All posts tagged concealed carry pants

If you are looking for real CCW pants

I am now staring out the old Woolrich Elite CCW pants in style 4910 and the Eotac Style 204 pants and wondering why they disappeared and fell of the face of the earth when there is practically nothing else out there like them.   These were two of the biggest selling pocket carry CCW pants and since guns like the Ruger LCP have become so popular what kind of CCW pants do you where anymore?  I am very fond of the Tru-Spec 24/7 pants as far as comfort, but the pocket locations are a dead giveaway that you are carrying gear and probable a gun.

The Style 204 and 4910 pants were nice, but the back pockets were large enough to hold a 20oz bottle of water that it was also a giveaway that pants stored a lot of gear.   Not the Woolrich Elite Chinos, these pants look like they were bought out of a mens apparel store and you really have to take a close look at the hand pockets to see the tiny zipper that opens them up.   The zipper is very close to the Tru-Spec 24/7 pants but very much a CCW pant. They are not baggy like the 204 or 4910 pants so don’t expect them to be like that, but they will fit like normal pants do.

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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’s the difference between Woolrich and Eotac?

It seems that Eotac is no longer in existence, but Woolrich Elite is still out there.  Its no secret that Fernando Coelho was involved with designing and marketting both product lines at some point the products like very similar.   The answer we always tell customers is the designs are different.   We did notice there has been some production changes to the original Woolrich Elite Series product line and the pants and shorts do have a much wanted change in the ID or wallet pocket.   The Woolrich Elite pants pocket designs were a little tighter and the fit was baggier but some people wanted that.

Woolrich has been around forever and it looks like they have survived bad economies and the tactical clothing shake down.  A few weeks ago we got word that another major clothing manufacturer just pulled out of China and is now making clothing in the Western Hemisphere.   Woolrich Elite pants are still made in China, and we have gotten price increase on all of their stuff, but according to the number of disgruntled 5.11 customers that we have, Woolrich Elite pants are the next best thing.

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Eotac pants shortage ? Whats going on?

I don’t think I can tell you I know what is going on, but I hope there is some salvation with the Eotac apparel.   Between the shortages in cotton and fabric materials and a bad economic it’s been hard to predict what will happen.   Our biggest sellers have been the Eotac lightweight pants because even though they may look like many other tactical pants, the pocket designs are the best designed pants for what I like.   The Woolrich Elite style 4441 are very close in design, but the draw back that I have seen was with the ID or wallet pocket.  You can shove a 20 oz water bottle in the back pocket, but try getting a wallet in and out of the ID pocket and you’ll know what I mean.   I guess I’m very old fashion and still haul a lot of business cards with me and I’m not looking to change that.   Tactical pants still gotta fit my car keys, gun and wallet for me to like them.

The style 203 pants have been hard to get almost since Eotac first emerged.   We waited for months to get the black pants in, but they never arrived and we heard rumors there was a production issue with them.   Since then we’ve been getting phone calls wonder if they were coming in and now we’ve been told that something else may be going on with these tactical pants.   Only time will tell if the production issue gets resolved, but we have the last of Eotac style 201, Style 202, Style 203 tactical pants that Eotac made.   I’ve seen a few clothing companies fold up this year because getting material has been so hard.   Finding denim material  was even harder to find.   Keep an eye here if some good news becomes available because we know there will be something announced soon.

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Tactical and concealed carry, they aren’t the same

I’ve been selling and watching the tactical clothing market for over 6yrs now and I’m still not blown away by anyone one manufacturer.   There are good points about several tactical pants makers, but nobody is doing everything right.   I’m still blown away that the 5.11 covert carry pants I picked up a few months ago were so poorly designed that I couldn’t fit a J-Frame revolver in the pants.    How they heck was somebody not fired over that one?   From what I’m seeing on the internet, those pants I got for $40 at a gun shop are selling for $19.99 at some 5.11 tactical dealer and I can see why.  I also find it odd that 5.11 still stamps there logo so that everyone knows they are tactical pants.

I’ve been reading and watching a lot of YouTube videos and getting feedback on Blackhawk and 5.11 pants because they seem to have a lot of variations of tactical pants.  The materials are more diverse than much of what Woolrich Elite and Eotac pants are made from, but I’m not feeling the urge to sink a lot of money in them.   Most people wearing tactical pants want comfort.   I learned that several years ago when there seems to have been a big exodus from 5.11 and so many people complaints about the fit and feel of them.   Pants riding up on an operator and shrinkage were the most common complaints.

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Concealed carry pants and backup weapons

tactical pantsI still run into friends that laugh at the whole concealed carry market and say that the pants and shirts all look tactical and not very concealed carry.   There are arguments all over the internet about not wearing camoflauge while carrying a gun or wearing anything that makes you look like you’re packing.   Well, I’ve spotted plenty of off duty cops that were wearing t-shirts and jeans, but the shaved heads and the polite manners basically gave away the fact they were LEOs, so how do you hide that?

Here’s the realty,  keep your eyes open, situational awareness is more important that what type of clothing you are wearing.   I agree that looking like a SWAT team member with tactical pants  might make you a primary target if you are in the middle of a bank robbery, but if you spotted the bank robber first and left the building or confronted him before he confronted you, who cares what you are wearing.   In this day and age, with so many pocket guns ect.  many regular clothing designs are not comfortable to use if you are carrying mace or firearms and accessories.  The Eotac style 205 pants have side zipper pockets that can hold firearms or mace and are very good for backup weapons.   The Kimber Guardian angel works very well in these pockets and although there are other similiar looking pants out there, these look more like men’s jeans and feel like them wear other tactical pants or concealed carry looking pants are a purplish blue and not very manly looking.

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