Custom Uniforms

If you are interested in a set of uniform in a combat cut similar to the one offered by Crye with their G3s AND you want it in a specific or niche camo that Crye don’t make (and most likely nobody else makes at all), then my buddy Roman Kurmaz is the one to speak to.  I have personally been a customer of Roman’s for many years now, I found out about his business very early on.  We have built up a good working relationship and I have purchased dozens of items of apparel from him myself over the past few years so I have been able to get a realistic gauge on the materials used, the quality of stitching, consistency of sizing and overall QC/QA levels.  If the quality wasn’t there, I would never have undertaken to make this whole thing happen and be promoting it to you all.

The Full 9 Edition of G3 uniform from Roman’s brand Kurmaz Gear is both a refinement on the Crye Precision design and also to the specific Kurmaz production items all rolled into one, keeping the recreational and sporting markets firmly in mind at all times.  With that said of course, while some features have been removed in favour of lighter weight and much improved aesthetics, none of the stitch work quality has been taken away and of course all the fabrics are unchanged.  Plenty of military personnel have purchased and extensively used Roman’s products in training and operationally and had excellent experiences with them, so the overall durability is still very much at a high level.

All of the design choices here are based on a combination of my own personal experiences and observations combined with extensive surveying of hundreds of people from all different backgrounds with a wide variety of end use cases for a tactical uniform all encapsulated.

Navigate here to begin the order process:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/807151342686715


Combat Pants

– Camo alignment on knee pad pockets and cargo pockets

    

The biggest criticism I have seen and heard over the years when it comes to Roman’s product is this one, by a large margin in fact.  It is something most people won’t notice until it is highlighted to them, at which point they will never, ever stop noticing it.

The upper pair of pictures here is my original G3 cut from Roman in Tigerstripe, whereas the lower pair of pictures is the first ever set of F9 Edition combat pants made by Roman that also happen to be in Tigerstripe.  Compare the knee pad pockets and main thigh cargo pockets in each set of images and I’m confident you will notice the significant difference.

Waist adjusters

Are you wearing a belt of any kind at all with your combat pants?  Cool!  You won’t need these built in then.

The adjustment tabs included in the Crye design consist of strips of edging tape that stow away inside the waistband when not used, with hook velcro on the ends that can interface with strips of loop velcro sewn on to the outside of the waistband.  Removing these de-clutters the waist area, creates a slightly more stable foundation for your belt rig and reduces the number of components that might have the potential to rub and cause irritation if worn for extended periods.  But most importantly it was a redundant feature that 95%+ of people won’t ever need and saving the weight and production time just makes sense.

Butt pockets

Second least used and least useful after the ankle pockets.  In fact the Patagonia L9 uniforms that were designed by Caleb Crye (after the G3s) and are current issue to NSW and US Army SF also happen to delete these rear pockets.  Significant end user experience went in to the L9s and when deciding which pockets to delete from the original Crye 10-pocket template these were a clear choice.

Knee pad height adjusters

If you own a tape measure you can get yourself an accurate inside leg measurement and order either Short, Regular or Long length trousers which will automatically place the knee pads in the proper spots without needing any further adjustment.  Without the extra bungee cord dangling inside the quad area and the cordlock inside the small front pockets of your trousers you’ll have less points of friction, a small weight saving, quicker and easier access to the front pockets and won’t ever get your foot caught in the bungee when putting the trousers on in a hurry.

– Knee pad pocket cover flaps

Bet you’ll probably be running these combat pants with the most iconic element of them (the knee pads) fitted right?  For the vast majority of users these extra bits of fabric spend their entire lives tucked inside the knee pad pockets doing literally nothing but adding more material to the garment which serves no purpose what-so-ever.  Eliminating them was an easy decision.

Elastic inside main cargo pockets

A very minor change, but again this is a feature that is rarely used, of little value to most people and contributes yet another small saving in weight and further reduction in bulk.  When all of those are added up the difference is quite apparent.

Ankle pockets

Easily the least used pockets on the G3 design and in the worst location for actually stowing anything with any weight i.e. right down by the foot.  These are totally inaccessible if you ever wear gaiters and are the least accessible and slowest to reach of all the pockets in the original design.  Even with these and the butt pockets removed however there are still 6 pockets left on the F9E combat pant with a substantial carrying capacity and don’t forget you still have your shirt pockets, belt rig, pc/chest rig and backpack.

