[Laike]

Ahh, the I'm small, and my gear is huge problem. I know it too well. Albeit I think your girlfriend is gonna suffer from it a bit more, I at least have 4-5 inches on her.

First of all, I'd like to say, let your girlfriend try stuff on. She may put on a small CIRAS and like it. If you can go to a good surplus store and let her try stuff on, or if some small framed gear whore wouldn't mind let her try on his/her closet, it'd be a serious plus here.

I'm all for chest rigs. They tend to be less bulkier and adjust them for size easier. There should be a few MOLLE ones out there. I believe Drop Zone Tactical makes one, though I'm not sure if it's available in black.

I'm 5'6", female, and small framed. My small CIRAS is still a tad too big for me. I don't actually fit snugly in it unless I've got my winter jacket on. and yes, I've adjusted it for size. But hey, I love my CIRAS, so I'm willing to put up with the slight size issue. So if your gf likes the idea of a CIRAS, let her try it on. She may be willing to put up with the slight size issue because of it.

I'm sure RaiDen can attest to the amount of cinching I needed to do for my old UTG ACU vest. I had it velcro'd to it's smallest size and it barely fit. I don't think anyone smaller than me could fit in one of those vests as I wasn't all to confident on how much area the velcro was actually sticking to the fuzzy side of things. But hey, if you can find a small enough vest, go for it.

This is a long shot, but some of the asian retailers sell their stuff in Asian sizing. If you're willing to make do with some quality, that may be an alternative.

In the clothes, I found for BDUs, it was a bit hard having odd sizes. Alot of the BDUs and stuff are made for small men, women being the afterthought. I believe some companies make pants and other pieces tailored for women. She might want to look into those. But for BDUs, I must stress, go into your local surplus store and try them on.

In regards to the gloves, I have very very small hands, and I needed Oakley Extra Smalls which I have yet to find a pair of. Unless your girlfriend has monstrous hands for her frame, you may be having a very tough time looking for gloves. I ended up finding some chinese knock off kevlar gloves in small and some leather gloves my mom found at Costco. Once again, this may be a situation of finding something out of asia in "asian size". If you can, see if you can buy the gloves at a brick and mortar retailer. I found when working with smaller hands, it's safer to be able to try them on and make sure they fit right. I find small is NOT that small.

Also, is black a must here? Cause if you can get away with OD or CB then stack black pouches here, we'd open up alot of possibilities.

In the end, I want to really stress again to let her take a look a things for herself, try things on, etc. Provide suggestions on what she needs and doesn't need, but she definately needs to find something that she likes and feels comfortable in. So keep all doors and possibilities open until she closes them. She needs to find something she loves! Because if she loves it, she'll make sure it works, whether it be modifying straps or searching the ends of the earth for something in extra small (warning: your wallet may cry over this). All in all, happy hunting. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you guys need any help with hunting for small sized gear.