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Wearing things like orange trousers implies SES membership to many. Gold is strongly associated with the Rural Fire Service. Volunteer marine rescue agencies may wear blue, and St John's in NSW wear black. Meanwhile, jeans may not be comfortable in warmer weather, and may lack professionalism. Thus, one good option is green trousers or shorts.
This is NOT an official page, just my list of options.
US and UK products for are often listed by waist size in inches, often using the quote symbol, " as the symbol, against the number, unlike SI / metric, which specifies as space, as follows. 1 inch is defined as 25.4 mm, or 2.54 cm. An inside leg may also be defined, whihch goes to the floor.
The French use a number which is larger that the waist in inches by about 12.
The standard many shops here use in Australia is centimetres, with R being Regular (typically 84 cm, 33"), and S or ST is Stout being 80 or 82 cm, 31½" or 32¼". "cm" is not included in the size. L is also available is very thin sizes, where R is shorter than above.
Womem's trousers in Australia use a single or 2 digit number. These increment by 2 for each 5 cm increase. I suppose this is logical given 5.08 cm is 2 inches. It likely follows UK sizing. US sizing is significantly different, US 6 is Aussie 10, their 10 is our 14.
These may be useful: Bisley Workwear Size Chart & Wikipedia: Clothing Sizes
The "French Fly" uses buttons instead of a zipper. These are more reliable, and are easy to repair in the field. While applied to many military trousers, my French designed pants from RS Components use this.
Most notable are those used by the NHS (National Health Service) Ambulance services in Britain. These "ambulance trousers" are available on ebay.co.uk for under £10, with shipping a similar price. I bought mine from the seller "mtandme". Sizing is in inches, but is a little smaller than US products such as 5.11 and Propper (buy the next size up than you would for the US ones). There are brighter and duller versions, with the brighter being closer to the print on the shirts. The first pair I bought were "bottle green", although the larger one ordered later came in a spruce, or similar colour, somewhat duller. Kelly green may be slightly brighter. I did have to carefully iron inside the front pockets to ensure the white lining was not visible, although maybe some want this line. Various sellers have women's versions.
These, and most others discussed typically accommodate a belt up to 1.5", or 38 mm. Those sold as "scrubs" often use a drawstring instead, so may be less suitable. Others accept a broad military style belt.
eBay seller mtandme has: Mens Ambulance Trousers. They also have special buys in limited sizes via the shop link.
EMT / TEMS / EMS: US terms include Emergency Medical Technician, Emergency Medical Services, and Tactical Emergency Medical Services. The latter operate in battlefields, and battlefield-like environments, sadly including schools.
Also on eBay, Brand And Bargains UK have Ladies Action Work Trousers. The only thing currently of interest in the shop link is a pair of 36" Proban treated trousers.
An oddly named Australian seller with small batches of green and green tartan clothing is The New Kitchen Fund. You can always try a few search terms.
If you have an ebay.com.au or ebay.com account, you can go to https://www.ebay.co.uk, sign in, and search there, and see the shipping to your address. You can also use ebay.ie, ebay.fr, ebay.de, ebay.it, ebay.ch, ebay.es, ebay.se, ebay.nl, ebay.it, ebay.ca, or their other sites. Unless using Pay-in-4, etc, your card company may have a better conversion rate than PayPal / eBay. Some banks refund overseas transaction fees for customers who deposit a certain amount monthly.
More products are listed in the last section. Other search terms may be: paramedic, vet, medical, hospital
Incidentally, the French term for shirt is "chemise", which I used buying a French camo 5.11 UBAS (under body armour shirt, which have a quarter-zip), which uses better fabric than the US retail versions. It then loads the algorithm with suggestions for something much more, um, flimsy.
Trademe is a New Zealand marketplace. Green Trousers for Men and Women. It appears some sellers may not be keen on shipping to Australia.
MedTree in the UK sells 5.11 Quantum TEMS Trousers (EMS Green) for men; and 5.11 Womens Quantum TEMS Trousers (EMS Green), an excellent option. Patrol Store have these too, but they would need to be sent via a forwarder.
Uniforms4HealthCare have Women's Ambulance Combat Trousers in Bottle or Dark Green, but shipping is excessive.
Rig equipment manufacturer trousers in England's West Midlands. Listed as unisex, they have G7 Medical Responder Trousers.
For those who prefer shorts, both the UK ambulance-style products, and the US brands below have these options.
