Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi

In the distance, Avery directs my attention to a woman wearing a synthetic down park.

Even that, Avery told me, was part of this bigger story.

All around us, there seem to be these signs of how the military has shaped the literal fabric of our daily lives.

And Avery says that influence is a lot bigger than just camo sweatpants.

Avery points to the Velcro straps on the sleeve of my jacket, the plastic cord lock used to cinch up the hood, the performance fabric on my turtleneck.

All vestiges, she says, of the military's influence.

So are you saying we're all part of this kind of military sartorial complex, even if we don't realize it?

Hello and welcome to Planet Money.

I'm Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi.

And Avery, we asked you to hop over to Planet Money for a bit to share a little bit of this wild, shaggy yarn you spin in your new season about the backstory behind a lot of the clothing we all wear.

So today on the show, army surplus economics.

How military designs trickle down from the soldiers on the front lines to the hippies on the war protest line to the yuppies in line at Banana Republic.

And why some of your favorite outdoor brands may just be moonlighting as American military suppliers while keeping it as under the radar as they can.

Now, the yarn that Avery spins in the new season of her show is an epic tale, woven over seven episodes from the Revolutionary War to the invention of digital camouflage.

Today, we're going to focus on the way that military designs have changed the way that many of us dress and spend time outdoors.

So where does the story of this strange entwinement between the military, the gear industry, and the world of fashion begin?

You see, for the first century and a half of its history, the U.S.

military more or less took its sartorial cues from the militaries of Europe.

The Revolutionary Army basically took the design for the famous British redcoats and turned them blue, in part apparently because of how much indigo was produced on American plantations.

Later, our soldiers dressed like the French, and there was even a period when American officers wore pointy little helmets like the Prussian military.