All posts tagged Eotac Pants

What tactical pants work for you?

blackkhawk tactical pantsI’ve been wearing Tru-Spec and Blackhawk pants for almost a year and my tastes have changed dramatically.   I started out with the Tru-Spec 24/7 Series pants but had a few issues with my wallet being kicked out of the ID pocket and it started to bother me so much I re-considered wearing the Blackhawk Tactical pants.  I normally carry pepper spray in the front pockets of my Woolrich Elite Series Tactical pants and my Eotac pants but only Blackhawk and 5.11 tactical had a pocket that was similar to the platform that I was use to.  I attempted to get into 5.11 tactical pants several times but have gotten so much negative flack and proved it myself with several wear tests that it’s hard for me to even have a 5.11 tactical product in my clothing rotation.

The Tru-Spec 24/7 Series pants may not work for you but the quality is defanitely there.  I would defanitely say that the Blackhawk tactical pants that I’ve been wearing for 4 months now have grown on me.  I wish the side cargo pockets were about 2 inches deeper and I wish they had an ID pocket in the seat area on the left side.  If Blackhawk Warrior Wear did that these might become my favorite tactical pants.   I will be making my switch to tactical shorts in a few weeks after an unseasonable cold Spring.   I’m not sure that here in Pennsylvania the Poly Cotton rip stop pants will be comfortable in 100F weather but I will definitely be posting  about various tactical pants and tactical shorts.

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Somtimes our style of tactical pants changes for a reason

tactical pants Lately I have been carrying different gear with me at work and during classes.   Recently I was on a road trip and re discovered ankle and shoulder holsters and forgot what it was like to carry in those positions while driving 8hrs in a day.  There are plenty of reasons to consider ankle carry holsters but they are really meant for backups.   One thing I have noticed with various tactical pants is the cut of the pants near the ankles.  Not that I think people need bell bottom pants but this is something to seriously consider when you are carrying in this position.  Some styles of pants will not give you the movement you need and you will end up with your pants riding up on you.

When it comes to carrying handcuffs and batons, wallets and other paperwork, you are going to see huge differences in the types of pants out there.  Call me an old timer but I still don’t have Vertx tactical pants in my wardrobe although in 2013 I plan on getting some.   I have found I have learned to love the  Blackhawk lightweight tactical pants because they are holding up very well to all of the useage I have given them and the only negative I have so far are the lack of a left side wallet or ID pocket.   The pockets are a little too  deep for a wallet and I often feel like I lost it because it’s about 2-3 inches lower than it normally would be.   It’s not just about the material like 100% cotton ripstop or 65/35 poly cotton ripstop.

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What does Tru-Spec have in store for us in 2013 regarding their tactical pants?

tactical pants We just watched a video about the new stuff coming from Tru-Spec and it was music to our ears to here that what they were primarily going to do is put a less expensive pant on the market.  Who has done something like that in the last 10yrs?  Not a single company that we can think of.  Years ago 5.11 pants were about $30-$40 and when Woolrich Elite Series hit the market they were the first tactical pant we sold that was almost $50 a pair.  You do get what you pay for but now that we see that so many tactical clothing companies have overdone their designs, there is something to be said for simplicity and quality.

We like the Tru-Spec tactical pants and especially the new Gunny boot cut pant, but were looking forward to the new pants that will be well received with our Law Enforcement departments that are always on a budget.   We have not seen these new Tactical Pants yet but I expect our sales rep will be out with them shortly.  The major selling point of the Tru-Spec product line is that it is the best priced tactical product line in comparison to Vertx and 5.11 tactical.  We’ve picked up a lot of customers in the EMS world from 5.11 just based on price points.

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What’s coming out at SHOT SHOW this year?

We’ll find out sure enough, I’m sure every major company will have something new to advertise but it’s usually the same thing every year, there are winners and there are losers and it usually takes about a year to two years for people to test out a product before it can be declared to be a good thing.   I have seen plenty of people rave about a certain firearm when it comes out and 3 months later there is a recall on them.  I saw it with Springfield’s XD models and even LWRC had some significant changes to their designs since they relaunched the company.   Many new products become the products that are hard to get parts for especially if they don’t catch on and if you own one, 20yrs from now you’ll wish you had something different.

The tactical clothing market is in full force and a bad economy might weed out some of the higher end products this year.   I think the best and newest tactical pants we’ve seen lately are the Vertx pants but those are very expensive and may not hold up in a bad economy.   Blackhawk and 5.11 tactical and Woolrich Elite have done some significant price increases and from our standpoint, that is going to  hurt them if somebody else can put a good product on the market for less money.  We’ve seen many Police Departments spend their money on Tru-Spec products because they were better priced than the 5.11 tactical pants.

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Everyone is different, that’s why diversity works

Nobody eats the same food every day unless you have a bad diet or are just a down right boring person.   There are different seasons and different lines of work and every ones tolerances are different.  Yesterday we had a few more guys walk in here and tell us they heard that Woolrich is now making tactical pants just like the ones they had when they were in Vietnam.   The funny thing is Woolrich has been making them for almost 7yrs.   I have no idea what other companies are making anything like this but the demand for something other than 35/65 poly cotton blend tactical pants is definitely there.   I am a big fan of the material but there are some improvements Woolrich should have done to the tactical pant and some of our customers have asked for it.  Re-enforced ripstop pockets and a gussett crotch would be a good idea.

