All posts in Woolrich Elite

Pocket guns and getting dressed up for CCW

Many of you that are married may not have the option of dressing  yourself, but I have often been told that I can not wear a certain type of pant or shirt when I was going out because it clashed with what my wife was wearing.   CCW clothing options are very limited even though there are plenty of tactical clothing companies offering concealed carry or covert carry clothing.   I did a few trips to local gun shops and picked up Proper, Tru-Spec, Woolrich Elite, 5.11 tactical and a few other clothing options and the sizing variations was a nightmare.   I was buying 36/34  pants to 38/32 pants depending on the manufacturer and that was what I had to do to just get the fit right.

When it comes to shirt options, that’s a much hard sell.   I haven’t been able to buy anything other than 5.11, Blackhawk and Woolrich Elite shirts and a couple Eotac shirts, but there was not a lot of versatility.  If I wanted to do out of uniform Law Enforcement duty then the tactical clothing companies worked, but if I had to pass the Wife’s going out for dinner options, I did not have a lot to wear that didn’t get flak from her.  I highly recommend the Woolrich Elite Oxford shirts and the Woolrich Elite CCW shirts.

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New Woolrich Elite CCW Shirt

I have a beef with much of the tactical apparel community because much of what I see as labeled as “CCW” is really tactical, and they are no where near the same thing.    If the jeans don’t look like Levi jeans and they look like they have pockets all over the place, they aren’t concealed carry.    I also have a serious issue with the 5.11 jeans that I just picked up because they are suppose to be for covert situations, but the pocket designs are useless.   The internal pockets are useless and the hand pockets don’t even hold a 38 Special snubby.

I am not  a big fan of the fit of Woolrich Elite pants because they are a bit over sized in a few areas.   The Algerian field jacket has funky arm lengths.    I did however get to try out the Woolrich Elite Series oxford CCW shirt and I was very impressed with this.   There was a CCW shirt from Woolrich that had similar false magnetic buttons but the patterns were pretty ugly.   This Oxford CCW shirt is real concealed carry apparel and I am very impressed with the Loden and British Tan color patterns.  We were told they are coming out with a few other styles in 2011.

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Versatile waterproof outerwear

There really aren’t many options that I know of for someone that is carrying a firearm or other tactical gear to be able to still stow his magazines ect. in his outwear and keep the rain off.   Woolrich Elite Series Tactical also has water proof pants that range in sizes from Small-XXL.   Make sure you check out the sizing guide on this one and don’t make any guesses.   Your XL shirt sizes don’t mean you  are going to fit in a XL pant.   I find this to be a good option in the Fall and Spring and it’s always nice to not have to throw on a large heavy coat when you don’t have to.

My Sig 226 9mm is a very large firearm and once of the best balanced 9mm there is.   I usually carry 3-4 15rd pistol magazines and the Woolrich Elite Parka holds all of them without printing.  The front pockets have elastic straps that will hold them in place and a pair of handcuffs and knife also keep me ready for work.   This is too heavy for summer carry, but it’s easy to roll it up and stuff it in the glove compartment or under a  seat if I need to put it away for a Season or two.

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Woolrich Elite Outerwear

We were really wondering what was going on with Woolrich a few years ago after some of the people that were involved with the company split off and went on and started their own thing.   We were not sure if they were going to survive this bump in the road, but 2011 gave us a glimpse into some original products that are being added to their product line.  We have always had a high opinion of their quality, but some of the designs of their products really needed improving.   Woolrich has gotten the edge over some of the big tactical clothing companies in 2011.

I recently looked up several shirt companies from a few years ago and they were all out of business.   This year Woolrich Elite took the trophy with their concealed carry and tactical shirts.  The lightweight cotton rip stop shirts are much lighter for hot weather and still have the tactical utility uses.  The Woolrich Elite shirts primarily the CCW and Oxford shirts are outstanding.  They truly are concealed carry shirts that aren’t tactical looking at all.  If you want dress shirts that are cut for CCW this is your best option.

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Tactical shirts, pocket designs and fit

I try to test out as much of the tactical clothing market even if something really isn’t my style.   I’ve seen things that looked like good ideas really turn out to impractical, over priced and become impossible to find because manufacturing them was too difficult.   There are always things that the tactical apparel community tries out and then the next thing you know those well know 5.11 businesses on the west coast are selling the pants for $19.99 that were going for 49.99.   Not everyone is so harsh when it comes to testing clothing out because not everyone wears the stuff 5-7 days a week.  I’ve found the only way to know how well something is made and how much movement I will have is to test it out myself.

I am not big on the whole tactical shirt thing, they have pockets all over them, some  have velcro and others are zippered.   I still find that losing stuff in them is easy, but I get more use out of the pants  pockets than I ever will in a shirt.   Woolrich Elite shirts tend to fit very loose, this even goes for the p pants and vests.   Some people like this because it gives them more movement and if not tucked in,  can help in concealing a holster.   Tactical shirts make you look more like a LEO than the pants in my humble opinion so if I’m carrying, concealing a firearm doesn’t do much for me when everyone sees how much tactical clothing I’m wearing.

