All posts tagged Sale on Woolrich Elite

Woolrich Elite goodies on clearance

last year we picked up a  ton of discontinued Woolrich Elite products but had a shockingly bad winter sales for outwear.   One of our favorite things about the Woolrich Elite product line is that the fabrics they use are very well made.   For a company that has been around for over 180yrs, they must have some secrets that have kept them in the business for so long.  These were originally marketed as a CCW sweatshirt, but they really don’t have any features that are concealed carry friendly other than the fact they are cut a little long.

We picked up a large quantity of these and since we had such a warm winter, they didn’t sell so good so we’re trying to make room and clear them out.  We have a large international and domestic customer base and these Woolrich Elite sweatshirts are being sold for 50% below what we use to sell them for.  Even though it’s hot as hell here in Pennsylvania, we know there are customers in Canada, Alaska and Afghanistan that might wants these.   Check out or clearance and sale section as well as the new Woolrich Elite Series tactical products like the Twill Jacket.

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Woolrich Elite Lightweight pants in Coyote Brown

We just got in the new Woolrich Elite lightweight pants in Coyote Brown and they look really good.  Over the years we have been surprised at  how un popular black tactical pants were and mostly see khaki colors, OD green and usually something other than black or navy.  I guess most people try and stay away from the ninja look unless they have to, but coyote brown is a welcomed color.   We have been pruning our tactical pants category down for several months now and we should be eliminated a few product lines.  One of those product lines we won’t be discontinuing any time soon are the Woolrich Elite pants.

When we first saw Woolrich Elite products get on the market the first thing we realized is the contrast between 5.11 tactical fabrics and the Woolrich Elite.  Bother tactical pants would state they they were made out of an 8.5 ounce cotton canvas but only the Woolrich Elite pants were really the ones that held up to that.  5.11 tactical would not be where it is today if it didn’t make some great products but the complaints coming from our customer base have been constant and many have moved towards Tru Spec, Woolrich Elite and Vertx.

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Not a big fan of everything in the tactical clothing world

I have yet to find a shirt that is considered to be tactical that actually fits me right.  I’ve worn plenty of them while teaching handgun courses but there were either sizing issues with them or there were functionality issues.   I never like the idea of having velcro on the pockets and the button down versions just seemed far more professional looking.   Some of the early Woolrich Elite products really were a knock off of what 5.11 had, but the quality and slight design improvements were a big, big deal.

Tru-Spec tactical clothing is very much becoming my favorite and its’ mostly because the fit is probable the best for me.  I will not go out and say that everything else in the tactical clothing world sucks because so much of this is about preference.   Tactical pants, tactical shirts and tactical vests all  have different purpose and sometimes you’ll want different clothing because of the weather.  Heck there may be a time you might want to put your guns and gear down and put on EMS pants and brush up on your first aid training.

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Not happy about this but get them while you can

Everyone once in awhile we are extremely disappointed to hear about a product being discontinued but right now it seems the Woolrich Elite half zip sweat shirts are being discontinued.   We’re clearing out our inventory of them right now and discounting them to $39.99.   These are great CCW outwear because the sweatshirts are cut long and great for covering full size autos.  We have a good bit of the small size sweatshirts which are great for keeping your girlfriend warm.   I’ve had more than a few of them stolen from my wife.

Woolrich Elite products have a rock solid reputation for holding up and the Elite Series stuff I had years ago is still in good condition.   The half zip sweatshirts I own have faded, but they have not shrunk as far as I can tell.  I personally prefer the Woolrich Elite Tactical Clothing especially  Half  Zip Sweatshirts to most jackets because of the long length and the fact they are more comfortable than a long coat.   At this time of the year when I have to go in and out of malls, having a medium layer over me and not some thick winter jacket makes the difference.

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Always a trend towards lightweight clothing

Some of the biggest sellers this year have been the new Woolrich Elite lightweight tactical shirts and the Blackhawk lightweight pants.   The reasons people want clothing like this aren’t always apparent.   We noticed that the majority of the lightweight tactical shirts we have been selling from Woolrich were the long sleeve shirts.  It seems that many of the troops or contractors in Iraq were wanted the long sleeve shirts to give them  sun protection but be 100% cotton rip stop, which is pretty much the only thing other than a t-shirt that does the job.

We’ve also noticed that Blackhawk tactical pants have gotten a lot of traction in the last year and seem to have moved into the top 3 selling tactical pants.   The reasons people want lightweight tactical pants are pretty much the same as the reasoning for long sleeve.   Bugs and vegetation can become just as much of a problem as sunburn and there are many environments were wearing shorts is absolutely not in consideration.   The Woolrich Elite lightweight pants are the lightest weight, but sometimes people want something that resists stains and does not wrinkle which gives Tru-Spec and Blackhawk the edge.

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New fit for the Woolrich Elite Algerian Jacket

We recently got in some of the Fall and Winter products that we are stocking in our new location and we got in a few of the Woolrich Elite Algerian Jackets.  Now that the Eotac versions of the Algerian jacket have almost completely dried up, we have been a little frustrated in finding a good replacement.  When the Woolrich Elite Algerian jackets first came out, we were not very happy with the fit.  There were abnormally long arms on the jackets and we saw a 65% return rate with the jackets.   This is a very much improved version of the original Algerian jacket, but the bad fit made it a dud for us.

