Hill People Gear has introduced a proprietary color for their gear. Elk, as it is known, will be their flagship color in the future. Here you can see a Tarahumara in Elk.
Scot Hill explained that they wanted to stick with an earth tone, but wanted to get away from standard military colors. While they initially favored Khaki, an informal survey found that it wasn’t popular. Instead, they developed their own color.
Eventually, all HPG packs and accessories will be in Elk. Clothing will come in time, depending on fabric availability.
I like it.
I think I still prefer the foliage/manatee combo for blending in both in the mountain, forest, and subway.
I dig it. It’s toned down in both in the woods and around people.
I hope they’ll still offer at least limited runs in ranger green and grey, and I hope they’ll combine “Elk” with some of the other colors to do the cool two-tone stuff they do.
Is the webbing CB to use as a comparison?
I’m not going to wear it during elk season.
This makes sense to get away from the foliage/urban grey/wolf/greenish color they are known for.
I feel like I sort of straddle the backcountry and tactical communities. As best I can tell, HPG has attracted the “tactical” buyer but maybe hasn’t gotten the support from the backcountry folks for whatever reason.
(Imagine a Venn diagram with one circle hipsters, and one circle tactical. Then tactical/hipster overlap is where HPG seems to be, and that’s a small community.)
The ‘elk’ color is plenty subdued but doesn’t say “I’m pretending to be the grey man but I secretly want everyone to know I consider myself a sheep dog” like foliage/urban grey/wolf does.
It might help them with non-tactical buyers.
“Hipster Professional Gear”?
I’ve never seen a hipster carrying HPG. I’ve also never seen a “tactical” person using it either. US designed, made are the only labels that are relevant. The men who run this company are stand up good men, Eagle Scouts, and they use what they design and teach back country skills to boot.
Your comment comes off pretty snide.
No snide was intended. I’m sure the founders are stand up guys but I stand by what I said. For the record, I like the color.
Sometimes people get weirdly defensive and then hear what they want to hear.
I’ve worked professionally in the Pacific Northwest outdoor industry for a little over a decade now. I’ve been using HPG products for a big chunk of it. I was originally introduced to them through my ‘tactical’ connections. But my positive experience has led to many of my colleagues without these ‘tactical’ connections to embrace HPG as well.
Amongst my colleagues who haven’t embraced HPG, they tend to adore the designs and their durability but don’t like that it comes at a significant weight cost. A valid concern that will be more relevant for some than for others.
This is disappointing. This is really a gross color. I have totally gone away from anything that resembles coyote brown etc. And yes, I do own their products, and have met one of the brothers at shot show several years ago. Very nice person.
We aren’t abandoning the other colors, we are just expanding options. Those colors will still be available. A lot of folks wanted a brown color, and others wanted a non-military color, but still an earth tone. This color addresses those desires. The webbing and harness are coyote brown for reference, and also shows it is a lot darker than coyote. Going with coyote provides a nice tonal contrast. It also allows us to stock belts, harnesses, and other items, which is good news for folks who run coyote stuff. If you are at Shot stop by and see it, and say hi.
I’d really like to see some pics of this color in the outdoors.. At first glance it really resembles the color of traditional carhartt jackets, which in my neck of the woods really don’t blend in well at all.