We start our detailed look at the Australian 88 pattern web set by looking at the belt. The rest of the set is built around the belt so it is possibly the most crucial component in the whole set. It is made of a heavy duty woven nylon tape in a light shade of khaki brown:
The belt secures with a plastic Fastex clip. The female portion of this is permanently attached to one end of the belt:
The tape holding it onto the main belt being sewn on with heavy duty stitching:
By contrast the male part of the buckle is free to move about and be taken off completely, incorporating a friction buckle into its design:
Not only does this allow the belt to be adjusted for length, but in order to attach the belt through the hip padding, the buckle needs to be removed.
The belt is stamped on its reverse with an ‘NSN’ number (even though Australia is not actually part of NATO), the date and the manufacturer’s name:
Wise Pearl Limited produced all the components of my 88 pattern webbing set. This company is based in Hong Kong and its website describes the business as:
Founded in 1991 Wise Pearl Limited is a developer and producer of high quality technical sewn products, mainly for sports, industrial and military markets. Its headquarters is in Hong Kong and it operates two wholly owned factories in China. The newest facility, wholly owned Wise Pearl Myanmar, is located in Myanmar’s principal city – Yangon – and has been in operation since June 2016. Our products are exported all over the world.
This is the later version. The earlier version would have the three rows of eyelets a la US pistol belts to accomodate the very few items which still used the US type M1910 hook hangers. The eyelets were also useful to stop pouches from sliding around by tying cord or zipties between the vertical columns of eyelets.