Workwear Gurus in the UK have Green Skirt with pockets. Not cheap, but they have an interesting product termed "Pirate Pants" or "3/4 Trousers", which protect knees, while not being as hot as trousers. Two examples are: Green with black knees, and Yellow and Black or Red & Grey.
Activewear Group has Combat Trousers in Green or Red, and in Bright Green. Portwest Shorts and Sparrowhald shorts
They have a wide range of skirts in Green, or in Kelso tartan, always zero-rated for VAT, becasuse they are nominally for under-14s, but some go to large adult sizes.
Note that under VAT Notice 703 goods exported from the UK are "zero rated". This is Value Added Tax, a form on GST, which has now risen to 20%. However, items sent to a parcel forwarding service are potentially subject to VAT, as you appear to be a UK customer to them. For this reason forward2me has set up a warehouse in Guernsey in the Channel Islands, which while they may have UK postcodes, are a Crown Dependency outside the UK, and are outside the EU. You may need to email the company to remind them not to charge VAT, especially for Guernsey or Jersey.
Corporate Wear Ireland have lots of great trousers for him and her, but only ship to the Republic where they are located, the North, and GB. If you do buy from them, check, but your card is likely to be charged less if you pay in euro than in GBP. You could always ask about mailing to Australia, or use a forwarder.
Army and Work Wear in Manchester is another seller, both on and off eBay. Buying directly from such smaller sellers avoids the GST on eBay purchases (aka the Harvey Norman tax).
They have olive, and high-visibility clothing. European Hi-Viz must include reflective tape. In addition to those listed below they have Hi-Viz tracksuit style trousers and shorts, in lime-yellow or orange, with tape. These are great for those living at high altitude and/or higher latitudes.
For men:
While they have a number of women's items, the only really suitable one is:
Two more British suppliers are the Army & Navy Stores, and Go Army, both "disposals" or military surplus shops. The latter has some nice Austrian trousers (from where kangaroos are only in the zoo).
Flame retardant Proban treated cotton, and cut resistant "ballistic nylon" are also options. Versions with reflective tape, typically silver, are also available. "Combat" and "Cargo" styles include extra pockets.
Workwear Hub has Stretch Cotton Drill Cargo Pants in Green
Locally, Prime Mover MW705 is a trouser with 50 mm silver reflective tape. See: PRIME MOVER MW705. These are also sold by Office National, a series of franchised retailers.
PM Workwear has kahki Cargo Pands - with tape, requiring a workplace address.
Workwear Factory has DNC Cotton Drill Work Trousers in Green
King Gee also sell green cotton work trousers locally. Examples: Men's Steel Tuff Drill Pants - Green and K13820 Workcool 2 Pants
Lowes (clothing, not hardware) have "Emerald" pants on their site, which may be suitable for office environments. Ambassador Emerald Green Flat Front Trousers online, in limited sizes as "separates", or within a suit in many more sizes. Ruben F. Scarf have dark green (Emerald) and light green trousers in a full range of sizes. While shop stock may be very limited. they can order them in. One shop is in Baulkham Hills.
RS Components sells both DNC Unisex Trousers, at around $44; Green Trousers (you can sort by price); and Muzelle Dulac's "New Pilote" Men's Shrink Resistant Cotton ones, at about $53. I have a similar product made by MOLINEL in cobalt blue, termed "bugatti", and they are comfortable.
Note that they have some listings where the French size is suffixed by the word "inches", which clearly does not calculate out to the centimetre size also shown.
Trouser in French is "pantalon". Green is "vert" and a fir tree is "sapin"; thus "vert sapin" is a quite dull fir green. "Vert alpin" is a brighter Alpine Green.
Many industrial areas have workwear shops, and if they do not stock them, they may be able to order green versions of stocked trousers and shorts, which you can try on.
There are various cargo / military trousers in green available directly from China on eBay and AliExpress, noting that sizing varies, so you likely need several sizes larger than you normally wear. Han Wild on AliExpress has a range of trousers (plain and para-military), along with "suits" which include a quarter-zip shirt which you can wear at other times. "Army Green" looks to be a greenish-grey.
5.11 Tactical is a US brand. Their green-related global offerings are Olive, the similar TDU Green, and Grenade. Greenzone is quite bright, but a few others called green require a little imagination, Ranger included. Links above include true green items. Note that in the US khaki is a much lighter, beige colour, while British khaki may be a mud colour, or it may be applied to Olive. Most products come with a range of inside leg sizes, although those with the larger waist sizes may be sold with long, unseamed legs, typically 37". There are multiple 5.11 retailers here, both run by the company (at Bankstown), and third parties. Periodically products are discontinued from the official store, and but remain available from stock held by third party sellers / retailers. Prices are in A$ on links below.
