Berlin's Fashion Victims

It's a nightmare familiar to most younger siblings: hand-me-down clothes that have gone completely out of fashion, but are still good enough -- at least in the eyes of the cash-strapped parents -- to be worn.

Police officers generally no longer face that particular trauma, but those working in Berlin might currently experience a bit of second-hand deja vu.

Their bosses have reportedly ordered old green and beige uniforms from other German states, which have already switched to dressing their law enforcers in smarter-looking dark blue outfits and are now trying to get rid of the superfluous old models.

Back to the roots

"Such a clothes drive hurts the capital's reputation," Bodo Pfalzgraf, a police union official, told the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, adding that the green uniforms are also much more uncomfortable than the newer blue ones.

"We've been running around looking like forest rangers for long enough," he said, adding that it was time to return to the traditional blue look worn by officers until 1977.

Searching for bargains

Police department officials meanwhile admit that some precincts may have received a few worn uniforms as donations from other states.

But rejecting accusations that Berlin cops are dressed in rags, police department spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski told the newspaper that brand-new uniforms were simply bought at discount prices for 77,000 euros ($102,000) instead of 518,000 euros.

"It's like buying a marked-down Boss suit during a closing-down sale," Schodrowski said.

Ah, so we're really talking about a Schnäppchen, or a steal, here -- and no self-respecting German will pass on one of those.

It might be ugly. But it's cheap.