All posts in Tactical Clothing

New product from Woolrich Elite

We’ve been carrying the Woolrich Elite Series clothing line before they added the name “tactical” to the brand name.   When we first brought the product line on board we were new to the tactical clothing market and were in a learning stage of our business growth.    The people that design tactical clothing rarely put a perfect product on the line and we have seen on many occasions there are product modifications and tweaks.   One of the biggest disappointments we have  had with some of the Woolrich Elite product lines was how fast some of the products were discontinued before the product got legs and people found out about it.  One of my favorite products to this day was the Woolrich Elite barn coat, but it was discontinued way too fast.

The Woolrich Algerian jacket got a lot of complaints about the arm lengths and you can do a few searches online and you’ll see this is true, but the last one i got in seemed to be different.   When I got the Woolrich Elite Discreet Carry Twill jacket my fingers were crossed because I didn’t want to get something that I knew wouldn’t sell because there was a design flaw.   I believe the Woolrich Elite Twill Jacket may be the best outwear design that we have seen from Woolrich in the last 5yrs.  The jacket is cut right for CCW and the feel of it kind of reminds of the Sigtac jackets,but not as heavy and smarter pocket designs.   I could fit a Glock 19 in the hand pockets and the inner accessory holders are larger in size and easier to fit magazines and flashlights in them without wiggling things around.

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New wave of CCW shirts from Woolrich Elite

Today I was going through the list of all of the new products that we had to list on our website and sometimes we debate on whether or not we are going to carry something when it gets to my desk.   There have been a lot of useless gun accessories, but they sold and made money, but I found them to be annoying.   Some of the gun parts were a liability to carry because the quality control was so bad that our return percentage and complaints were so high that it wasn’t worth the time to carry them.

When it comes to selling clothing, there are some big named companies that we limit the products from them because quality control is so bad.  That is not the case with the Woolrich Elite Series product line.  They’ve had a few dud products, but I would mostly blame that on the economy and marketing.   The new wave of Woolrich Elite CCW shirts are going to be in my wardrobe.  I’ve about had enough of the solid color CCW shirts that have been made in the past and it’s great to get shirts that look  like they came from a department store and not a tactical shop.

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Blackhawk lightweight tactical pants

I attempted to deviate away from Woolrich Elite clothing this summer and it lasted about 5 minutes.   There really is  something to be said for “movement” when wearing tactical pants.   There aren’t any indestructible pants out there because there are always ways to move and tear them, but when  you feel them riding in your inner thighs when  you raise your legs, you’re going to be buying new pants sooner than later.   These pants cost more than Woolrich Elite but the fit was no where near the same.  The sizing was very good compared to regular clothing, but the fit was totally not the same.

The Style BH86TP02 pants came in and I was anxious to find something to replace my worn our Eotac and Woolrich Elite stuff.   The first thing that I noticed about these tactical pants was that they were heavier than Woolrich Elite lightweight pants.   The side cargo pockets seem to be very well stitched in and felt strong, but they did not feel lightweight. The one thing that really gets me is the darn hand pockets.  I hate this Blackhawk, 5.11 tactical pants cut that is slanted and not rounded off.

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Sale on Eotac apparel

We are running down the last of the Eotac apparel and most of our employees were acting like vultures grabbing their sizes before it was all sold off.   We only have a few of the odd sizes in the vest, shirts and jackets and most of the lightweight stuff is almost gone.   I think there is going to be a huge glut of tactical pants on the market because I noticed that with a bad economy and so many tactical clothing companies trying to get their foot in the door, I’m seeing $20-$30 8.11 and Blackhawk tactical pants all over the place.  Men and women are still going over to Iraq and Afghanistan so there is still a strong demand.

Now granted, there are some really bad designs and I recently tried out a few new styles of clothing, but after testing them all out, I ended up back with Woolrich Elite tactical pants.   It’ll be some what easier to sell clothing now that Eotac is gone because there won’t be so many people asking about the differences between the lightweight tactical pants and the regular clothing.   I am still waiting to find out what the situation is going to be with making clothing in China and cotton prices because we just got hit with a few more price increases and I doubt this will be the last of 2011.

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The cost of everything is going up, but some things are worth it

We have been hit with various price increases over recent weeks related to shipping costs and clothing.  There have been some pretty big price increase on clothing due to production costs and cotton shortages.   We are guessing that there will be price increases on the clothing in 2011 more than once because even our manufacturers don’t know what the forecast is going to be.   We are still crossing our fingers hoping that Eotac has not gone away for good and something will eventually emerge from it.   We just got notice of a price increase coming from some of our footwear suppliers and its probable the same old gear.
Raising prices in an economic downturn tends to not work very well for us, but we have notice a trend away from certain product lines and increases in others.  Sometimes an economic slow down means you have to spent your money wisely because there isn’t any room for waste.   Original Swat boots are well made and even though we have not been selling them for very long, I’ll tell you that as of today, we have only gotten 2 complaints about production issues and the Company took care of both issues for us and the customers have been happy. we’ve sold over 1000  pairs of boots this year and that’s less than a percentage point in customer dissatisfaction.   If you are spending $50-$ 70 on a pair of boots and getting your money’s worth, it’s worth the money.

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This isn’t a paintball mask

I’ve recently had numerous people tell me that I should get into paintball gear and accessories, but recently I went to a shop that sold stuff like that and it took me 2 seconds to notice that the nylon holsters and Molle vests were almost identical to what real gun  holsters were.  Air soft and paintball guns have gotten so good that they literally will work with your Dad’s Glock 19 holster.   One thing that still strikes me is the shitty painball masks that almost always fog up on you.   I always hated that when playing paintball because it’s an automatic violation of the safety rules and removal from the game if you take your mask off.

