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Archive for the ‘Industry’ Category

Bates Footwear Partners with Wounded Warrior Project

Friday, January 28th, 2011

Bates Footwear has announced they will be partnering with Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), a nonprofit organization that supports thousands of wounded warriors each year during their transition back to civilian life.

WWP began when several veterans and friends, moved by stories of the first wounded service members returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq, took action to help others in need. What started as a program to provide comfort items to wounded servicemen and women has grown into a complete rehabilitative effort to assist warriors as they recover. Over 40,000 of our nation’s armed forces have been physically wounded during the current military conflicts. Hundreds of thousands more are estimated to be recovering from invisible wounds of war, including post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and traumatic brain injury.

WWP assists wounded warriors and their families through a holistic approach to their recovery. Whether through caregiver retreats, combat stress programs, career and education services, or adaptive sporting opportunities, WWP empowers warriors with the tools essential to not just survive their injuries but to thrive and achieve personal and professional success.

Manufacturing quality boots and shoes to protect the men and women that wear them is part of the value that drives Bates to give back. “We are grateful to show our support and gratitude to warfighters who have honored our country with incredible sacrifice by supporting a worthy cause such as Wounded Warrior Project” said Ron Woznick, Bates VP & General Manager.

People Get Worked Up Over the Silliest Stuff

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Jeremy Scahill, long obsessed with all things Blackwater, recently made a point about Mossberg selling shotguns emblazoned with the Blackwater logo. Sometimes, I forget that this stuff isn’t common knowledge and don’t realize I should write about it.

You see, there is more to this story that Jeremy apparently didn’t know. He just saw the Bear Paw and lost it. When Erik Prince recently sold Blackwater aka Blackwater USA aka Blackwater Worldwide aka Xe aka US Training Center to his friends (USTC), he kept all of the rights to the Blackwater logo and name. In addition to Mossberg’s guns, Sig also has produces Blackwater branded pistols and has for some time. These licensing agreements predate the sale of the company so are still in effect. No word on how long they are good for, or if Erik Prince is looking to expand his licensing options.

But alas, due to the trademark issue, the BW-15s previously assembled by the armorers at US Training Center may no longer be produced. At some point, they may go back into production building AR-style rifles but the market is already pretty well saturated and they were already over priced. The only reason anyone would have paid their prices was for the Bear Paw logo etched into the receiver. Now that it is no longer an option, USTC may go in another direction producing accurized precision rifles. Time will tell.

So, at this point, Blackwater only exists as a brand and Erik Prince, shrewd business man that he is, kept it for himself. This explains why the Pro shop near Fort Bragg closed so quickly. It was run by Xe and they were losing the right to the Blackwater branding. All of the operations and real estate associated with the former Blackwater now belong to a group of investors collectively referred to as USTC.

Of course, the real takeaway is that Mossberg has retained a license for the Blackwater logo despite the amount of negative press that organization has received over the years. It is a testament to the brand’s popularity, at least among the gun toting public.

Duro Introduces Two New MultiCam Print Fabrics

Saturday, January 22nd, 2011

Duro Textiles, the exclusive distributor of MultiCam introduced two new fabrics at SHOT Show. The first, seen on the left below is LiteLok a 100% nylon, double layer fabric. It is 35% lighter than 500D Cordura and has been used in solid colors for many years for concealment cut armor vests. The ripstop weave gives it a very techie look and it boasts high abrasion and tear resistance.

The second fabric on the right of the photo is called Epsilon. It is a 40D x 70D nylon ripstop fabric with Nanosphere treatment. This gives it water and resistant properties.

For more information visit Duro online.

GSS Launches NBOW

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Global Supply Solutions, LLC has just announced the launch NBOW, a new line of operator designed tactical gear.

“NBOW represents the culmination of years of listening to our customers. We are very proud to represent our manufacturers and deeply appreciate our relationships,” notes Emily Whittaker, CEO of GSS Gear, “but sometimes there are requirements that cannot be commercially met. We believe that NBOW is the future of delivering specific equipment for specific needs.”

“Each NBOW product is the brainchild of a tactical gear user,” says Emily Whittaker. Product ideas are submitted for review to the GSS Gear design team. Submissions which are approved, designed, and manufactured will bear the NBOW insignia with the originator sharing in the naming of the product. Additionally a percentage of the profits from each product will be donated to the originator’s charity of choice. “We at GSS Gear cannot conceive of a better solution for the community as a whole,” remarks Whittaker.

