All posts tagged sale on tactical apparel

Not a big fan of everything in the tactical clothing world

I have yet to find a shirt that is considered to be tactical that actually fits me right.  I’ve worn plenty of them while teaching handgun courses but there were either sizing issues with them or there were functionality issues.   I never like the idea of having velcro on the pockets and the button down versions just seemed far more professional looking.   Some of the early Woolrich Elite products really were a knock off of what 5.11 had, but the quality and slight design improvements were a big, big deal.

Tru-Spec tactical clothing is very much becoming my favorite and its’ mostly because the fit is probable the best for me.  I will not go out and say that everything else in the tactical clothing world sucks because so much of this is about preference.   Tactical pants, tactical shirts and tactical vests all  have different purpose and sometimes you’ll want different clothing because of the weather.  Heck there may be a time you might want to put your guns and gear down and put on EMS pants and brush up on your first aid training.

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What are you options for CCW pants now?

There’s only one pant that we will tell our customers is a CCW pant and that’s the Woolrich Elite Chinos.  We’ve been looking at Vertx pants for awhile now but with a bad economy I’m not so sure there is big money to be made on such an expensive pair of pants.   Even if they hold up to use, everyone needs 3 or more pair of pants to get through the work week without excessive washing or bad hygiene.
Lately I’ve been wearing the Chinos more and more because in all honesty, I’ve grown tired of the whole tactical clothing market and have lost a lot interest in wearing all of my tactical pants just to sell them.   Sometimes you need tactical clothing and other times you just want to be dressed down.   Tru-Spec has a very original design and the fit is very good but they still seem like tactical apparel to me.

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Not happy about this but get them while you can

Everyone once in awhile we are extremely disappointed to hear about a product being discontinued but right now it seems the Woolrich Elite half zip sweat shirts are being discontinued.   We’re clearing out our inventory of them right now and discounting them to $39.99.   These are great CCW outwear because the sweatshirts are cut long and great for covering full size autos.  We have a good bit of the small size sweatshirts which are great for keeping your girlfriend warm.   I’ve had more than a few of them stolen from my wife.

Woolrich Elite products have a rock solid reputation for holding up and the Elite Series stuff I had years ago is still in good condition.   The half zip sweatshirts I own have faded, but they have not shrunk as far as I can tell.  I personally prefer the Woolrich Elite Tactical Clothing especially  Half  Zip Sweatshirts to most jackets because of the long length and the fact they are more comfortable than a long coat.   At this time of the year when I have to go in and out of malls, having a medium layer over me and not some thick winter jacket makes the difference.

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Lightweight tactical pants and standard weight

When we first got into this business we were mostly dealing with 5.11 tactical products.   5.11 tactical has pretty much held the market on tactical clothing, but now that they’ve grown so big it seems pretty obvious that there is a large customer base that became tired of the clothing company from 3 different countries and the fit was varying to much people started looking elsewhere.   Tru-Spec and Vertx are the two tactical clothing companies that have really grown some legs even in this bad economy.

Tru-Spec has beat out 5.11 on tactical clothing because the prices can be very close and you basically get a better quality product.   We’ve already noticed that returns and complaints on Tru-spec tactical pants was very low.  There are always preferences and things people would like to change that would suite them more but shrinkage and pricing is very important.  Vertx is on the higher end of the spectrum but according to what we are hearing from people, they want us to carrying the product line.

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Blowout pants report

There seems to be a shift in the tactical pants market now to going for the gusseted crotch on all of the new tactical pants.  While this is old news to some people certain tactical clothing companies have been really slow at keeping up with what’s  new.   While several clothing makers are looking to get out of China for making apparel,  we are hoping that 2012 means making better clothing without crazy skyrocketing prices.   We’ve been selling Woolrich Elite Series Tactical clothing for several years and got hit with a few price increase recently, but compared to some clothing makers, not all that bad.

Trying to find a good  pair of pants for less than $40 dollars pretty much means shopping on Ebay, Tru-Spec, 5.11 tactical or Woolrich Elite.   While there are always preferences to consider when people tell you which tactical pants are best for them.   We have known for a very long time that the patns going for under $30 are not going to last unless they are discontinued or clearance items.  The best deal in recent months were the Woolrich Elite Style 444904 pants which were a very sturdy cotton canvas material that were identical to to the 44429 pant but with a lower ankle pocket.   They were a little heavy for some people’s tastes but they  did not shrink like some of the competitors did.

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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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