SOCOM - L9 Tactical Uniform Development
On May second I flew back into El Paso, TX. A town, more in New Mexico, and Mexico than in Texas. I was there to be a part of the U.S. Special Operations Command’s development of the new tactical uniform. The government was bringing in 20 Medium special ops guys from all branches of the community; SEALS, Marines, Army Special Forces.
As I went to sleep at the hotel the first night, not having met them or seen them yet, I figured that we were probably in the safest hotel in El Paso, if not Texas. In the morning I figured I was right. At their first meeting, the cases holding their weapons were organized to be placed in the local police academy’s armory for safe keeping. An impressive set of cases all holding similar weapons.
The guys with their kit, and these weapons were going to spend 11 days, in 12, training hard under a 95+ degree sun wearing multiple generations of what would become U.S. SOCOM’s next advanced tactical uniform. Shootin’, fightin’, cussin’, and a whole lot more, they put each uniform through its paces to get the most information out of them as to the Fit Form Function of the new garments.
Would we really get a lot of information out of only one set of uniforms? How would we know what worked and what didn’t? This challenge was taken care of by a local production facility called Ready One. A sewing facility on the east side of El Paso that employees 1500 sewers, and 75% of them are recognized to be handicapped. An incredible organization. During the 12 days, a small team of sewers, created multiple generations of each garment. Taking the feedback of each individual soldier, along with the special consideration of Bruce from Anthrotech, Cyndi Davis from Patagonia, and myself, the sewers implemented huge changes to all three garments that were being designed.
You might have caught the fact in the beginning of this blog that all of the guys were Medium. This was to allow for only one size to be made, and to verify that that one size was truly a medium. Bruce and his team scientifically measured each individual the first day. Incidentally not every soldier was a perfect medium, nor even a medium at all. That was ok though. It made for some pretty interesting video.
I'll be writing about the rest of the experience, and will post first views of the products soon. Teaser: Once finalized, and ready for custom production Beyond will roll out the new garments in multiple fabrics. They will include NYCO in Multicam, and WTX FR Cotton.
As I went to sleep at the hotel the first night, not having met them or seen them yet, I figured that we were probably in the safest hotel in El Paso, if not Texas. In the morning I figured I was right. At their first meeting, the cases holding their weapons were organized to be placed in the local police academy’s armory for safe keeping. An impressive set of cases all holding similar weapons.
The guys with their kit, and these weapons were going to spend 11 days, in 12, training hard under a 95+ degree sun wearing multiple generations of what would become U.S. SOCOM’s next advanced tactical uniform. Shootin’, fightin’, cussin’, and a whole lot more, they put each uniform through its paces to get the most information out of them as to the Fit Form Function of the new garments.
Would we really get a lot of information out of only one set of uniforms? How would we know what worked and what didn’t? This challenge was taken care of by a local production facility called Ready One. A sewing facility on the east side of El Paso that employees 1500 sewers, and 75% of them are recognized to be handicapped. An incredible organization. During the 12 days, a small team of sewers, created multiple generations of each garment. Taking the feedback of each individual soldier, along with the special consideration of Bruce from Anthrotech, Cyndi Davis from Patagonia, and myself, the sewers implemented huge changes to all three garments that were being designed.
You might have caught the fact in the beginning of this blog that all of the guys were Medium. This was to allow for only one size to be made, and to verify that that one size was truly a medium. Bruce and his team scientifically measured each individual the first day. Incidentally not every soldier was a perfect medium, nor even a medium at all. That was ok though. It made for some pretty interesting video.
I'll be writing about the rest of the experience, and will post first views of the products soon. Teaser: Once finalized, and ready for custom production Beyond will roll out the new garments in multiple fabrics. They will include NYCO in Multicam, and WTX FR Cotton.
posted by Beyond Clothing at
10:41 AM
