All posts tagged Woolrich Elite Series Tactical

Pants options for the shooting ranges?

There have been many times I have gone to IDPA competitions or local shooting matches and seen guys pack up gear and be on their way because they are afraid of the elements.   One of the funny things about the shooting community is the number of prima donnas that dwell in it with expensive firearms, but won’t run them like the are capable of.  One of those elements that firearms should be able to handle is the rain.  Especially when it comes to  using Military style firearms.  Some hunting rifles may get messed up in the rain but there are ways of preventing that.  Cheap optics will also become know and fog up on you.

One of the best things to market for this time of the year is rain gear.  For some odd reason we get a lot of rain in the Fall and the Summer here in the Northeast and most tactical pants are just going to hold water or get saturated.  Cotton Canvas has a bad reputation for this but this year we have something new.  The Woolrich Elite WaterProof pants go well with the Elite Waterproof parka.   Unfortunately Woolrich is only making these pants in black at the moment, but they easily roll up and can fit in a range bag for those rainy days.   It would be nice to see something in the future that is Hi visibility though.

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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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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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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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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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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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$29.99 pants on sale until they’re gone

It’s time to clear out some space and make room to transition our store into a kick ass Police, Security and Law Enforcement supply place.    We just got in a huge  inventory of Original Swat tactical boots and the diverse product line of footwear is impressive.  We’ve done a few conventions for their products and we know what people want to see.   Recently we had several groups from local Swat teams show up and we sent out a bunch of stuff for testing and evaluations. Product feedback is important and we are listening.
We got a lot of requests from people to start carrying the Tru-Spec 24/7 line of clothing.   The women’s pants have a pretty good repuation, but this whole un hemmed thing for women’s tactical pants is someone annoying, but I know why they are doing it.  With our broad display of tactical pants we’re adjusting to the demand of our customer base.   The Eotac product line was a great sell, but now it seems to be a thing of the past and it’s time to move on.  Stock up on the last of the lightweight pants for $29.99.

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New product from Woolrich Elite

We’ve been carrying the Woolrich Elite Series clothing line before they added the name “tactical” to the brand name.   When we first brought the product line on board we were new to the tactical clothing market and were in a learning stage of our business growth.    The people that design tactical clothing rarely put a perfect product on the line and we have seen on many occasions there are product modifications and tweaks.   One of the biggest disappointments we have  had with some of the Woolrich Elite product lines was how fast some of the products were discontinued before the product got legs and people found out about it.  One of my favorite products to this day was the Woolrich Elite barn coat, but it was discontinued way too fast.

The Woolrich Algerian jacket got a lot of complaints about the arm lengths and you can do a few searches online and you’ll see this is true, but the last one i got in seemed to be different.   When I got the Woolrich Elite Discreet Carry Twill jacket my fingers were crossed because I didn’t want to get something that I knew wouldn’t sell because there was a design flaw.   I believe the Woolrich Elite Twill Jacket may be the best outwear design that we have seen from Woolrich in the last 5yrs.  The jacket is cut right for CCW and the feel of it kind of reminds of the Sigtac jackets,but not as heavy and smarter pocket designs.   I could fit a Glock 19 in the hand pockets and the inner accessory holders are larger in size and easier to fit magazines and flashlights in them without wiggling things around.

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New wave of CCW shirts from Woolrich Elite

Today I was going through the list of all of the new products that we had to list on our website and sometimes we debate on whether or not we are going to carry something when it gets to my desk.   There have been a lot of useless gun accessories, but they sold and made money, but I found them to be annoying.   Some of the gun parts were a liability to carry because the quality control was so bad that our return percentage and complaints were so high that it wasn’t worth the time to carry them.

When it comes to selling clothing, there are some big named companies that we limit the products from them because quality control is so bad.  That is not the case with the Woolrich Elite Series product line.  They’ve had a few dud products, but I would mostly blame that on the economy and marketing.   The new wave of Woolrich Elite CCW shirts are going to be in my wardrobe.  I’ve about had enough of the solid color CCW shirts that have been made in the past and it’s great to get shirts that look  like they came from a department store and not a tactical shop.

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