Snap fasteners

[Kenneth]

As you all know, French parachute uniforms had snap fasteners on the jacket and the trousers. The trousers have a total of twelve. Well, here's the question. Is there a trick to making the snap fasteners easier to use? When fastened, they can be very difficult to unsnap, to the point of sometimes ripping the fabric. That may be a consequence of the garments being well past retirement age, meaning probably 65 years old on average. Or are these garments too valuable to actually wear these days? 

And by the way, what are French paratroopers wearing now?

[lew]

I try not wear original pieces, even my TAP 47/56 which is still in fantastic shape. Other than getting your finger as close to the snap to minimize the force on the fabric, there's not a lot to be done. Perhaps a dab of grease on the spring on the inside of the female snap will help, but that introduces its own issue with retaining grime.

Modern French paras wear the standard CCE camo. Their garments don't appear to be different from what the rest of the army uses.