All posts tagged Woolrich Elite Series Tactical

Looks like Woolrich Inc is out of the tactical apparel market

Tru-Spec 24/7 series tactical clothingWe were the first dealer in Pennsylvania to carry the Woolrich Elite Series product line and I can’t think of much out there other than 5.11 tactical products, but Woolrich Elite Series products were very well received.  At the time the economy was better and people were willing to spend $50 for a pair of pants, but now things are really crazy and many of our customers are telling us they are dropping over $60 a pair of pants for 5.11 tactical stuff.   We’ve seen the ceiling be about $50 for pants and once we go over that for a product, we basically loose out to 5.11 tactical or some other company.  I have no idea what people are going to do if they liked Woolrich Elite Series products or the Eotac line because after checking out the Vertx, Tru-Spec and Blackhawk Product lines, they are all overy different.

There is a whole bunch of drama that went down with the guys that original came up with the idea for the Woolrich Elite line and in the end it lost out to the competition because it just couldn’t keep up with the times.   Our best best right now is to sell what our customers want and the Tru-Spec 24/7 Series tactical clothing has a great quality product for about 20%-40% less than their competitors.  There are the new Truely Tactical products coming out that are less than $40 and we expect that this is a great idea considering the economy and the market drive.  There are several companies making stuff now but nobody likes to buy online for new clothing and most walk to walk in a shop and try them on.

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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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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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Short sleeve ccw options, check out Woolrich Elite

When summer rolls around it’s usually time to put the full size auto away and switch over to your compacts and smaller frame guns.  The Hawaiian shirt thing doesn’t work for skinny guys and I’m sure we’ve all seen the movies where the undercover narcotics officers are wearing them.  The bad guys know you have a gun tucked in there and they probable won’t be surprised to see the muscular and fit guy with the shirt and sunglasses is a narcotics officer. After that, if you don’t wear an untucked t-shirt you’re probable going to end up having to pocket carry.

Everyone of the tactical clothing companies has it’s pros and cons and some of the fit and designs are really just personal tastes.   The one company we’ve been very impressed with when it comes to CCW shirts are the Woolrich Elite CCW Shirts especially the short sleeve ones for this time of year.   I personally have been very happy with my ability to pocket carry a j-frame, tuck a shirt in and still be able to pack a Streamlight tactical flashlight and my gerber pocket knife all in my ccw shirt.   I’ve seen a few of the Blackhawk and 5.11 attempts at making tactical shirts but they just didn’t work for me.

 

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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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Water Restistance and durability of tactical pants

We’ve been very happy to see new products in our warehouse like the Blackhawk Lightweight tactical pants.   These tactical pants are very different from the 5.11 tactical pants like the Taclite pro pants.    5.11 has a large product line of tactical pants but there is plenty of room for innovation and improvements.   Water resistance is very important if you are going to be in rainy environments.  People can die by sleeping in environments where they never dry out and cold weather can eventually lead to death.   We always have a large customer base of people that are Law Enforcement or Military but also go hunting, and sometimes there is very little difference between the product lines.

When the weather starts to warm up we see changes away from the cotton canvas tactical pants towards the lightweight material.  Just like cold weather and wet environments can be dangerous, hot weather can also be dangerous if you are not wearing the right clothing.   There are several styles of tactical pants to consider, but for wet environments the best lightweight tactical pants we sell are the Blackhawk lightweight tactical pants that are treated with a DWR, which means durable water resistance.  That’s a big deal for avoid uncomfortable deployments in damp environments.

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Did anyone find anything new in the tactical pants realm at Shot Show?

We weren’t able to get out there this year but maybe next year it will be a possibility.   There have been several new shirts marketed towards the concealed carry market from TruSpec and Woolrich Elite.  This is one area where we thing Woolrich Elite Series has really gotten a stronghold on because the patterns and fit is really good.  For some reason no matter what the sizes say on other clothing and what the materials are made out of, the Woolrich products just seem more durable and better designed.

When it comes to tactical clothing, I think there is still a wide open market for more jackets, vests, sweatshirts and concealed carry pants.   There is a company called CCW Breakaways that has an interested design, but it looks at first like a one trip pony.   I’ll be interested to see if there anymore tactical pants that come out anytime soon but now it seems that everyone is thinking about money and not so concerned about who is better than who.   There are always ways around having to spend loads of money on expensive items and sometimes you just have to work with what you’ve got.  If you are that hard up for money, just carry a different gun or get a new holster, forget about $60+ tactical pants.

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Ger yourself a good Molle vest

If you are looking to become a serious shooter and looking to acquire the tactical gear that works for you, be real careful about all of the tactical gear that applies to Carbine Operators.   There is plenty of junk out there but even more importantly people get too much of the wrong stuff.   Now that Molle gear is all over the place, start off with a good Molle vest and only buy what you need.  After you run a Carbine course you’ll be better off starting light and adding on then starting off with tons of vests.

There are plenty of vest options out there but I prefer to stick to American made tactical gear anymore.  The Elite Survival Molle vest is under $100 and depending on the tactical pants that I am wearing, it’s more than enough versatility for me.  Sometimes it’s not all about packing on magazine pouches.  Considering the something like the Woolrich Elite Style 44447 pants can hold up to 6 30rd magpul pmags there isn’t much of need to carrying another 6-8 magazines on a vest.   I prefer to carry a sidearm on the leg which blocks up some of the pants usage but with a Molle vest you can always put  your sidearm on the vest.

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Price points on pants, made in the US or made in China?

We’re still shuffling around trying to see what products we’ll be adding on to our product line for 2012 and there are plenty of things to consider.  One of the things we have always had to consider with tactical clothing is this.  Will people pay more than $50 for a pair of pants?  Most people don’t go out and buy one pair of pants unless they are looking to try them out for the first time, but for the people that have to wear the clothing 5 days a week or more, they will probable want 3 or more.  If you buy pants that cost $30 and buy 3 of them, yous spent $90, if you buy 3 pairs for $49.99 you spent $149.97 and that’s $60 dollars more.   Was it worth the buy?

If you figure that in and the cost of shipping how many gun shops will be able to sell that much clothing and make a profit.  We’ve always sold higher end products but when it comes to clothing, some people just don’t really care too much about their tactical pants and they just want cheaper clothing that doesn’t cost a lot.  After evaluating some of the product lines in 2011 we’re looking over what sold and what didn’t and looking at taking on some new product lines.  Will you pay $60 or more for tactical pants, what if they’re made in the USA?

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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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