Boris Gudenuf
Deity
In general on uniforms. As @Arioch said, a great deal of the 'problem' with pre-industrial uniforms was the lack of uniformity. There were no standards for chroma and hue in dyes, so the color of the uniform, regardless of the 'official' standard, was largely By Guess. AND, also as stated, except in very few countries, there was no such thing as a 'clothing industry' - clothes were made at home, just enough for the family, or by tailors to order for the aristocracy. Placing an order for 3000 coats of the same style and color was generally impssible until as late as the 18th century.
As a specific example, copies of letters survive from governors in Peter's Russia around 1702, when he was forming the first 'regular Russian army' all in uniforms. The letters are from the governors charged with equipping and dressing those regiments to clothing manufacturers in England and Holland, the only countries besides France who actually had anything resembling a clothing industry at the time. Since each governor dealt with a different supplier, the result was that Peter's army was anything but uniform: surviving accounts list coats of blue, light blue, white, green, red, and buff - and that's just among the Moscow regiments!
To achieve a Russian Army in 'uniform' they had to wait almost 20 years, until there was a domestic clothing industry (government-sponsored, because that was the only market for it) that could supply thousands of coats in a semi-uniform color: dark green.
Even the same color might be different. The 'Prussian blue' coats supplied to the Revolutionary American army were, in fact, either really cheaply dyed coats in Prussian Blue, a metallic oxide that produces a dark blue-gray, or Indigo Blue, since Indigo was one of the first cash crops grown in the Carolinas before they switched to tobacco and cotton - making it another cheap dye for 'uniforms', but one that produces a much wider range of 'blue' than the Prussian Blue dye.
Finally, aside from color, the very cut of the uniform could vary. The earliest military national uniforms in Europe appear in the mid-17th century, and were modeled on civilian coats and dress of the time. As civilian fashions changed, so did the uniform details. Especially among quickly-raised regiments, like the 100 'young' regiments the French formed in 1702, the result might be a true 'grab-bag' of coats - all in roughly the same color, France having something resembling a clothing and dye industry already, but in styles ranging from contemporary to 'old-fashioned' depending on how much cash the regiment got to spend on uniforms and how badly they got cheated by the suppliers - another constant problem in every European army.
As a specific example, copies of letters survive from governors in Peter's Russia around 1702, when he was forming the first 'regular Russian army' all in uniforms. The letters are from the governors charged with equipping and dressing those regiments to clothing manufacturers in England and Holland, the only countries besides France who actually had anything resembling a clothing industry at the time. Since each governor dealt with a different supplier, the result was that Peter's army was anything but uniform: surviving accounts list coats of blue, light blue, white, green, red, and buff - and that's just among the Moscow regiments!
To achieve a Russian Army in 'uniform' they had to wait almost 20 years, until there was a domestic clothing industry (government-sponsored, because that was the only market for it) that could supply thousands of coats in a semi-uniform color: dark green.
Even the same color might be different. The 'Prussian blue' coats supplied to the Revolutionary American army were, in fact, either really cheaply dyed coats in Prussian Blue, a metallic oxide that produces a dark blue-gray, or Indigo Blue, since Indigo was one of the first cash crops grown in the Carolinas before they switched to tobacco and cotton - making it another cheap dye for 'uniforms', but one that produces a much wider range of 'blue' than the Prussian Blue dye.
Finally, aside from color, the very cut of the uniform could vary. The earliest military national uniforms in Europe appear in the mid-17th century, and were modeled on civilian coats and dress of the time. As civilian fashions changed, so did the uniform details. Especially among quickly-raised regiments, like the 100 'young' regiments the French formed in 1702, the result might be a true 'grab-bag' of coats - all in roughly the same color, France having something resembling a clothing and dye industry already, but in styles ranging from contemporary to 'old-fashioned' depending on how much cash the regiment got to spend on uniforms and how badly they got cheated by the suppliers - another constant problem in every European army.
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