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The army/navy industry stands for many things, and many of these things are depicted in the thousands of pins, badges, insignia, patches and flags that are the linchpin of army/navy retail sales.

Traditionally, these items have been popular as collectibles, for costuming, for museum and historical use, as keepsakes and as part of a fashion statement.

In addition to museums and their gift shops, youth and teen-oriented trendy boutiques, the re-enactor market, media companies and veterans organizations are consumers of quantities of pins, medals, insignia and the like.

In recent times, the two main drivers of sales have been fashion and patriotism. There also seems to be some linkage between the two, as patriotic wearers caught the eye of the fashion-conscious and helped initiate an interest in militaria as a fashion trend.

In the Vietnam era, militaria was also a popular fashion with the young. However, pins, insignia, badges and ribbons were worn mostly as an anti-war statement.

In the current day, militaria are worn more out of support for our military personnel in harm’s way. Opinions about the Iraq War may be vehemently negative, but anti-war sentiment and feelings of pride and support for our soldiers run concurrently on separate tracks.

Patchwork progress

The woven military insignia has seen a complete transformation only within the past five years from the time-honored OD or Woodland pattern to the now-mandated digital ACU or desert pattern. Perhaps an even more dramatic development has been the changeover from sewn-on to stuck-on.

Military nametapes and insignia are now attached to uniforms via Velcro®, per government edict. The digital ACUs that all military branches will now be wearing feature Velcro fasteners already sewn onto the uniforms.

Industry suppliers such as Best Emblem & Insignia (Jersey City, New Jersey), American Insignia (Beavercreek, Ohio) and The Supply Captain (Marlboro, New York) are government contractors and have enjoyed strong business in supplying the military with the new insignia requirements.

For the army/navy and fashion market, one of the most popular of the new Velcro insignia is the American flag patch in tan, available in forward and reverse facings.

Ironically, the switch to Velcro fasteners has helped augment the fashion appeal of patches and insignia, since the non-permanence of their attachments to garments lends itself to their interchangeability and the purchase of many more insignia since old and new designs can now easily be swapped out by the wearer.