The first NBOWTM products will be available the beginning April of 2011.

www.GSSgear.com

OTB Rebranding

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Right before last year’s SHOT Show, OTB Boots was purchased by New Balance. Now, a year later, we go to SHOT Show and see a brand new booth with banners proclaiming, “OTB, in alliance with New Balance” and “N.Tel Intelligence”. From what we can gather, the OTB line of products, along with new clothing and athletic footwear specifically tailored for the military is being combined into N.Tel.

Essentially, the message is “Your Intelligence Drives our Intelligence”. For those of you unfamiliar with this notion it actually an extrapolation of the concept “intelligence drives operations”. This means that you can’t go kill bad guys if you don’t know where they are and New Balance can’t produce their products without the input of Elite Soldier Athletes. Makes sense to me. However, I’m not too sure on how the name will play.
The only thing missing now is a dedicated website.

www.OTBboots.com,check it before it transforms into something new.

Smith & Wesson Selects Wild Things to Design and Manufacture Clothing

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Wild Things, LLC, the maker of sophisticated technical outerwear for the US Military, Law Enforcement and Consumer markets, today announced that the company has been selected by Smith & Wesson, the legendary 159-year old firearm maker, as licensee for men’s and women’s technical apparel. The apparel line issued under the professionally recognized Military & Police, or M&P brand, will be designed for the law enforcement market. A separate apparel line issued under the Smith & Wesson brand will also be designed for the consumer market.

James Debney, President of Firearms for Smith & Wesson, said, “Wild Things has a 30-year tradition of innovative product design and the use of leading-edge materials. With their continued focus on quality in each and every garment or pack, they have built a solid reputation as a world class technical apparel and extreme alpine sport equipment company, Their innovation, product design skills, attention to detail, and unparalleled quality, not to mention their continued presence as a United States home-based manufacturing company, make Wild Things a natural licensee for our M&P and Smith & Wesson brand names.”
The new M&P apparel line will be available to the law enforcement community through qualified distributors and available directly through Wild Things, LLC, and on the Smith & Wesson website in early 2011. It will feature a range of apparel products based on the company’s WT Tactical™ line, outerwear specifically designed for and used by US Military Special Forces. Later in 2011, Wild Things will launch the consumer line of Smith & Wesson apparel that will be available through select retailers and directly on the Wild Things (www.wildthingsgear.com) and Smith & Wesson (www.smith-wesson.com) websites. The Wild Things product development team is working closely with federal, state and local law enforcement personnel, as well as Smith & Wesson personnel, to design the new apparel lines in keeping with the exacting standards of the professional and the dedicated outdoor enthusiast.

“We have been serving the military operator market for years now and wanted to find a way to quickly become the premier provider of technical wear to the law enforcement community. Our product expertise coupled with the M&P and Smith & Wesson iconic brand names are going to let us do just that.” said Ed Schmults, CEO of Wild Things, LLC.

S&W M&P Clothing

Be sure to see the new line in Smith & Wesson’s booth #10962 at SHOT Show.

Seul Military Consulting

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

We met the folks from Seul military Consulting at last year’s SHOT Show and were immediately impressed with what they had going on. They are responsible for the introduction of Crye Precision combat clothing in German Flecktarn for use by German forces (and MultiCam as well). Not only do they rep the top tier US brands in their home country of Germany but they manufacture some of their own home grown designs as well.

Their own brand is called ATLAS and they produce unique stuff like multi-pocket field jackets, boonie hats, Baseball caps with Velcro and more.

Look for Seul Military Consulting wandering the halls of SHOT Show. They will be there looking for new products to introduce to the German market.

www.military-consulting.de

Grey Ghost Outlet a Big Success

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

We heard from Grey Ghost Outlet that a lot of our readers took advantage of the web site after reading about it here on SSD. Since they specialize in liquidating overstocks, it’s one of those sites that you have to visit regularly. Additionally, we have let a couple of companies know about the site who are getting ready to launch new styles for 2011 and have excess inventory of colors such as UCP or stuff that is no longer in production for whatever reason.

Unfortunately, UCP isn’t going away for everyone in the Army who is training or deploying outside of Afghanistan and several vendors are holding excess inventory since MultiCam fever has set in. Grey Ghost Outlet is a great place to pick up such items for CONUS training. It has been our experience that if you go there and see something you want, you’d better grab it since prices are outrageously low and supplies are limited.

www.greyghostoutlet.com