If you’re reading this, it means that you’re considering purchasing a set of five service stripes, or hash marks, for a Navy uniform. And if that uniform happens to be the one sitting in your shopping cart right now, we strongly urge you to consider taking advantage of our Rating Badge and Hash Marks Sewing service. Not only will you receive a jacket that’s ready to wear, you can count on our years of expertise in making sure the service stripes are properly positioned—and that is related directly to the hems of the sleeves and the position of the rating badge.
Navy regulations call for the lower end of the first stripe to be 2 inches from the end of the sleeve (1.5 inches above the upper edge of the cuff on jumpers with buttoned cuffs). We ship our jackets with unfinished sleeves simply because so many customers wind up altering the jacket sleeves to achieve a regulation. But if you provide us with the correct sleeve measurement (from a jacket that fits according to regulations) we can hem to the sleeve to the proper length, which in turn means the service stripes will be placed the appropriate distance from the sleeve end—while making sure that the trailing edge(s) of the service stripe(s) are in perfect line with the trailing edge of the rating badge (as specified by regulations).
You’ll be prompted to add the Rating Badge and Hash Marks Sewing service to your cart whenever your purchase an applicable garment. At just $49.99 for sleeve hemming and the sewing of the rating badge and service stripes, it’s a bargain. And any Sailor with twenty years of service to our country deserves every bargain he or she can get!