I personally where mostly Tru Spec tactical pants because they are very comfortable and in all honesty I’ve been wearing these pants for almost 9 months to test them out.   I have seen absolutely zero abnormal shrinkage and for these lightweight tactical pants I am very happy with them.   Most Tru Spec pants are priced under $40 and that’s not something we see across the market.  Blackhawk, Vertx and a few others come to mind and are you getting that much more performance for $10 more?  Well, it will depend on your line of work,  but for utility purposes and every day use, I will have to say that Tru Spec tactical pants are hands down the best lightweight tactical pant for the money.

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New TruSpec tactical pants coming in

We heard the rumors a few months ago but we finally got to hold the new TruSpec tactical pants in our hands.  These pants are part of the new Gunny approved tactical pants, shirts, vests and gear that will be available in late October.    They are similar in looks to the tried and tested tactical pants and are made of the same material with a polyester cotton blend, but then you will notice the differences.   As a tactical gear and clothing dealer, we have sold lots and  lots of brands of tactical pants and we see the reasons people want to move to something else because it may have some function or feature that they need.   There is no “do all” tactical  pants and much of this comes down to  your price range and preferences in pocket designs.

The new gunny tactical  pants have larger knife or flashlight pockets and this will help prevent the limitation on the size of knife a user can place in them.   The best feature about these tactical pants are that they have a gusseted crotch which was probable the number one reason we lost customers to Blackhawk tactical pants or vertx styles.   In todays standards of what tactical clothing is suppose to do, if it doesn’t  have a gusseted crotch it is going to get a FAIL mark.    Some of the new lightweight vests that are coming out are also very nice and we can’t keep enough lightweight vests in stock already.

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5.11 tactical pants vs TruSpec tactical pants

To this day I am still not happy about what I saw happen with Woolrich Elite and the rise and Fall of the Eotac product line.  I’m amazed that some of the product improvements never took place with the Woolrich Elite tactical pants and the demise of Eotac partially because the pants just never were available.   We had a completely confused customer base and now that price increases have occurred many people are shopping around for something close to their price range.   From what we are seeing there has been a big shit towards TruSpec and Vertx because so many of our customers were disgruntled 5.11 clothing wearers.   Much of my expereinces with the 5.11 product line have been good and they were and are the pioneers of the tactical clothing market.

We like seeing companies that actually have warranties on their product lines because with a bad economy and an over loaded tactical clothing market, we’d rather see the companies back up their products than have to deal with complaints about durability ect.   When going from product line to product line, The TruSpec tactical pants that we’ve been selling have had a  good reputation and after selling the product for almost a year, we’re seeing more and more repeat customers.  The TruSpec womens pants and shorts that we  have been selling have a 100% positive response so far and the sizing is very good.  Recently we started stocking the TruSpec EMS pants because so many people had sizing issues with the 5.11 version and were happy to find something else.

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Lots of Turmoil in the clothing business

We have just got word that their were riots in the Apple factory in China and another one of our product lines is having trouble getting stuff made over there because of some of the flooding.  What the heck is going  on with that place?  Everyone seems to think we have to tip  toe  with China because they own so  much of our debt that they can pull the rug out from  under us.   The truth of the matter is we actually still own them.  They won’t get anything out of us if we go down and right  now they are actually having the rug pulled out from under them.   We are at a total of 4 of our major product lines has pulled out of Chinese manufacturing beacuse of the labor costs and price increase on raw products.

I have no idea what is going on with the clothing industry.  We have done some really big promos with Tru Spec and Blackhawk products as well as the Woolrich Elite tactical pants  product line and we’re under the impression they are all having some issues.  We are testing out some of the new products form Tru Spec this summer because one of our favorite clothing makers, Woolrich Elite isn’t making the 44905 shorts at the moment and that is something that really concerns us.

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Switching from 5.11 tactical clothing to something else?

When we first got into the tactical clothing market it was pretty much all 5.11 tactical pants.   The stories about Royal Robbins becoming 5.11 and some of the changes that occurred left many customers disappointed.   I don’t know  how a company can make 5.11 tactical pants in 3 different Countries and expect the quality control to be there but I guess they don’t.  We’ve watched several companies attempt to cut into the market and fail and much of it was about production issues and quality control.  If you buy a pair of pants and like them and buy them again later, the same thing, and the sizing is different or it shrinks and rides up on you, you look for something else.

Some people just don’t understand what it takes to do business in foreign Countries.  It’s not just about a manufacturers ability to make a consistent product, its also about being able to make the product the right way and things like tactical pants sometimes need to be modifed if customers demand this.   I have witness such minor product fit changes that were welcomed and the sales went up.  Other companies were asked to modify their products and they didn’t and lost out to the competition.  5.11 has a real Winner with the Tac Lite Pro pants.

 

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Tactical pants and pocket placements, why you need more than one style?

There is not a single tactical pant that we sell that is great for everything.  Recently we had some customer walk in  here wearing Vertx tactical pants and asked us to start carrying them.   A few weeks before we had a large inventory of Blackhawk tactical pants because a ton of customers wanted those.  They also liked the fact they held up better for hunting.  Last week because of a news article about the Woolrich Elite chinos the most non-tactical pant we sell were our number one sellers.  I personally prefer the Eotac style 202 tactical pants but I guess I’ll have to fall back  on a close second place with the Woolrich Elit 44429.

I have been going back and forth about which pants I liked more, recently the surge has been towards the Tru Spec tactical pants because of the new national promo.   I have to admit that for $29.95 the Tru Spec tactical pants are by far a superior pant to the 5.11 tactical pants as far as quality.   The 5.11 tac lite prom pants are the  only tactical pants that I like from 5.11 but I had sizing issues and that is something that seems to be a constant.  Maybe people do need to consider more than a one brand and accept the fact that each one has an advantage over the other as long as the product is durable.

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