Products for men include:
Similar to jeans, Defender Flex slim pants come in colours including "Grenade", a military green, in the store. They include extra pockets on each side, designed to hold NATO standard magazines, but useful for phones, pens, etc. Third parties have "Ranger Green".
As above, their tactical jeans include the extra pockets above. Dark Wash Indigo has an interesting striped pattern near the top-front; Medium Wash Indigo is plain (and boring). The waist is generous, or at least correct.
The waist on some of these non-jeans pants is significantly tighter.
Their products for Women are quite extensive, with better examples here:
Tactical Gear in Qld sell 5.11 and other useful products. You can use this Referal Link. If you use your volunteer agency email address or details you can apply a fairly significant "GOVP3" level discount. Their burn first aid gel in sachets is effective and convenient.
They are another US brand. Many products come in a wide range of sizes. Olive is a military green. Ranger is darker. Prices are in US$ in these links.
Selected products for men:
Products for women:
There is also the option to buy these in Coyote, or Sheriff Brown, or Women's HLX in Earth, or other browns. Kangaroo is a lighter brown.
Propper's other useful product for men are what appear to be button-up uniform shirts, which actually zip closed, like a jacket.
In both cases, if you are reading this before 20 January 2025, ordering promptly may be a good idea, as the world may be about to go crazy with tariffs. For products sold by these sellers, whether they are fully imported to the US, use imported fabrics, fittings, etc, may impact the price. And then there are potentially retaliatory tariffs on imports to shops in Australia. Both companies sell a range of belts. typically in woven nylon, which can also be used as emergency tie-downs, etc.
Mainly for pilots, Sisley in Maryland (Newcastle, NSW) makes trousers in Nomex, an inherently flame retardant fabric, with "Medical green" being the idea colour. "Spruce green" is darker. "Freedom green" is olive. "Lime" is a heavier fabric. Several medical and spruce green sample products are available via their eBay store, in smaller sizes. Ditto in lime, and in red.
They also have clearance priced stock of natural / white Nomex underwear: long underpants and long-sleeve tops in medium, suitable for cooler weather.
They also have wool based Fire Rated Socks.
More affordable, but still with inherent fire retardant properties are Modacrylic / Cotton / Para-aramid / Nylon blend trousers, etc. They also have Indura Fire Safe Jeans at clearance prices, in selected sizes.
Other sellers occasionally have bargains on green or sage Nomex trousers, including those designed for the USDA's Forestry Service.
Nomex is a form of Aramid fibre. Such fabrics are inherently flame retardant. Cotton blends as above are an intermediate option. While cotton and wool tend not to burn readily, to be marked flame retardant cotton clothing relies on chemical treatments, such as Proban, which can eventually wash out. Treated cotton is the lesser option. FR treated jeans are also available.
Note that washing and other care instructions on Nomex / Aramid, FR cotton blends, and Proban treated cotton must be followed carefully. Soap, detergent, and starch will all burn, so you do not want your clothing contaminated with these. The same applies to lint from other clothing. For the bright green Proban overalls WICEN was gifted after the 1994 Bushfires, I was told to use an "oxygen bleach". This is NOT chlorine.
PACFIRE have PROBAN treated Wildland Firefighting Trousers on clearance. I'd suggest the "Lime" to avoid confusion with the Gold option used by the RFS.
KAOS Creations make their Green Men's I’e-Faitaga / Tupenu / Sulu in Melbourne.
Xu Fashion in Otahuhu, Auckland has suitable Menswear: Lavalava and Sulu, plus Striped Green Trousers. Prices are in NZ$.
Yumpla Fabrics in Annandale, (North) QLD has Dark Green and Light Green.
The collar already has a "Sillitoe tartan", as the check is also known.
Kilts have a flat "apron", and pleated side and rear area. There are traditional tailor made products, traditional style off-the-shelf, and utility products.
Traditional trews were cut on the bias, so the tartan was diagonal. Modern options are more like trousers with a high rise, and there are also tartan trousers available.
