In-universe explanation for all the uniform changes from in the last half of 24th century?

[J.T.B.]

Are there any real-world examples of this, though? I mean a uniform design that either was used for about 60 years, or kept coming back during such a time period?

(In (relatively) modern times, that is.)

I'm not sure if I understand the question. If it's around 60 years, period, the US Army Green "Class A" was used from 1954 to 2015. For more than 60 years, the US Navy blue undress jumper has been around over 150 years. The current USN chief petty officer blue service uniform dates to 1886 (changing from eight buttons to six in 1945). The USN officer dress whites date to 1901, the officer blue service dress to 1919, and the short-sleeve khakis and whites to 1941.

 

[Timofnine]

Parallel and mirror universes. Subtle multiverse variations.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Non-canon though this may be, I think there's a bit in the first DSC novel where somebody thinks it's rather amusing how often Starfleet redesigns its uniforms. So there's that.

 

[BillJ]

Money from merchandising.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Could it not just come down to fickle designers in Starfleet? Not everything needs an explanation. Even these days, uniforms change all the time. Years back when I was a student and worked at McDonald's it felt like they threw a new one at us every 6-8 months...

 

[ScottJ85]

Are there any real-world examples of this, though? I mean a uniform design that either was used for about 60 years, or kept coming back during such a time period?

Don't quote me on this but I remember reading somewhere about European police forces and military reserves using WW2 surplus uniforms until well past the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

[fireproof78]

Could it not just come down to fickle designers in Starfleet? Not everything needs an explanation. Even these days, uniforms change all the time. Years back when I was a student and worked at McDonald's it felt like they threw a new one at us every 6-8 months...

I think there is more merit to that than people reason to it. The Federation, especially Earth, allows the opportunity for designers to really expand on their craft.

 

[Rahul]

Every time a new species joins the Federation/Starfleet, the uniforms get reworked to fit to the new alien members as well as the old ones.

After the TOS movies, when peace with the Klingons was established, there weren't many new joiners. After the (re-) emergence of the Romulans, Borg, Dominion, a LOT of new species suddenly wanted to be part of the Starfleet protection umbrella.

\headcanon

 

[at Quark's]

I'm not sure if I understand the question.

Seems you got my question perfectly

I don't know too much about military (uniforms). So it's interesting to hear that (some) uniform designs have lasted without changes a lot longer than I would have expected. Then again, why not? If a design is good, why change it if circumstances don't require it?

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Don't quote me on this but I remember reading somewhere about European police forces and military reserves using WW2 surplus uniforms until well past the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Not sure about police forces -- outside of perhaps the equivalent of SWAT teams -- but the idea that military reserves used WWII surplus uniforms for at least years if not decades after the war is certainly credible.

 

[Dukhat]

If we go by all the recent Trek shows, particularly Lower Decks, Starfleet often had multiple uniforms in service at any given time (it's a big fleet). It's also possible that some uniforms were just short-lived interim designs that were phased out as they were perfected (such as the numerous admiral uniforms in early TNG, the season two Enterprise uniforms in DIS, and maybe even the pre-2401 uniforms seen in PIC).

Actually, LDS started out with everyone wearing the Cerritos crew uniform. On other ships, space stations, planets, etc. all Starfleet officers wore the exact same uniforms. It was only in the later seasons that this was retconned into having different ships etc. with different uniforms, once we saw the Titan crew still using the FC uniforms and commbadges.

The retcon might have come about when Prodigy showed that Starfleet was using their own uniforms and commbadges extrapolated from the AGT versions only a year after LDS started. Of course the timeline is a bit skewed now (as with much of the continuity between shows these days), because while LDS has already had three seasons and PRO has only had one, we have no idea if they've already overlapped year-wise.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Actually, LDS started out with everyone wearing the Cerritos crew uniform. On other ships, space stations, planets, etc. all Starfleet officers wore the exact same uniforms. It was only in the later seasons that this was retconned into having different ships etc. with different uniforms, once we saw the Titan crew still using the FC uniforms and commbadges.

That's the thing, though. Lower Decks ultimately showed that not everyone was wearing the same uniforms. It's not really a retcon because it was shown as early as the first season of the show that the First Contact uniforms hadn't been retired yet. Being an animated series, TPTB could have easily had the Titan crew in the same uniforms as the Cerritos crew--we still would have recognized Riker & Troi in the new threads--but chose not to. Since then, having different uniforms in service at the same time has become a noticeable aspect of the series and is branching out into other shows.

 

[Dukhat]

That's the thing, though. Lower Decks ultimately showed that not everyone was wearing the same uniforms. It's not really a retcon because it was shown as early as the first season of the show that the First Contact uniforms hadn't been retired yet. Being an animated series, TPTB could have easily had the Titan crew in the same uniforms as the Cerritos crew--we still would have recognized Riker & Troi in the new threads--but chose not to. Since then, having different uniforms in service at the same time has become a noticeable aspect of the series and is branching out into other shows.

I respectfully disagree. It was a retcon. At the start of the show, everyone wore the LDS uniform. It was later changed to only California class personnel wearing the uniform, and everyone else wearing the FC uniform.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I respectfully disagree. It was a retcon. At the start of the show, everyone wore the LDS uniform. It was later changed to only California class personnel wearing the uniform, and everyone else wearing the FC uniform.

I guess it doesn't really matter, because it still brought light to the practice of different uniform styles being in service at the same time, although it could really be traced back even earlier in Starfleet's history.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Trying to make sense of Star Trek uniforms from 2017 onwards is impossible. Seemingly every ship has it's own uniform, and it's own variations.

Perhaps you can say they're for different divisions of Starfleet (Lower Decks) but... you KNOW they'll bust out a new uni for every key ship (Prodigy), every flashback to an already-established era (Picard S3), every situation they can imagine. They can't help it.

I get wanting the shows to have their own visual identity especially in the current Trekkake era, but calm down. It's not like they're making big money from these outfits (IIRC, the 2009 and 2013 movies were the last times Trek unis became a fancy dress thing you'd find in stores)

 

[fireproof78]

(IIRC, the 2009 and 2013 movies were the last times Trek unis became a fancy dress thing you'd find in stores)

Discovery did as well.

I guess it doesn't really matter, because it still brought light to the practice of different uniform styles being in service at the same time, although it could really be traced back even earlier in Starfleet's history.

I believe the Man Trap and Naked Time both featured crewmembers of the Enterprise in the pilot uniforms.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

I believe the Man Trap and Naked Time both featured crewmembers of the Enterprise in the pilot uniforms.

Definitely on the former (there's a stock footage reuse from WNMHGB), no info on the latter on the MA page FWIW.

IIRC, they were also used (with black dyed collars?) in The Arena and Balance of Terror for "surface personnel".

 

[mb22]

The Antares crew in "Charlie X" also wore pilot uniforms.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Don't quote me on this but I remember reading somewhere about European police forces and military reserves using WW2 surplus uniforms until well past the fall of the Berlin Wall.

You know why the color 'blue' is so often associated with the police?

The first police departments (in the US) were formed not long after the end of the Civil War. And those police departments got ahold of surplus Union Army uniforms...which were, of course. blue.