All posts in Tactical Pants

The overwelmed tactical clothing market?

I’m really not so sure about that if you are talking about the quality of the products.   I use to hear good things about Vertx pants but recently heard an awful lot of flak about the pants being too tight.   Sizing variations between brands is a given and although customers are constantly asking us “if I wear a 38/32 in 5.11 pants what size am I in Woolrich Elite?” and we always tell them we can’t tell you that, and it’s the truth.   One of the problems that all of the smaller clothing companies have had in getting their foot in the door and competing with 5.11 has been all about production.   If you’re department needs clothing in a certain color and you have to wait 6 months to get it, you aren’t going to wait.

One thing our customers have asked us to do is to stock the clothing that they love, that’s a really hard thing to do since so many people are really  happy with their 5.11 tactical pants or their Woolrich Elite pants.   One thing that has hit many manufacturers is the pricing.   Many people have a hard time spending $50 or more for a pair of pants and will gladly wear 5.11 pants if they can get them for $30 or less.   Sometimes its about price margins and not how good you look in them.    When you’re sitting in an office it’s hard to think you need to worry about movement and jumping over fences with them.

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Major Announcements coming this Fall about the tactical apparel market?

One thing that we’ve been pondering recently is seeing all of the Make Ready DVDs coming out that still have the Eotac logo on the back of them.  According to the internet buzz, Eotac went defunct on March 31st 2011 and that was it.  No press release only an email to the dealers about the South Carolina location closing down.     We are awaiting a shipment of Blackhawk tactical pants as well as some of the Tru-Spec 24/7 pants and we’re going to see how our customer base handles the product change.   While most of our customers have gone back to Woolrich Elite for the items that we don’t have in stock.

Normally some of the major announcements about new products and press releases go out in September and we’ll see what kind of news gets released very soon.   There is always something new coming out and the tactical clothing market especially tactical pants market really needs to be thinned out.   There are some companies where, as a dealer, we really wish they would listen to their customers and just make some minor product changes like pocket alterations or fit improvements, and they’d have a perfect product, but after years of customer complaints, they just won’t do it.    Too bad,  Eotac was so close to perfection.

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Somebody needs to make a decent pair of denim CCW pants

I’ve seen a few companies attempt to do it, but nobodies done it right.  Woolrich Elite made the 4909 Denim jeans, but the color and cut was not very popular although the idea was good.   I know Woolrich has since discontinued the jeans, but they were pretty close to doing something really good.   Eotac which was basically a newer version of everything that Woolrich Elite had out did a better job, but it still could have been better.   There were more than a few complaints about the thighs being too tight on many of the early productions.

I believe there were only 2 production runs on the Eotac 205 pants, and the latter made the changes, but it still wasn’t quite right.   The other issue was although the side zipper pockets were liked, the back pockets were over done and they looked too much like tactical pants from the back.  If there was just a ID pocket, they would have almost been perfect for CCW.   The  5.11 covert pants were just horrible for CCW.   CCW pants really should just mean big pockets and comfort for carrying a firearm, not this hidden pocket crap all around the inside of the pants, which made retrieving gear almost impossible.  What’s the point?

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What kind of tactical pants ?

If anyone is reading this, I’m all ears on what kind of tactical pants  you are wearing and why you like them.  In a recent conversation with some EMS people, the discussion about 5.11 pants and all of the changes that have taken place with the company over the years.   The discussion about the EMS pants came up and all of the individuals I had in the room liked them, but they did mention that they wish the company would make some changes to the designs.

Tactical gear and accessories change over the years and the same goes for medical equipment.   Tactical clothing especially tactical pants can go over the same changes, or so they should.  Something like a cell phone has changed in size over the years and designing a pocket around a cell phone isn’t something that is going to last for 10yrs.   Probable in the next 3-5yrs most cell phones will be in the ear or on it.   I would like to hear back from people that were EMS pants from 5.11, Tru-Spec ect and see what they wish we sold.

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The difference between lightweight tactical pants

I’ve been wearing the Woolrich Elite lightweight tactical pants for years and never had issues with them,   I’ve been wearing the Eotac tactical pants and didn’t have problems with them.    The 100% cotton rip stop as far as I know really is the lightest weight pant that I know of, and I’m still waiting for the Tru-Spec 24/7 pants to arrive.   The Tru-Spec pants I’ve been told do not wrinkle as easy, but they did feel a little bit heavier to me.   I did not view the Black hawk lightweight pants to be lightweight.  The 65% poly and 35% cotton really makes it for a heavier material.   In hot weather, when you can’t wear shorts, you have to wear the lightest weight apparel that gets the job done.

I do find the pocket designs on the Tru-Spec pants to be very useful because they aren’t giant BDU pants pants.   Something like the Woolrich Elite elite tactical pants in style 44447 are nice if you are hauling and M16 around, but the pockets are too big for every day use.   When it comes to colder weather the product differences are a little easier to wear on a daily basis and then it really gets down to the durability and fit of the clothing.  I’m still not a fan of the cell phone going in the pocket but most tactical pants seem to have been designed around a Blackberry size phone.

