or should I say their Edelweiss!?

Further adding to the feathers in their cap, Uzi is a keen bow hunter and an outdoorsman raised in the mountains from an early age, which also makes him a very keen fan of knives and he hand-makes numerous examples as well as extensively engraving them and carving out appropriate scabbards inscribed with Chinese characters and available in belt loop formats for those who want something handy to take into Taiwan’s sometimes unforgiving jungles. He showed me a vast array of his hand-made blades from fruit knives all the way up to full-blown tree-clearing machetes; many of my friends here have uploaded photos and videos of Hien and Uzi’s mountain retreat with his own forge on site that many of our fellow industry friends have also hand made their own knives at as part of the classes on forging that he provides up there.

With a much better appreciation for their backstory and company ethos I was ready to depart, and they were kind enough to drive me all the way back to TMC Taipei where they were making a delivery run, as well as leaving me there with a dinner for myself and the shop staff of homemade glass noodles and veg; I wasn’t allowed to leave empty stomach, or empty handed for that matter! Hien had been sizing me up as soon as I arrived and I was gifted a very nice tiger stripe shirt along with tote bag, baseball cap and even one of the umbrellas I’d been eyeing up for a while at TMC. I guess, like their good selves, I have also earned my stripes!

Many thanks to Hien and Uzi for their hospitality, kind gifts and inviting me into their workshop to tell their story in more depth; I’m sure I can make good use of their gear in upcoming efforts!

You can find Himalaya Works Taiwan at: Himalaya Works Taiwan量身訂製虎斑迷彩服裝[客 製]Brother電腦刺繡, https://www.facebook.com/ groups/128494541160713/ or on Shopee: https:// shopee.tw/hwtaiwan. AA

NOT JUST HATS, JACKETS OR FULL BDU’S ON OFFER THOUGH; BASEBALL CAPS, UMBRELLAS, SHOPPING TOTE BAGS, DRINKS CARRIERS, WASH-KIT BAGS, CAMPING CHAIRS AND EQUIPMENT AS WELL AS CANOPIES AND OTHER SUCH UTILITARIAN PRODUCTS ...ALL ADDING TO THE TIGERSTRIPE CRAZE!”