Ask Tug: Marine Corps Military Tacticals Undershirt. Where Can I Find One?

Here’s a fun success story. Back a couple months ago I received the email below from a U.S. Marine looking for a specific undershirt he wore in the military. He couldn’t locate it anywhere, so he decided to email yours truly to see if I could help.

Original reader email (M)

I have been looking everywhere for a specific kind of military shirt. In the Marines, we called them “Tacticals” but Im not sure what they are actually called. I have the NSN number for it (8415-01-533-9807). The shirt doesn’t have a tag, its printed on the shirt and it reads;

T-Shirt, Tactical
Marine Corps
Fiber Content; 84%meryl nylon, 16% lycra spandex
Contract number SPO100-06-D-0434
SMALL
NSN: 8415-01-533-9807
———
Machine wash cold etc…

would you happen to know where I could find this?
- M

Reply (Tug)

hey m,

thanks for writing in with your question. I don’t know off hand, but I can look into it to see if I can find something out. can you tell me a little bit about the fit, feel, performance – the things that you really like about it.

best,
tug

Reader reply (M)

yeah, its stretchy…not quite like underarmor. Its cool and breathes really well. Its not as tight as underamour, and there’s no cotton in it. Its a godsend in hot weather environments. Its also pretty inexpensive if i do remember correctly. But its also authorized (or at least it was) to be worn in uniform.

Reply (Tug)

hi m,

sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I was in the process of moving to southern california when you first emailed me. I did a little research and I found a contact at the manufacturer. I’ve emailed him and will see if he will return my inquiry. if we are able to get some, do you know any other marines who would be interested in ordering them? sometimes the manufacturers require some minimum order amounts.

does this look like the undershirt/t-shirt you were looking for?

Email sent to the manufacturer (Tug)

Hello J,

I run a fairly popular men’s undershirt blog in the U.S. and a reader wrote in who wanted to find out if there was any way to purchase the Tacticals t-shirt he was issued in the Marines. In doing some research, we found that your company manufactures them.

here are the details of the t-shirt:
T-Shirt, Tactical
Marine Corps
Fiber Content; 84% meryl nylon, 16% lycra spandex
Contract number SPO100-06-D-0434
Size: SMALL
NSN: 8415-01-533-9807

it would be a great success if we could help this marine out and get him some more of these undershirts/t-shirts. also, if we had to order some minimums, I could probably collect a bunch of guys who would like to order them. is there any way you can help?

best,
tug

Reply from the president of the manufacturer that makes the undershirt/t-shirt (J)

Hello Tug,

Thank you for contacting us. Please allow me to request permission from DoD, since specifications belong to them. I will let you know within the week.

Thanks,
J
President

Second reply from the undershirt manufacturer (One month later..)

Hello Tug,

Hope everything is great! I apologize for taking so long to answer on the Marine Tactical T-shirt, but the government took some time. Please have your reader contact us and we will gladly sell him the T-shirt.

Thanks,
J
President

Well, I’ve emailed the original reader and provided J’s contact information to him so he can get his t-shirt! I’ve excluded the manufacturer’s direct contact information from the post so they don’t get spammed, but if you’re also looking for the same military tactical undershirt as mentioned above, email me and I’ll make an introduction.

In writing this post, I just remembered there is another nylon undershirt that may be suitable alternative. Coincidentally (or maybe not-so), the nylon undershirts made by ExecwearOnline have the exact same fabric blend (84% meryl nylon, 16% lycra) as the Tactical t-shirt noted above. I reviewed their black undershirt about a year ago, and overall, I thought it was a pretty good undershirt.

I’ll have to email M and let him know!