Rogue Elite

There seems to be a really big difference in the fit and feel of Tru-Spec, Blackhawk, Woolrich Elite and the defunct Eotac lightweight pants.   We mostly sold the 100% cotton ripstop pants which is what so many people wanted, but there are draw backs to that material.   If you want lightweight pants, you really can’t get any lighter than the 100% rip stop, but they will shrink faster than others.   We have a ton of 5.11 tactical pants inbound and we’ll be doing even more comparisons between the far more popular 5.11 pants.

It seems that Blackhawk and Tru-Spec are  using a polyester blend for their tactical pants and although they do feel heavier and are not as breathable, they are seemingly a more durable and stain resistant tactical pants.  Much of the tactical clothing is about personal preference, are bodies are not shapped all the same so complaining about fit may vary from one style and person to another.  Blackhawk pants are probable a little tighter in the legs for most people and the Tru-Spec 24/7 lightweight pants are a little looser fit.

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.

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.

In 2012 you can be sure there will be some pretty big changes in the tactical clothing market.   I expect there will be a few people fall to the way side because there are still production issues with making clothing in China and the economy isn’t getting any better.   Lots of police and government workers are losing their jobs and that will eventually affect the people that supply them.   Locally there were huge layoffs in the Trenton and Camden area and for the first time we saw unemployed cops.

Now that things are really getting tight, if you are looking for some really good deals please take a look at some of the great deals we have on clothing.   There are some really good Tru-Spec, Woolrich Elite and Eotac tactical pants on clearance and on sale.  We have a significant amount of the Eotac style 202 OD greens left.   For $34.99 you are saving on money and getting a better quality product.

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.

We will be bringing in more tactical clothing this fall from 5.11 tactical and Blackhawk as well as Tru-Spec.  We have heard lots of good things about the Tru-Spec 24/7 pants and considering that they are Gunny approved, we’ll have to say they are Rogue Elite approved.   As the American economy slows down, we’re waiting to see what happens with the clothing manufacturing business.   Cotton prices are still way up and some of the t-shirts we have brought in are almost $2 more over last years pricing.

Some of the tactical apparel that we sell got really expensive while others have slowly worked their way up to the inflation that we have expected.   We’re still running a great deal on $30 tactical pants from Eotac that has sadly gotten run down to the minimum.   We pretty much just have OD Green tactical pants in lightweight and standard weight and if we don’t heard something big this fall, this is the end of something great.

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.

Sometimes you have a day when the last thing you are thinking about is carrying a firearm or spare magazines.   There have been times that I just wanted to rip my belt off and thrown things on the ground because it was becoming so darn uncomfortable bending over and carrying stuff around while carry a pistol.   One thing that I do like to do at times is take off my gun and thrown it in a pocket.   Something very cool about wearing and owning certain tactical clothing pants and shorts is the pockets are so big that you can stuff a Glock 19 in them and they’ll go all the way down.   Pocket carry with such a large firearm is not something I would plan on doing for very long, but it’s possible.

Now that it’s early July and Summer heat is in full swing, I usually keep my tactical clothing to a simple lightweight pants or lightweight shorts option.   I tried to wear the Blackhawk ligthweight tactical pants, but they were too hot, lately I’ve been only wearing the Woolrich Elite tactical shorts that are standard cotton canvas material, have lots of pockets, but aren’t supper light weight that they don’t support guns and gear.  There is a much lighter weight 4908 short, but it lacks the cargo pocket and that is one of the most useful pockets I use.

I don’t think I’m going to run out of info on discussing these tactical clothing issues because I hear it all day long.  I just got off the phone with a customer that was bitching about the Eotac clothing being discontinued, and the “now what am I going to do?” is starting to set in.   I noticed a ton of gun shops in my area have stopped carrying clothing because I get it.. selling clothing is a royal pain for a gun shop because nobody wants to deal with the sizing issues and exchange rates that you have to expect whenever  you sell something like that.  Nobody buys an LWRC M6A2 and returns it because it doesn’t fit right, but we have sold hundreds of dollars of clothing and had it all come back for exchanges, it goes with the business.

At a recent show in Atlantic City, we walked around various tactical booths and checked out the stuff that was there.   One guy that use to sell the stuff for some of the big names said he hated wearing the tactical pants from one company because they felt like they were made of cardboard.    I didn’t disagree with him because that really is about where the tactical clothing market is at.   There is a lot of uniform style clothing but when you get down to comfort and durability, it’s almost down to about 3 or 4 clothing companies and then after that you have to decide if you want tactical or casual, and then it’s an even small market.  I wonder if anyone in the tactical apparel market knows that ?

The tactical market is absolutely flooded with tactical pants and tactical clothing.   I just did some research online for concealed carry vests and found a few smaller companies making vests, but I also noticed they are making pants.   I’ve heard enough bitching and moaning from our customers about the fact that they didn’t want to pay $50 for a pair of pants, and now I’m seeing a cluster of small companies making $80 + pants.   As a dealer, I have serious doubts about the profitability of clothing priced that high even if you create a cult following.   The reality is this, if you don’t have easy access to a manufacturing facility in China, India, or Indonesia, you really are going to have a hard time making money.

Now that cotton prices have shot up so  much due to the inability to grow it fast enough, prices have gone up for even the big companies.   With Eotac tactical pants swimming in rumorville,   the easiest transition for customers is to Woolrich Elite apparel although Tru-Spec seems to have gotten a good nod from people we have been dealing with.   One of the good things about selling tactical footwear is that Original Swat boots owns their own boot factory and they don’t have the scheduling issues that many clothing companies have.   If they are sold out of something, they order it and produce it at their own scheduling time line.   One thing that seemed to really due in Eotac was they never produced the right products at the right time and it was almost like the company never got its best stuff on the market.