Real safety gear means ballistic gear.   Bullet proof vests are really catching up to bullet penetration and survival rates of combat soldiers is up considerable.   One thing that still needs to catch up is eye wear, but the eye wear that Smith Optics Elite is making is something your Grandfather wishes he had in WWII.   Smith Elite optics look good and they also fit right.   The Smith Optics Elite goggles are designed to fit under a helmet and will give you a level of ballistic protection from debris.   They are rated for being able to stop a projectile that is in the 22 caliber category.   The Outside the wire turbo fan is the cadillac of the tactical eye wear.   The turbo fan is very quiet and will help keep your gear on and not have to take it off for a wipe down.

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Where to go after Eotac?

We are now being bombarded with questions from our customers about what happened to Eotac.   We are out of various sizes of tactical pants from Eotac, but we still have a lot left and lots of people don’t believe we have it.    It’s almost like Eotac tactical pants are more popular and sought after now that nobody can get them.  It really is sad that the company was barely around for 2yrs and just when people are getting to know the product line it goes belly up.   We’re still waiting to hear from somebody at Remington on what the situation was.   We don’t know if they went out of business, were bought out, or merged with someone else.

After Fernando Coelho left Eotac last year, it’s no surprise that investors may have been concerned about it’s future.   Recently Fernando mentioned on Facebook on the Eotac page that if people are looking for something similar your best bet is with Woolrich Elite pants.   The fit is different and we’ll leave it up to our customers to say which is better, but considering how many disgruntled 5.11 customers we have, Woolrich Elite products are top notch and I would never bash them.   Designs are debatable and Woolrich Elite series shirts, pants and vests have a 95% satisfaction record with our customer base.

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Atlantic City Police and Security Expo

Join us next month as we will be representing the Original Swat footwear company and the Atlantic City Police and Security Expo.    We had a very successful event at the New York Tactical Operations convention last month and we moved a lot of inventory.   It’s always good to work events like this to get product feedback and to see what customers are asking for.   There are always slight modifications a manufacturer can do after a product has been fielded for awhile and there have been some minor changes in the time period we have been dealers for the Original Swat boots.   One of the nice things about carrying this line of footwear is that it is not all tactical looking.  The SEK900sz and is considered to be the cadillac of the line.   The all leather boots are very supportive of the ankle and great for kicking in doors.

The less tactical looking Metro traction boots feel  more like sneakers and less like boots but have a very street friendly sole.   It’s important to know that your footwear can handle certain surfaces.   The Dress Oxford boots go great with a uniform and even for those in the CCW world, it’s good to know that you can still move quickly without slide across surfaces.   You can not run well at all with dress shoes and anyone that has taken a defensive training course knows that movement is extremely important.  Original Swat boots will be sold at the Atlantic City show at extreme discounts to Law Enforcement so stop by if you get the chance and say hello.

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Summer CCW options when it comes to wearing shorts

We all know that much of what we see being made by  5.11 tactical and Blackhawk, Woolrich Elite and Eotac are suppose to be concealed carry, but they really are all still tactical looking.   Much of what i have seen that was suppose to be in the Covert Carry products from 5.11 all looked like a Cop should be wearing them and if it’s got 5.11 on them, I don’t think there are too many big time criminals that don’t know what 5.11 clothing looks like.   I’m still amazed at the fact that 5.11 covert carry pants do not work very well with any kind of pocket carry and the inner pockets are practically useless for anything other than a wallet or money.   Woolrich Elite shorts are by far the best,  we’ve carried a few other tactical shorts in the past, but we got tired of the complaints about them riding up and not being true to size.

One thing we have liked about carrying the Woolrich Elite product line is most of our customer base have come over from wearing 5.11 tactical clothing.  We plan on carrying some of the 5.11 tactical apparel in the very near future, but we will be picky about what we carry due to so many complaints about inconsistencies about sizing and shrinkage.   I’ve tossed a few 5.11 tactical shorts because they rode up on me so bad that I was in danger of being cited for obscenities.   Woolrich Elite style 44908 are the lightweight cotton ripstop material that will give you some ability to carry gear or pocket carry

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Update on Eotac

It’s now been several weeks since Eotac closed it’s doors in South Carolina and we acquired the last of the tactical pants inventory that they had left.    We still have thousands of pairs of lightweight tactical pants, but it’s kind of depressing to see it all going out the door knowing that we may never see these again.   We recently read a few responses from those that have worked with Remington and the state of the tactical clothing market, but we still don’t know what caused the demise.   Tactical clothing is a preference, but quality has to be there and it is often not.

All of our employees where tactical apparel made  by 5.11, Blackhawk, Proper and Woolrich, but we have a 100% response from our own Staff that the Eotac pants had the best pocket designs.   I’m still amazed that some can call their clothing tactical and you can’t even fit a j-frame revolver in the tactical pants.   I can carry a Sig 239 in my Eotac style 202 pants.   We were told that Eotac was shutting it’s doors and that there is a re-evaluation on the product SKU’s which we hope means some remnant of Eotac will emerge.   Since Marlin has closed down and been moved, Bushmaster closed down and moved, we hope that Eotac is doing the same.   The pants and vests and the Lizard pattern Field Jacket are going to be long missed.

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