All posts tagged Tactical Pants

Concealed Carry Pants, Right?!!?!

I have always been more of a jeans guy and that’s the straight leg style not the baggy pants.   I have always been looking for a good pair of CCW pants that really just had nice big hand pockets so I can drop a gun in their and not have to worry about it popping out or sliding out.  Regular clothing won’t cut it and there are safety issues with pocket carry if you are not careful.   A good pair of CCW pants won’t have the pockets sewn directly into the seams because that will allow the gun to fall out in certain positions.   The Woolrich Elite 4909 were too baggy according to our customers although many of same customers that came back for the Eotac version said the Eotac pants were too tight in the thighs and the rear pockets were unnecessary and made the pants look tactical.

I ran out and picked up a pair of the 5.11 Cover Carry jeans shortly after I heard that Eotac was no longer going to be around and was trying to find another line of clothing to fit into the concealed carry market.   No such luck on the Covert Carry tactical pants, they aren’t suppose to be tactical but they were over thought and useless.   I rarely trash a pant design but you couldn’t even carry a j-frame in the hand pockets.   If you ask me for CCW pants, the only pant that I am going to tell you looks CCW are the Woolrich Elite Chinos, it’s somewhat of a relief to actually have the confidence to tell the truth.

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Tactical pants and movement

While studying up on some of the new tactical clothing coming  out in 2012 I was reading some of the reviews and comments on YouTube about them.  It’s funny how often you see people reference that everything is a rip off of 5.11 tactical pants.   I’ve only been in the tactical clothing business for about 7yrs and I have to say that, that is partially true.   It was 5.11 that really had the entire market and nobody came close.   The truth is they still have the market but there are several competitors that are pretty close.  Tru-Spec and Blackhawk probable gained the most ground but Proper is still a monster in it’s own category.

One conclusion that one must come to with tactical clothing is along with quality control, tactical pants must allow for movement.   There are plenty of styles of tactical pants that have been pushed out in the market only to die a slow death when people realized there were design flaws.   One thing that is absolutely a reality about tactical pants is that a gusseted crotch is a must.   The old standard stitching, double stitching, triple stitching isn’t going to cut it. It’s about reducing stress not fighting it.

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We want to hear from you

There are few tactical clothing companies that have really gained some traction in the tactical community and others have fallen off the face of the Earth.  Some were due to poor quality, bad designs or the economic problems of making clothing in foreign Countries were cotton prices have sky rocketed and that’s going to put a shot to the market.   Some companies seem to be more secure than others but we recently heard that some clothing manufacturers have raised prices almost $20 for a pair of pants.   Meanwhile, you can still get some 5.11 tactical pants for under $30.   I’m still amazed at the people that won’t pay more money for something that will hold up better thus making your money stretch out.

We were in this debate years ago when the tactical market exploded and competition was everywhere.  Since there have been cutbacks in military deployment and many of the private security contractors have left Iraq we have noticed a bit of a slow down, but it’s still up from a decade ago.   Woolrich Elite tactical pants are a few bucks more than some of the competitors but to this day it’s still one of the least complained about products we’ve sold.  Every once in awhile there are complaints about buttons falling off or tearing, but that’s all.   All clothing will shrink even if washed properly, we want to hear from you about what  you want us to stock and what you think about the situation in the tactical clothing industry.

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Lightweight tactical short options

There are so many tactical pants clothing makers out right now and I believe I have been saying that for almost 4yrs.   Every time I think we are done seeing a new tactical clothing company, another one emerges.   For dealers it’s at a point where you really have to wonder how much more you can possible flood a market.   Selling clothing is very different than selling knives and gun holsters.   There are so many variations in body sizes that everytime you get stuck with an ugly color or an odd ball size you might get stuck with it for a very long time which is why so many gun shops don’t like selling clothing unless it’s sold in Small, Medium, Large ect.

One thing that won’t be disappearing anytime soon is the Woolrich Elite line of clothing.   Of all of the people that have stepped into the tactical clothing market, Woolrich has been around and making clothing since the Civil war.   Woolrich Elite tactical pants and lightweight tactical shorts are still big sellers, and it has an awful lot to do with durability and quality.  We here far less complaining about shrinkage with this product line compared to the 5.11 tactical clothing and if you spend $50 on a pair of pants, the Woolrich Elite product line is where you want to spend it.

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All those tactical pants and what to choose from?

We recently got in another shipment of Blackhawk Warrior Wear and some of the Tru-Spec 24/7 in limited quantities.  Like many companies out there we have been trying to monitor what is going on with the clothing manufacturers because there are plenty of credible rumors going around about people leaving China and looking elsewhere.  Much of the 5.11 tactical products are geared to Law Enforcement and EMS, and they do a great job of keeping that market, but there is plenty of room for competition for comfort and quality control.   We’ve done a few movement tests with the tactical clothing that we got in and Tru-Spec was the hands down winner.

The 24/7 line from Tru-Spec would not pass as concealed carry pants  in my opinion because real concealed carry means not looking like you are packing a gun.  Most of the 5.11 tactical, Blackhawk tactical pants and even Woolrich Elite and the defunct Eotac line look very similiar from a few feet away.   The big difference is the fit in my opinion.   Guys with different body sizes mostly guys that are body builders.   Sometimes people forget this and that is why there are so many tactical clothing companies because none of them can accommodate everyone.

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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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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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Inseams really matter on tactical shorts

Now that summer is in full swing here in the Northeast, everyone that wasn’t prepared to deal with the weather is calling for the lightweight clothing. We recently had a couple guys that worked in the LEO field and they were talking about jumping over fences and which clothing was holding up to that.   He we go again, another person pissed off that we don’t have the Eotac 302 shorts in stock.   The Eotac shorts were in stock about a year and a half ago and were the first sign something was wrong with the company when they never arrive right before the summer last year.   The funny thing is guys that had them almost 2yrs ago are still wearing them.

The 5.11 tactical shorts that I have tended to feel like brown boxes that were cut around my waist and that silly back pocket strap makes me feel  like I’m in a marching band, but people seem to buy them.   The only decent option left out there seems to be the Woolrich Elite tactical shorts.   The style 4905 are probable the most versatile but some guys don’t like the length on them and really want 7 1/2 inseams.   The only issue we’ve had about the Woolrich Elite shorts is that they do seem to wear out in the crotch area faster than the Eotac shorts.   Mostly because of the way the stiching was done.

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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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