All posts tagged Woolrich Elite Pants

Rumors and more rumors as to what is going on

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.

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Where to go after Eotac?

We are now being bombarded with questions from our customers about what happened to Eotac.   We are out of various sizes of tactical pants from Eotac, but we still have a lot left and lots of people don’t believe we have it.    It’s almost like Eotac tactical pants are more popular and sought after now that nobody can get them.  It really is sad that the company was barely around for 2yrs and just when people are getting to know the product line it goes belly up.   We’re still waiting to hear from somebody at Remington on what the situation was.   We don’t know if they went out of business, were bought out, or merged with someone else.

After Fernando Coelho left Eotac last year, it’s no surprise that investors may have been concerned about it’s future.   Recently Fernando mentioned on Facebook on the Eotac page that if people are looking for something similar your best bet is with Woolrich Elite pants.   The fit is different and we’ll leave it up to our customers to say which is better, but considering how many disgruntled 5.11 customers we have, Woolrich Elite products are top notch and I would never bash them.   Designs are debatable and Woolrich Elite series shirts, pants and vests have a 95% satisfaction record with our customer base.

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Pants-Concealed Carry and Tactical Options

Tactical PantsEotac pants have an elastic waistband that give some versatility to users especially for those carrying a firearm IWB.   The pants sizes from Elite Operator Tactical are consistant with regular clothing sizes.   The shirts and vests are all gun generously to give a little more room.    Eotac lightweight pants have a gussetted crotch that give them superior durability.   The Style 204 Concealed carry pants have side zipper pockets that can hold a small firearm, wallet, keys or something like a Kimber Guardian Angel.   The most tactical of the  are the Style 201 Lightweight Operator pants that are based on the Army Combat Uniform Pants.   These pants can hold up to 6  30rd M16 or AR 15 magazines as well as other gear.   The new Style 702 Womens pants is a big step forward for Eotac and we’re waiting to hear from our Female Operators on what they think about them.  These pants should be available in March of 2010.

Eotac tactical pants have been on the market for about a year now and have got their feet in the door of the tactical pants market.   TheEotac  Style 202 pants have the durability and quality control that puts them in the top tier or the tactical clothing market.   We hear lots of complaints about the 5.11 Tactical pants crowd due to what seems to be a corporate giant that over extended itself into the tactica apparel market and was more concerened with making tactical flashlights, knives and watches than making a consistant pair of tactical pants.  With manufacturing facilities in 3 different Countries, 5.11 has been putting out inconsistant clothing sizes for the same products.

 

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Lightweight pants customer response

Tactical PantsMany of you may think that spending $60 for a pair of pants is too high, but for a lightweight material,  the design is extremely important.   Eotac lightweight pants have a gusseted crotch that will drastically increase your ability to manuever without wearing about ripping your crotch out if you’re running and jumping.    We had a user mention that another manufacturers pants tore in the crotch when he went from prone to standing up on a firing line.    I guess we’ve all torn pants at some point in life, but tactical pants are not meant to be worn like Levi’s jeans.

There are a operator type pants on the market now.   I’ve seen more than a few that were knock offs of the ACU Army Combat Uniform or Paratrooper pants.    Some of them are selling for $20-$100.    That is a pretty big price variances.    I got to try on a few from a distributor that was selling them for $20 and they were worth about $5 after they went through the wash machine.  People don’t really want to spend a lot of money on tactical clothing with this economy, but just like all of the junk AR15, SKS, AK accessories, there are some pretty big differences in clothing durability.   The 2nd thing is the fit and mobility.    True operators are not going to want to feel a crotch ride up on in their pants when they sit down in a car and are carrying 60lbs of weapons and gear.   We had a number of agencies and customers change over to the new Eotac Style 201 Operator Pants and one of the customers stated that in the last 6 months this is the only lightweight cotton ripstop pant that he owned that did not tear at the crotch.   All of the previous pants he wore tore at the same spot.

 

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