Pass-throughs on top of main cargo pockets

Much like the pen and eyewear slots on the shirts, it wasn’t the best idea to actually stow knives, tools or lights with pocket clips in these pass-through type pockets anyway.  The lack of any closure flap means the clip on the equipment in question is the only thing securing it and the second you start to run you’re in real danger of losing your gear.  An occasionally nice feature for camp/admin areas or the like but otherwise of very little use for the sort of situations in which these trousers are actually designed to excel.

– Price

The price reduction for the F9E combat pants versus standard G3 cut in any given pattern is €7.  Roman varies his price depending on the fabric/camo you pick, so if you ordered a pair that usually would cost €127 as an example it drops to €120.  You then get a lighter garment with no fussy features you’ll never use, one that dries faster but still with just as much resilience and all of the camo patterning will line up and look much better – again, all for a lower price.


Combat Shirt

– AC style solid velcro

Pictures forthcoming for this segment

The split strips of loop on a standard G3 shirt from Crye simply don’t have the staying power when it comes to mounting patches securely.  It would seem Crye themselves would agree as is evidenced by the reversion to a full field of loop on the G4 line.  Addition of weight here is in single digits of grams and no flexibility is lost in real world use, but more importantly your patches won’t be in any danger of being knocked or ripped off by brush, structures or even just a pack strap as you throw one on.  This was a real no-brainer of a change to the original G3 design.

– Single cell arm pockets

The extra rectangle of fabric that usually forms an internal divider, creating a quasi-double pocket on each upper arm, is omitted from the F9 Edition cut, leaving each arm pocket as a single space internally.  External dimensions of the arm pockets remain unchanged however, meaning actual capacity is unaffected, if not very slightly increased.

Every single other combat shirt design I have ever seen or handled, covering dozens of different brands, features a normal single cell arm pocket with no attempt to include an internal divider and removing that divider made clear sense with the F9E combat shirt.

– Elbow pad pockets

This was one area where personally I was on the fence, however the feedback I received from various people on this matter was pretty unanimous – they never wore elbow pads and (like me) 95% of people had never seen an elbow worn through.  My own experience on 2-300m ranges has been that elbow pads also significantly hindered my ability to build a really solid prone shooting position in numerous ways and after one trial run they were gone.

Removing the elbow pad pockets not only lightens and simplifies the sleeves, but it removes the issue of mis-aligned camo that would normally be present.  Altering the pad pockets to bring the camo in line would have required significant extra fabric usage and eliminated the savings in other areas leading to a much higher price.  Given that the vast majority of people in this marketplace don’t want or need elbow pads but do want their stuff to look good and all line up, I’d call this a 2-birds-1-stone type deal.

– Pen sleeve & Eyewear slot

Certainly two features I never used and have never ever personally seen any other person use, either in real life or even in pictures online.  You would lose your shades/eyepro and your pen from these slots fairly easily during any significant amount of running and climbing anyway, but the shirt still has 4 pockets built in so there is still plenty of space to store eyewear, pens and pencils if desired.

Frankly, these two features of the G3 design were barrack-wear focused with some utility for a day on a flat training range where nobody is moving around much, but they made no sense to retain here and I’d put money on the fact that 99% of buyers won’t even notice they’re gone.

– Price

Price reduction versus standard G3 cut in any given pattern is €4 per shirt.


Field Shirt

AC style solid velcro

The split strips of loop on a standard G3 shirt from Crye simply don’t have the staying power when it comes to mounting patches securely.  It would seem Crye themselves would agree as is evidenced by the reversion to a full field of loop on the G4 line.  Addition of weight here is in single digits of grams and no flexibility is lost in real world use, but more importantly your patches won’t be in any danger of being knocked or ripped off by brush, structures or even just a pack strap as you throw a bag on your back.  This was a real no-brainer of a change to the original G3 design.

