Concealment Garment Vs. Firearm Retention
When a CCW carrier is carrying a firearm in the winter, we can understand why they may want a firearm in a pocket outside of their body, but I recommend putting some thought into how you wear your clothing and how a firearm can be reached in when wearing heavy clothing. Jackets that hold firearms will have to come off if you’re in a house or building that gets hot, so then what do you do with your gun? The Eotac Style 102 CCW Vest is cut very long and is great for concealing in warm weather, but not a firearm retention vest.
We have been getting a lot of confused customers that think every piece of clothing is suppose to HOLD a firearm. Tactical Pants, Tactical Shirts, Tactica Vests and Tactical Jackets aren’t necessarily replacements for a holster. Although being able to fit a firearm in a pocket is possible with all of the above, trying to stuff a Glock 30 in a vest that is made of basically the same thing as a T-Shirt isn’t a good idea. We’ve had a few angry emails and phone calls from customers this year that tried to do that and said we were falsely advertising the vest as a CCW Vest and it was not. Well…….
Open carry isn’t stopping Police Officers in Philadelphia from being shot at. Wearing a blue uniform in that City and wearing body armor meant over 6 police officers being killed at more than double that being shot in the last 2yrs. If you are that concerned about being “Made” with a firearm, carry a different gun. Pocket and ankle carry are suitiable for white color environments and I don’t know any BG that wants 5 or 6 shots of 32acp-44 Special in their chest from a well trained law abiding gun owner.
One of our biggest selling apparel item is the Eotac Style 102 Vest. This vest is very similiar to the Woolrich Elite vest, but they are outselling them 3 to 1 these days. The only real difference we see is the lack of a pen pocket on the upper left pocket which means absolutely nothing to our customers. These have very low below the belt line and are a great OWB or Paddle holster CCW vest. You will easily be able to conceal a full size auto with one of these. The Style 102 vest is made of 100% cotton ripstop and is a very, very lightweight concealment garment.
Most of us that are in the industry are wearing some sort of tactical pants or ccw pants for most of the year. When it gets into the summer months we have to think about losing some of the accessories and gear or having to sweat it out. For most of the year, lightweight pants are a good option even if we know we’re going to be sweating it out, it’s good to have pants that can protect you from poison ivy or bug bites.
I still remember the days when I thought that fingerless gloves were tactical gloves, well they kinda sorta are in some ways. It’s good to always know why you really need gloves because there is no such thing as a do it all glove. Some gloves are going to be big and bulky because if they aren’t your fingers are going to freeze up and fall off when its reall cold out. If you’ve ever noticed, most of the Com-bloc firearms have larger trigger guards for this very purpose.
If you are toting around a knife, flashlight, gun, keys and a wallet, you might find regular jeans are pretty stuffed in the pocket area. If you have to tuck a shirt in you’ll be even more cluttered. Many recommend avoiding the clip on knife in the pocket as a dead giveaway that you are carrying, so what do you do? If you are familiar with the Eotac Style 204 cotton canvas pants, the Eotac style 205 concealed carry pants are identical but made in a jean fabric.
The Style 403 has a single pocket on the upper left of the shirt that can hold sunglasses or lightweight gear. See our sizing guide for your check and waste measurements. These shirts tend to run a little longer to help conceal gear at the belt line. Both the 403 and 4 pocket 404 shirt are available in Black, Natural, Light blue, Red and yellow. I would recommend trying atleast 3 colors to add to your wardrobe. With a shirt as lightweight like this, I wouldn’t hesitate to try the black shirts for summer carry.
If you haven’t heard them called that yet, maybe we should coin the phrase. Eotac’s Lightweight Operator Grade 
Well, one thing to think about when settling on an apparel line is this, how many of your tactical apparel companies are offering a Warranty like this: “EOTAC’s products are of superior quality and come with a full warranty to the original owner. If our garment or accessory ever fails due to a material or manufacturing defect, even after extended use, we will repair the product, without charge, or replace it at our discretion. This warranty does not cover damage caused by accident, improper care, negligence, normal wear and tear, or the natural breakdown of colors and materials over time and use. Damage not covered under warranty will be repaired or replaced for a reasonable rate and a fee will be charged for return shipping. This warranty gives you specific legal rights; you may have other rights, which vary from state to state”
There is a huge difference in what kind of pants are tolerable in warm enviromnets. Once you start hitting the 80 F weather those cotton canvas pants will really get heavy. The styles 4441 and 4447 are your hot weather pants, and if those are too hot to wear, try the shorts. Everyone has varying degrees of tolearance in the type of apparel they can wear. We’d consider the 4441 pants to be the most worn unless you’re taking a carbine or tactical class or you’re toting and M16 or Ar15 all day, and then we’d recommend the style 4447 Lightweight Operator pants.