This is probably a stupid question and probably has no solid answer, as it would vary some by country and stores location, but what I would like to know is, is the date of clothing manufacture usually about the same time it was issued to an individual? The reason I ask is because of my research for the AFS collection. Since George Demuth was attached to IB-57 he would have gone to Burma around March or April 1945 so the clothing I have with the 1945 dates makes sense. There's also a set of clothing including the earlier style British battledress with 14th Army insignia which got out of Burma before IB-57 got there. Also the USA volunteer overcoat is 1943 as is the Indian made sweater. Was this stuff just surplus lying around when Demuth got to Burma? I thought it was interesting that uniform pieces in this set are either 1943 or 1945. Makes me wonder if he served an earlier tour with AFS.