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Woolrich Elite outwear

Woolrich has been around for a very long time, I have been to up State Woolrich inc. and seen the history of the product line and I was impressed that they were stepping into the tactical clothing market.   It has been almost 6yrs now and they are holding there own.   Each of us have our own tastes in the fit and finish and most of our customers have been happy with the product line.   There is more than enough competition out there from 5.11 tactical, Tru-Spec and Blackhawk, but I still have a bunch of the early style of Woolrich products that came out 4yrs ago and all of them have been washed and worn and are still in one piece.
The Style 44424 discreet vests is made of a 100% cotton rip stop and yes, it is one of those vests that some people claim is a shoot me first vest, but I don’t think that wearing a vest is a dead giveaway that you are carrying.   I think there are certain age groups and body builds where vests are appropriate and if you are a competition shooter you will know that this is exactly what you will want for IDPA competitions.   Unfortunately Woolrich Elite vests have been discontinued in some colors that we considered popular like the sage color, but hopefully at some point they will bring them back because so many people are still asking for them.   I would not recommend carrying a firearm in the front pockets, but considering on the size and weight of the gun you may be able to get away with it.  I strongly recommend wearing this vest if you carry a Beretta 92FS or Glock 17 or any large size auto or revolver.

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Cold weather and wet weather and CCW

Recently we had a Thanksgiving Day parade here in Philadelphia.   The parade started off with snow and cold weather, but it ended up turning to rain about halfway through the days events.    It was a good reminder for people that wearing warm winter clothing doesn’t mean you’re going to keep dry.   I remember all of the warnings I got in Boy Scout camp about keeping dry even when we felt warm.   Sometimes we forget how much sweat we generate under our clothing in the winter, but we will find out when we have to get into a sleeping bag.

When you are looking to put on layers of clothing to keep warm and learning how to adapt your concealed carry methods to a warm, but dry way of carrying.   Check out the  Woolrich Elite Parka Style 44420.   This is something you can practically wrap up in  your car and will be easy to stow away when it starts to rain.  You can easily move some of your tactical gear, like flashlights and knives into this parka and keep from burying your gun under layers of clothing.

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Why you should consider buying the proper CCW clothing

I was told about the coming concealed carry and tactical apparel market exposion over 10yrs ago, but things have really exploded in the last 4yrs.   I have seen several companies fail in this market, but mostly to poor marketing or problems in manufacturing.   I recently read an article about the coming cotton price increases so I know there may be yet another shock to the industry.    I never jumped on the CCW clothing bandwagon until about 6 years ago when I started wearing 5.11 tactical shorts.   I slowly go to understand the need for such pocket designs and then branched o ut to other clothing companies after that.   I am very happy with the pants and vests I have been wearing for the last few years and kind of lost interest  in some of the pants I use to wear, but Woolrich has done a great job of designing outerwear for CCW owners.

The Woolrich Elite Parka is a great Fall and Spring outwear accesory to keep you dry on those rainy days where you don’t want to wear something that will absorb water or make you sweat too much.   I’ve worn the Parka on Sept and October and although I did start to sweat wearing it, it kept me dry and was easy to take off and toss in the car without taking up much room.   Now that we are into full blown winter weather, it’s time for sweatshirts and sweaters.   I don’t CCW wearing sweaters as much as I use to, due to the amount of fraying and strings I seem to notice on sweaters.  I guess it’s seeing too many Glock discharges on Dean Speirs website, but I’ll only pocket carry if I have to wear one.   The Woolrich Elite Polyester Fleece is a new product that is CCW friendly and will secure your spare mags.  I’ve carried spare magazines in pockets before and had bullets come loose because if you have enough bouncing around, the bullets may eventually come loose and may cause a moment of embarressment when  your wife finds doing a load of laundry.   Get the right clothing for concealed carry, it’s out there.

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Woolrich concealed carry shirts

When we go out to our favorite clothing stores to shop for CCW friendly clothing one of the most important things we will most likely be choosing is a good gun belt.  Gun belts are often over looked because people think that all they need to do is clip it on and it that works, everything is fine.   If you are not carrying that often, that may cut it for you, but I have ruined plenty of belts before I picked up a Wilderness instructor belt.   The first time I used this belt I was carrying a 1911 and was amazed at how well the belt supported the firearm.  After close to 3 yrs the only that has really started to wear out was the velcro, and I have gone through 2 kydex holsters that broke in the same time period.

Woolrich has made a lot of fine clothing for hunting and civillian purposes,  but only recently have they really come up with something different for real concealed carry.   We’re still waiting for some of the big tactical clothing companies to catch up on the CCW shirt market because all we seem to really see are tactical pants and tactical shirts.   What we really want to see is regual clothing that is cut to the right lengths and fits us as comfortable as if we weren’t carrying a firearm.   Carrying a gun always some level of adaptation, but a good gun belt and Woolrich Elite concealed carry shirts should give you a lot of flexibility

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The Air 9″ Side Zip MTO 1232 from Original Swat

The first week I wore the Style 1232 I noticed only a little extra weight from the walking I did, but I actually noticed immediately that the soles of my feet were fine.   The inside of the boot fit me well and I did not develope and sores or rough spotss.   My feet also did not sweat real bad and I was working in 80F weather.    The boots didn’t breath as well as sneakers, but who would expect that.   After 2 months of wearing the same boots for almost 6 days a week.   I have had almost no pain my feet and I have actually been able to lift more than I normally can without issues.   I guess it sounds pretty bad to have to talk about my poor physcial health, but just because you are wearing tactical gear, doesn’t mean you have to be the fastest runner on your team.

We were new to the idea of carrying tactical footwear, but our customers basically gave us enough feedback on what they wanted us to carry that we went out and contacted Original Swat to find out about being a dealer.   All of our Staff are presently wearing the product line and we’ll fill you in as time goes by on various styles and what people think of them.   I personally got a hold of the Style 1232 from Original Swat boots and given that I have had my fair share of foot problems, I wasn’t really sure how well my feet were going to handle wearing boots.   I had the unfortunate experience of having foot surgery on both feed in the last few years and my physical movements have been restricted because of the problems.   I was forced to wear sneakers in most situations just because they were much softer on my feet.

 

 

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