Uniforms are anything but?

[Nerys Myk]

I think it depends on the episode. At least in "In the Pale Moonlight" Sisko has a vest under his duty jacket, then the undershirt. But, that might have been episode specific.

They always have surprise layers. Like Kira's undershirt.

 

[fireproof78]

Hawkeye: Those are only some of my qualities. Underneath there's another me. Shy, sensitive, uncertain...
Eddie: Conniving.
Hawkeye: Right. Underneath that, there's another me. Underneath there, of course, there's public parking.

 

[jamestyler]

They always looked hot and uncomfortable to me.

They are ridiculously comfortable. I'd wear one every day if I could be sure I wouldn't be committed.

 

[Tenacity]

Why does Starfleet keep changing its uniforms so often?

What changes? From the begin of TNG through the end of ENT they're basically wearing close fitting mechanic coveralls.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Only in futures ruled by network Standards & Practices.

Why would Terran standards of modesty be more likely throughout the universe?

I dunno. For different reasons than we do. I guess it has more to do with what was allowed to be shown on TV. Which I liked, because you could enjoy a story without being distracted by peripherals.

 

[YJAGG]

always thought it sucked if you graduated and you got assigned to a station, your uniform barely changed...

 

[TheSubCommander]

Admirals have a lot of leeway with their uniforms. My dad said that when he was in the army, a visiting general was wearing some archaic, ridiculous looking thing, and nobody dared say a word about it.

Kor

This is true. My old post commander used to wear a weird dress belt over his BDUs. Even some full colonels in airborne, air assault, and cav units have been known to add to or modify their uniforms a la Col. Kilgore style occasionally, too.

In fact, some elite units will add or modify their uniforms that don't meet regs (IE ranger rolls of BDU caps), under the premise that if the entire unit does it, they are all in "uniform," and if you don't do what the unit is doing, you are "out of uniform," even if you meet regs.

 

[JoeZhang]

What changes? From the begin of TNG through the end of ENT they're basically wearing close fitting mechanic coveralls.

Leaving the realities of producing a TV show, I'm surprised that they didn't change *more often* and with more variations.

In our society, changing a uniform for thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people is a complex process from design to logistics of delivery. moreover you have to be careful about possible issues around wear and tear. Further making it more complex, often uniforms have issues that aren't clear until people start to wear them for multiple purposes.

In a post-scarcity society with replicators - it's likely that Uniforms just come out of a replicator (maybe a larger one in a closet we don't see). An update is thus just a code update - so I'd expect to see the Uniforms change on almost a daily basis with lots and lots of minor tweaks as user feedback came back in and this was incorporated into the replicator pattern. I think uniforms would therefore be more like software than traditional clothes.

 

[SPCTRE]

It has been documented in other threads that real-life armies and navies change their uniforms about as often as Starfleet.

Kor

and we're done here