Off duty and training clothing for women, and we’ve seen them try to do it!
I’ve been in this industry for the better part of a decade and there was not much out there other than 5.11 clothing 10yrs ago. I knew several people that knew the potential of the market and wanted to get something new out there. Now the tactical clothing is flooded but some of the same problems are there. Quality control, and the lack of a decent line of products for women. Today i had a female police officer come in looking for Ladies duty gear, last week it was ladies pants. We never saw the Eotac product line go out there for women, but recently only Tru-Spec tactical pants have had a 98% approval from our female customers. Many women get stuck wearing mens tactical pants but the crotch and waist fit can get very annoying.
Poly cotton ripstop tends to be the best option since it does not need to be ironed and is a low maintenance material. The best tactical pants we’ve seen are the 24/7 Series Tru-Spec womens pants that we always stock in our store. There are several departments stopping in with female co-workers that need pants for when they have to leave the office and go out in the field. The womens EMS pants have a 90% approval raiting and we rarely hear criticism about fit. There are big differences in the pocket patterns because fitting pepper sprays, mace, batons, flashlights and a firearm can vary from person to person. You really have to kind of know what you are looking for and then fit into the tactical clothing. Some medical supplies fit very easily into the EMS pants.
We have been waiting for the Eotac womens pants for almost a year. We expected them to arrive in June of 2009, but there were production delays which we suspect we’re due to re-design changes. Later we were expecting them in the Fall of 2009, but once again, there were shipping delays. We’ve been holding backorders for the Style 702 pants and just got around to fullfilling the orders in April of 2010 and we were crossing out fingers that the design would be well accepted. When the tactical pants first arrived, we shipped a lot of them out to associates as beta testers to see what there opinions were before we started stocking the product. We have carried other brands of womens pants in the past, but we dropped them because statistically speaking, the return and complaints about them were about 85% complaints about fit and sizing. You may think that is a really bad stat, and it certainly is, but desigining womens tactical pants are much harder than designing mens.
The Style 702 womens operator grade lightweight pants will be made of the same 100% cotton ripstop material that the men’s pants are made of, the stitching and durability are the same, but the buck stops there, or should we say doe? The pocket designs are unique to the womens pants and nothing like anything Eotac has out. The front pockets will easily accomodate pocket holsters, the two additional wallet type pockets can hold ID or even something as large as a pistol magazine. The pant legs are slightly tapered for a better look while still allowing access to an ankle holster or being worn with boots. These pants will be available in late Winter and will come in Black, Khaki, Navy blue and OD Green.