 

I recently opened up a box of the Algerian Jackets because a few that we special ordered for customers went over well and we did not hear any complaints.   I pulled some of the newer production Woolrich Elite Algerian Jackets out of the boxes and tried them on.   It’s been about 4yrs since these have been in production and I’m just noticing now that the fit has changed.   This is a pleasant surprise for us because one thing that Woolrich has always had going for it is there fabrics and material knowledge has produced very good  quality clothing.   If you’ve been turned off by the jackets in the past, give them a try again because the only difference we see now between the Eotac version and the Woolrich one are the velro vs button front pockets.  That’s your decision to make though.

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Movement and fit with tactical pants

Although I might blog about tactical clothing for the majority of the time, I’m really not a big fan of the whole industry.   If you want concealment, putting the name Blackhawk or 5.11 on your clothing falls under the category of “Not Really” if you want to be running stealth operations.  I’ve seen enough drug busts go down that anyone working in Narcotics knows this.   I’ve often been impressed by the types and looks of some of the people that run Narcotics operations in Philadelphia and how good they are at tricking the bad guys.  Sometimes the guys running behind the scenes sitting in cars get to wear the tactical clothing, but not the front men.

Normally the guys doing the fence jumping are the hardest to impress.   Those are the guys that call up a day after the wore the clothing and tell us they blew out the tactical pants.   I must have worn about 20 different types of pants in the last 4hrs trying to find something that fits me right from my personal experience, movement is something that is really important to me.  The  number one place guys blow out pants is at the gun range.   As soon as they kneel down on the ground they’ll know what the fit and flexibility is.   What is claimed as tactical might be all about the looks and pocket designs, but they may not operate with the operator.

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New Woolrich Elite Twill Jackets in stock

When we first got these in we  had very high hopes that it would be something we could stand behind because we’ve seen a lot of tactical vests and so called CCW vests come in the store and later become discontinued, bad designs or had absolutely nothing interesting about them.   We use to sell a lot of SigTac jackets but that whole scene seems to have dried up.   Woolrich Elite products have always been very well made but like every tactical clothing, something new always comes out every year but sometimes it doesn’t catch on for various reasons and then we can’t get them anymore.

 

Well this year we jumped on the wave and brought in a good chunk of inventory of the new CCW coat from Woolrich Elite.   The Woolrich Elite Twill Jacket was something we’ve been itching for around here and a much better though out and designed jacket than the SigTac jackets.   There are a lot of times that we get descriptions and product info from the manufacturers but Youtube is really the best way to explain a product in this technologically advanced age.    Brian Miller of Woolrich Inc has done several Youtube videos which really sell the new Woolrich Chino, CCW shirts and the Twill Jacket.   Even though we had these jackets in the shop we didn’t know all of the features until we watched the videos, Check them out.

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More and more options for tactical clothing, but does the quality suck?

I answered an email from a customer that ordered several styles of shirts from us but they complained that they ordered all of the same sizes, but the fit was not the same.   We’ve been in the clothing business for long enough to know that sometimes styles and sizes get mislabeled and your wifes home cooking skills did not advance you to the larger sizes. All clothing manufacturers claim to be durable and consistent but the truth is that this is not a reality.   The same company may have variations in sizes and might even change the quality of the fabric just to save a few bucks.   Some clothing makers even out source stuff which compounds the quality control issues.

Making good clothing is a talent and you can have the best designs in a tactical pant but then wreck it with poor quality and poor consistency.  I’ve heard rock albums get ruined by bad mixing or poor recording.   Look at the And Justice for All album from Metallica and how many bass players are still pissed off at the bad mixing that went on.  The point is that great talent still gets wasted on tactical pants and tactical shirts.   There are some really nice CCW shirts from Blackhawk and 5.11 but sometimes when you hold them in your hands they don’t feel as good as they look.

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Washing clothing, does anyone read the labels?

I’ve gotten a ton of phone calls lately since so many people are looking to try out various styles of clothing that didn’t exist a few years ago.   The question I am constantly asked about when people look for the lightweight pants is clothing that doesn’t shrink.   We get tons of people thinking there are magical pants out there that never shrink and we have the answer for them.   Sure there are cheaper tactical clothing companies, but much of this has to do with how you wash and dry them.  I remember talking to a senior designer in the clothing industry that told me they had to run tests of some of their products after people were complaining they wouldn’t hold their colors.

Well, when you throw in fabric cleaner in your wash machine the brightens your clothing and you’ve just tossed in all of your black tactical pants and jacket, don’t expect them to remain black.  The same goes for washing and drying your tactical pants.  If you want your clothing to last longer, try washing them when they are really dirty, and hang dry them.   Most people I know don’t like to hang dry clothing because sometimes it may take days to dry.  I’m willing to bet that you can extend the life of your clothing by 30% of you take care of them.

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