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Buying trash and wearing it

I don’t think I’m going to run out of info on discussing these tactical clothing issues because I hear it all day long.  I just got off the phone with a customer that was bitching about the Eotac clothing being discontinued, and the “now what am I going to do?” is starting to set in.   I noticed a ton of gun shops in my area have stopped carrying clothing because I get it.. selling clothing is a royal pain for a gun shop because nobody wants to deal with the sizing issues and exchange rates that you have to expect whenever  you sell something like that.  Nobody buys an LWRC M6A2 and returns it because it doesn’t fit right, but we have sold hundreds of dollars of clothing and had it all come back for exchanges, it goes with the business.

At a recent show in Atlantic City, we walked around various tactical booths and checked out the stuff that was there.   One guy that use to sell the stuff for some of the big names said he hated wearing the tactical pants from one company because they felt like they were made of cardboard.    I didn’t disagree with him because that really is about where the tactical clothing market is at.   There is a lot of uniform style clothing but when you get down to comfort and durability, it’s almost down to about 3 or 4 clothing companies and then after that you have to decide if you want tactical or casual, and then it’s an even small market.  I wonder if anyone in the tactical apparel market knows that ?

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Rumors and more rumors as to what is going on

The tactical market is absolutely flooded with tactical pants and tactical clothing.   I just did some research online for concealed carry vests and found a few smaller companies making vests, but I also noticed they are making pants.   I’ve heard enough bitching and moaning from our customers about the fact that they didn’t want to pay $50 for a pair of pants, and now I’m seeing a cluster of small companies making $80 + pants.   As a dealer, I have serious doubts about the profitability of clothing priced that high even if you create a cult following.   The reality is this, if you don’t have easy access to a manufacturing facility in China, India, or Indonesia, you really are going to have a hard time making money.

Now that cotton prices have shot up so  much due to the inability to grow it fast enough, prices have gone up for even the big companies.   With Eotac tactical pants swimming in rumorville,   the easiest transition for customers is to Woolrich Elite apparel although Tru-Spec seems to have gotten a good nod from people we have been dealing with.   One of the good things about selling tactical footwear is that Original Swat boots owns their own boot factory and they don’t have the scheduling issues that many clothing companies have.   If they are sold out of something, they order it and produce it at their own scheduling time line.   One thing that seemed to really due in Eotac was they never produced the right products at the right time and it was almost like the company never got its best stuff on the market.

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Knee pads and other protective gear

We’ve been selling various tactical pants for the last 5yrs and one thing that I still find kind of odd is the whole knee pad insert.   When i first started using the knee pad inserts it was with the Woolrich Elite 4447 pants and the knee pads didn’t line up to where my knees were.   I later tried them on the Woolrich Elite 4429 pants and they worked on them, but you really only could get use out of them if you kneel on both knees at the same time.   That position may work at Church, but on the firing line, when I think of kneeling, it’s on one knee.   The knee pad inserts do hold up for a pretty line time, and for only $3 you can replace them for both sides.

If you are looking for serious protective gear for your knees and elbows, I seriously recommend using the Blackhawk Neoprene elbow pads and knee pads.   People have their preferences on what they want to wear, but there is a pretty big difference between using the ones you get on your tactical pants and what you get separately.   I was severely disappointed when the Eotac Direct Action line basically flopped because it hit the market and barely a month later the South Carolina location shutdown and all of the products were basically being cleared out at cost.

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$29.99 pants on sale until they’re gone

It’s time to clear out some space and make room to transition our store into a kick ass Police, Security and Law Enforcement supply place.    We just got in a huge  inventory of Original Swat tactical boots and the diverse product line of footwear is impressive.  We’ve done a few conventions for their products and we know what people want to see.   Recently we had several groups from local Swat teams show up and we sent out a bunch of stuff for testing and evaluations. Product feedback is important and we are listening.
We got a lot of requests from people to start carrying the Tru-Spec 24/7 line of clothing.   The women’s pants have a pretty good repuation, but this whole un hemmed thing for women’s tactical pants is someone annoying, but I know why they are doing it.  With our broad display of tactical pants we’re adjusting to the demand of our customer base.   The Eotac product line was a great sell, but now it seems to be a thing of the past and it’s time to move on.  Stock up on the last of the lightweight pants for $29.99.

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Mid Summer Sales

Rogue Elite now has a retail location and much of the area that we were using for storing tactical clothing, gear and accessories is being cleared out for our new retail location.   We won’t make this out to be a giant grand opening bananza right now, but many of our Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware customers have all wanted to try things on before buying them and now they can.

Rogue Elite is still primarly an internet based business but we are stocking more and more products at our Broomall location.  We are selling Trijicon ACOGS tactical vests, tactical pants, combat optics, Eotech, Wilson combat magazines, gun cleaning supplies and Original Swat boots.   We are always looking for customer feedback on what types of products they are looking for and using.

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