The last time I saw Milo was when I was staying down in the Aeolian Island chain off the coast of Sicily, visiting relatives, just weeks after operation Avalanche had ended. He’d flown down in some old Kraut crate, a converted Junkers I think, that was emblazoned with the Syndicate’s M&M insignia, black on a yellow background, and painted large enough to keep the Allies from shooting him down.
Milo was all business, he was the original huckster of supply-side economics and so when he saw my Limoncello set up, he immediately began negotiating some scam where he could ship the delicacy to Oran in exchange for fresh eggs that he could buy for one cent, selling them on to Malta for four and half cents, buying them back for seven cents and then returning them to the Pianosa mess hall for five cents. I was always confused!
This time his unstoppable enterprise had him flying in to land on the Atoll. His ultra capitalist undertakings were taking him further afield but war profiteering aside, he had in his possession the most remarkable ensemble of fabric offcuts I’d laid my eyes on. Five very rare and desirable pieces of about two yards each in length, acquired from some of Germany’s most elite forces. Milo proceeded to tell me he’d liberated a warehouse just north of Rome and had used his finds to tailor the Syndicate in new coveralls. I enquired to the practicalities of such garments as they were made from the camouflage of our foe, but his retort was something along the lines,” of war making strange bedfellows and that what was good for Milo was good for the Syndicate and what was good for the Syndicate was good for me”, plus he added, “ the Germans are part of the Syndicate now, we scratch their back they scratch ours, it’s capitalism, that’s why we’re fighting this war right?” I pressed it no further.
“Papa I do have a favour to ask though”, he suddenly said. “There isn’t a cap worth a damn from anywhere other than the Atoll, so do you think I could implore you to outfit the lads with new lids?”
My answer to Milo? It’s available online now! The latest edition to my Catch 22 series. Partnering with Troy O’Shea, master cap maker, The Papa introduces the A-3 Syndicate Cap, hand crafted from five rare Axis camouflage patterns, made over with Allied Ingenuity, a healthy dose of good old fashioned capitalism and just a dash of historical truth: Pea Dot 44 first pattern, Pea Dot 44 second pattern, Pea Dot Summer, Oak Spring medium shade and Army Splinter pattern M-43. All caps are exclusive to M&M Enterprises except for these ‘overruns’, which I’ve kept back and made available to you my Battalion men. 100% cotton, all natural canvas visors for superior customisation, Syndicate swing tag and as usual a lot of steez. Available via the Papa webstore only in very limited quantities.
*Add the Catch 22 t-shirt to your cart as well and complete the set.
*A fascinating side note and background for this concept is the post war period and the idea that German Camouflage was adopted out of context and very much out of necessity to bridge the desperate shortages in clothing and material in the late part of the war, the late 1940’s and the early 1950’s. Captured, confiscated, reclaimed and recycled uniforms meant that many of these camouflage patterns were filtered back into every day life for use initially by partisan groups and then Civilian use and then turning the full circle back into military use by the French in their early attempts to reclaim the colonial possessions of Indochina. Not much is known about this period, however there’s an abundance of images surviving and many collectors will attest that this was more common than not.
