I am not sure exactly what spurred Crye to do it, but in the late 2010s the company created an off-shoot clothing brand that was essentially the non-military version of their own apparel. High end clothing with (fairly) high prices, quality materials and designs to suit the same sort of people who might be issued or purchase G3s and G4s for their main job.
The design work was headed up by Johanna Bloomfield, who has lead the military apparel design team at Crye for a decade now, and while the actual Atlas website has long been taken down, there is a little bit of information to be found on Johanna’s own personal work portfolio:
https://www.johannabloomfield.com/#/atlasstandard
https://www.instagram.com/atlasstandardofficial
Atlas did run an Instagram account, with the first post being in June 2019 and the last in November 2020, which gives an idea of the unfortunately short lived nature of the brand.
The receipt for your garment along with this information card is packaged in to a very smart black envelope. Sadly however I don’t think I’ll be able to get any questions answered or assistance rendered by customer service at this point.
Whereas the packaging for all Crye Precision items is merely a clear plastic bag to keep any contamination off of the product, everything from Atlas came in a tamper-sealed zip-loc bag made of a much thicker and sturdier plastic. Note the format of the label is essentially the exact same as that used by Crye.
If you ever wanted to mesh some of the features of the Crye G4 field pants with a pair of smart, high end chino-like trousers for the office/fancy restaurants, then the Atlas Summits were for you. They are constructed from a 2-way stretch twill fabric similarly to G4 apparel, but do a great job of avoiding any outwardly tactical aesthetics.
Fly is a button type which isn’t my preference for daily practicality, but I suppose it fits in with the more luxury styling of the garment. I do not know which metal the buttons are made from exactly, but they are very clearly manufactured to a high standard. I would probably have preferred the top, main button to not have the Atlas logo in it since that is already present in the leather jacron, but not having brand writing running around the circumference of each button makes for a cleaner aesthetic than most jeans.
Interior labels consist of sizing and branding tags attached at the 6 o/clock of the wait, along with the proudly stated ‘Made In USA’ on a very striking blue background. Since the packaging states ‘Made In Brooklyn’ it is almost a certainty that Atlas goods were made alongside Crye in the same facility.
One possibility is that the limited production capacity at Crye (limited in terms of their physical space in New York) could be part of the reason as to the discontinuation of Atlas.
An extremely thick leather jacron featuring a small Atlas Standard logo is sewn in the usual position on the 7 o/clock of the waist. For me the presence of this feature cements the Summits as being more of a high-end jean replacement than an alternative to suit trousers.
Two rear pockets are pretty conventional in size, shape and location, but with the inboard vertical seams being welded in seemingly the same was as some seams on G4s are executed. They have just that slightly different aesthetic that sets these pants apart. Plenty of quality double stitched seams visible in this image along with the two bar-tacks at the most crucial points at the top edge of the pocket.
I have seen a lot of shirts, trousers and jackets in the tactical realm tout ‘secret’ or hidden pockets, but they are always quite obvious in reality with openings that are not hard to spot even from a bit of a distance. The Summit pants have secret pockets directly behind each standard front slash pocket that genuinely do a good job of disappearing. The fabric is folded over where it joins the coil zip in such a way as to sink said zip down in to the garment and totally hide it away, with a garage in the waistline for the zip pull. An ideal pocket for less frequently accessed but high value items, especially when walking around town.
Also note various bar-tack reinforcements visible here and the impressive way that the seams for the slash pocket and waist panel disappear in to the hidden pocket opening.
A generous gusset in the crotch means the Summits offer good deal more freedom of movement for the wearer than standard fashion chinos, especially when combined with the stretch fabric.
Unfortunately I neglected to take more photos of the retail tags when I originally took ownership of my pair of Summit pants, so I can’t convey the product information on them which I believe included more detailed materials specs. With the Atlas website now removed that information is not currently available to me, but should I ever manage to re-discover it I will update this article at a later date.
While everything Atlas was offered was pricey, the vast majority of the items that were released during the brands’ short run were pretty timelessly-styled classic pieces of mens’ wear. If you combine that styling with the extremely high quality materials and top notch assembly work, you get a brand that does actually make sense in terms of building a wardrobe long term and had the potential to appeal to the sort of men who probably don’t otherwise invest in more costly clothing for everyday life.
Whether the discontinuation of the line was a result of lack of sales, a pinch in Crye production capacity or some other change of direction at the company we may never know. However I thought the venture was a very interesting one and there is very little content about it to be found online so hopefully this short article will be informative for folks.
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