We showed a sneak peek of the California Combat Hoodie around SHOT Show and All Skill No Luck informs us the fabric will be here soon.
The concept came from our friend Nathan Murr, inventor of the Gripstop.
Remember, these are prototype photos. Hopefully, they’ll clean up a few tells and turn this into a true Grey Man garment.
Tags: All Skill No Luck, Gripstop
Maybe it is normal to wear this kind of thing in California but I would for sure take note of anyone wearing such a garment in public.
Where do you live?
He probably lives in Florida…
This would definitely work in California. And Nevada. And Utah. And Oregon and Washington and Idaho. In fact, all the states I’ve tracked to in the last year or so, this would fit in perfect.
Yup
This is a west coast thing. Try wearing something like that down south or up north, or east coast. Stick out like a sore thumb.
Vatican CIty probably no-go as well.
NY in the 80s and 90s this was a common article of clothing, and I mean the state, the city as well, but also in upstate.
Yeah, not a West coast thing. Definitely seen this worn around everywhere.
Northern CA for sure….in the 90s.
I had one of these Baja Hoodies in the mid 80’s, when they were more popular. Not as popular around the beach nowadays, but I don’t think I’d give it much thought. I’d just think ‘ok, old guy going old school – cool’. Away from the beach areas it’d stand out more from the regular hoodies and sweatshirts.
Spring Break…South Padre Island Texas!!!
Throw on a Maga hat and some dip and you could fit in anywhere in that case
the Velcro on the arms is a dead giveaway, and it needs to be a little more generous in the fit, looks a little tight. Most people I’ve seen wearing something like this they are more baggy.
Just my uneducated opinion.
If the end goal is to be a “grey man” garment they most definitely need to ditch that velcro.
Orient the Velcro with the stripes and most folks won’t even notice.
This. If the Velcro was better integrated into the pattern of the fabric, it would probably be inconspicuous enough.
The shoulder pockets are another story entirely: I’ve never seen these garments with any kind of pocket other than a kangaroo pocket in the front, so those shoulder pockets make this stick out like a sore thumb. The angle on them makes them stick out even more — the only garments I’ve ever seen with that kind of angled shoulder pocket are modern combat shirts, so they absolutely scream “military” to me.
Why would you need velcro fields for patches on the arms of a shirt meant to blend in and be all gray-man like?
Exactly this
Yeah, maybe a bit baggier, but not much. And that’s just my opinion.
Ditch the Velcro and take my money.
It looks great. I don’t personally think it needs the vertical velcro, but it isn’t the end of the world, and it can obviously be taken off if the end user is concerned. If it was being purchased at a unit level, I’m sure it would be available without velcro.
If you are carrying three rifle mags, your rifle is going to be close by, so I look at this as an item to make you less visible, not invisible.
Good looking item, and it will be interesting to see what the cost is. For those of us who see a lot of wet snow and cold rain, this would be underneath a hardshell anyway.
I like it a lot.
A few tweaks –
1. I’d like to see the velcro sleeves deleted. That pings pretty hard.
2. If the goal is domestic us wear, I think the mag pockets should be sized for G17 pistol mags. 3-4 in parallel, designed so the baseplate is tucked just under the hoodie material so they are instantly available, but fully concealed.
3. Not sure if possible, but an interior pocket for one of those IIIA ‘special threat’ 1lb UHMWPE 1/4″ thick plates.
Where are any of you working where your adversary determines if you are or are not a threat based on observing shoulder velcro? Mark, I am with you that having inserts for different mags would be a huge plus.
Because even to people that aren’t paying attention they are going to see the difference in colors from the solid color Velcro to the multi-colors of the shirt.
That and the bulk.
I’ve also only ever seen that type of angled shoulder pockets on combat shirts; so far that particular style is still pretty heavily weighted towards military/government uniform clothing which makes it stick out like a sore thumb on a drug rug like this.
The bulk draws your eyes to a feature that just doesn’t belong.
The average person won’t notice it, because pretty much everyone walks around completely oblivious to things like that, but just about anyone who does will immediately see that something is out of place.
We used to call those things ‘Drug Rugs’ Most of the people who wore them were stoners
And can we please stop putting Velcro all over shit? No one wants to see your ghey ass patches
Nice update to the Ensenada Drug Rug.
Pretty much standard issue teenager wear for the 80’s, paired with a T&C t-shirt, and Vans slip-on’s you’d fit right-in. Once Cabo became a destination, family vacation weren’t complete without a couple of these souvenirs. Soon, every shop from Tijuana to Santa Monica to Pier 39 was selling these.
I guess I look at it like their Hawaiian print shirts, it’s for fun not for work.
I third the point on the Velcro. Don’t need it, looks kinda wonky, and what are you going to stick on there?