There are thousands of tartans, be they area related (termed "District" if officially so), for families or clans, related to military bodies, companies, etc. If your family has tartans, there may be a Hunting version with significant green content. Irish National is green with black, yellow and white stripes. St Patrick's is primarily green and white, with some gold. Blackwatch has greens and blue, and is widely available. Cornwall Hunting has green, blue, a small amount of yellow / gold, and the black and white of St Piran's Cross, the Cornish Flag. Welsh National, is green with red. Others are Pride of Ireland, Hunting Pride, Ancient Pride. Douglas Green is green and blue. Other primarily green ones are Gordon, MacAlpine, Doyle, O'Neill, Tait, Tara Murphy, and Alexander. In many cases there are Muted, Ancient, and Dress; and brighter "Modern", some printed. Rosser (Ap Rosser, meaning Son of Roger, giving Prosser; also worn by Rogers) is an interesting red and green Welsh tartan. New York is also primarily green. There are also tweed kilts. Royal Stewart is primarily red, and may be worn by all who have Charles III as their King.
Measure at the navel. Don't just use your trouser sizes!
There are many sellers of reasonably traditional off-the-shelf kilts in popular tartans on Etsy and eBay. An Australian example is: Tartan Kilt in Irish Heritage at $99.99.
The alternative is the Utility Kilt, a range of lower priced kilts which may include pockets, and designed for everyday wear. They are typically made from man-made fibres. One brand is "Utilikilt", including in mocker green, and other plain fabrics, but there are many sellers. Mine is a UT KILTS Standard Irish Heritage Tartan Utility Kilt. These pop up on eBay occasionally, and are on another "big river" marketplace. (Site includes trackers / cookies to permit spamming your Farcebook feed). Lime high visibility kilts are also available.
Gentry Choice has low cost kilts, and is at 49 Station Rd, Toongabbie (near Seven Hills), beside the bright yellow Workboot Warehouse.
Traditionally they are worn with long white, green, or other coloured socks, termed hose, or "diced" hose. Tartan "flashes" are positioned to show from under the fold. Black brogues or shoes / boots may be worn. Perhaps sage boots (part of the retired USAF Airman Battle Uniform, which Whovians will recognised from Demon's Run, presumably used as they had just become surplus).
You can make you own, in either tartan, or a plain / high-viz fabric. Try this: Making a kilt or (Archived), or this: Beginners-Friendly Guide.
For women, Tartan skirts, with pleats all the way around, are also sold, as are unpleated ones. Eg: Royal Stewart Tartan Ladies Skort. Skorts contain hidden shorts.
The Scottish Kilt shop has affordable tartan for him and her.
Dangerfield has a lot of punk related products, but their Meadow Tartan is interesting.
Golfers often wear lower garments in strong colours or patterns. Given the Scottish origins, this includes tartans.
A play on the Royal and Ancient club, ROYAL & Awesome sells solid and patterned trousers, men's shorts, and "skorts", including in bright green: Greenside Trousers, Greenside Shorts, and Greenside Ladies Skort. Maybe a bit over-the-top, Pixel Perfect Pants and Pixel Perfect Shorts contain various greens. For other uses they have "Wild Ones", Eurostar, and other patterns.
Their site includes Farcebook trackers, to permit spamming your feed. You can copy the link, and use a different browser. The F.B. Purity plug-in Busts the Fluff (ads) on FB, if used in a browser.
Probably the best option is a Burgundy or Maroon medical or mechanic's pants. Try this eBay link: Men's Burgundy Hospital Pants
Purple scrub-style or similar medical pants contrast well with the the green features on the shirts. Try: Women's Drawstring Cargo Pants or Unisex Medical Nursing Uniform Tapered Leg Pants.
ROYAL & Awesome have "Purple Patch" Trousers, Shorts, and Skorts.
Lowes have dark purple suits, with the separate trousers only being available in size 30. Ruben F. Scarf have purple trousers too.
Uniform Advantage Stretch men's Cargo Pants with belt loops come in Eggplant, Grape, Wine, and several greens; and Women's 3-Pocket Ankle Length Skirts in Eggplant, plus wine, and various greens.
NNT Uniforms have Antibacterial Active Rontgen Scrub Pants in Blackberry, Purple, and Hunter Green.
SÜK in Naarm / Melbourne make and sell heavy duty Station Pants in Burgundy for women. They also have shorts, and long pants in various colours, including burgundy and greens.
Tartans to try include Auld Lang Syne Modern, Regan, Passion of Scotland Purple, Menzies, and MacPherson.
Written by Julian Sortland, VK2YJS & AG6LE, December 2024.
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