Horizontal camo patterning on chest pockets

Though this issue doesn’t come up as often as it does with the knee pad pockets on the combat trousers (purely due to the field shirts being less common), this is very much a factor with Roman’s standard production of G3s.  The upper of these two images is my own Tigerstripe field shirt from Roman, purchased long before we created the F9 edition, whereas the lower image is what you will receive if you ordered an F9E field shirt (in TS in this case).  As you can see, the difference in the orientation of the camo pattern on the chest really sticks out a mile.

This was a high priority fix and of course applies to any camo that you might order.  The larger and bolder the shapes in the camo, the more obvious this change will be.

Single layer chest pocket

The standard G3 chest pocket side openings that lack any closure system have been omitted which removes one full layer of fabric across the majority of the chest area.  Less bulk of fabric means less heat retention, less sweat retention and less friction under PCs and chest rigs.  Plus of course lighter weight, more flexibility across the entire front of the shirt and generally faster drying if you go for a swim or are caught in a downpour.

My experience has been that even when these pockets aren’t made redundant by being covered by a chest rig or PC (which is often), the non-closing inner stowage that’s removed was of little value compared to the standard pockets mounted on the exterior – in fact many people don’t even know the Crye field shirts have these extra stowage areas.  The reality was that if you stored much inside them and then put more kit in the proper outer pockets you would end up with a pretty excessive protrusion from the front of your chest and it’s simply better to spread out your gear rather than stack it all on top of itself.  The rare Crye G3 Navy Custom 2.0 field shirts actually incorporate this same configuration (i.e. inner storage is deleted) and those  shirts were designed much later than the original G3 cut with a lot more input from SOF end users.

– Single cell arm pockets

The extra rectangle of fabric that usually forms an internal divider, creating a quasi-double pocket on each upper arm, is omitted from the F9 Edition cut, leaving each arm pocket as a single space internally.  External dimensions of the arm pockets remain unchanged however, meaning actual capacity is unaffected, if not very slightly increased.

Every single other combat shirt design I have ever seen or handled, covering dozens of different brands, features a normal single cell arm pocket with no attempt to include an internal divider and removing that divider made clear sense with the F9E combat shirt.  As with everything we’ve removed it means less bulk and weight, faster drying and in this case it actually eliminates the possibility that you might forget which segment of the arm pocket you have placed an item inside and have to fish through both before locating it.

– Elbow pad pockets

This was one area where personally I was on the fence, however the feedback I received from various people on this matter was pretty unanimous – they never wore elbow pads and (like me) 95% of people had never seen an elbow worn through.  My own experience on 300m+ ranges has been that elbow pads also significantly hindered my ability to build a really solid prone shooting position in numerous ways and after one trial run they were gone.

Removing the elbow pad pockets not only lightens and simplifies the sleeves, but it removes the issue of misaligned camo that would normally be present.  Altering the pad pockets to bring the camo in line would have required significant extra fabric usage and eliminated the material savings in other areas leading to a much higher price to you.  Given that the vast majority of people in this marketplace don’t want or need elbow pads but do want their stuff to look good, I’d call this a 2-birds-1-stone type deal.

– Pen sleeve & Eyewear slot

Certainly two features I never used and have never ever personally seen any other person use, either in real life or in any pictures online.  You would lose your shades/eyepro and your pen from these slots fairly easily during any significant amount of running and climbing anyway, but the shirt still has 4 pockets built in so there is still plenty of space to store eyewear, pens and pencils if desired or required.

Frankly, these two features of the G3 design were barrack-wear focused with some utility for a day on a flat training range where nobody is moving around much, but they made no sense to retain here and I’d put money on the fact that 99% of folks who get these shirts won’t even notice they’re gone.

– Price

Due to the significant increase in fabric yardage required to make each shirt in this configuration the price remains the same.  However if you want a lighter, faster drying, more practical and all around far better looking field shirt with the camo all in line for the same price, then this is the cut for you.


Again, to order head to this Facebook group and DM Roman Kurmaz:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/807151342686715

Alternatively if you only have the Messenger app, get hold of Roman here:

https://www.facebook.com/roman.kurmaz

Lastly, even though this video is for the G3 cut I would still recommend watching through my guide to ordering from Roman that contains a lot of important information that will make the whole process far quicker and easier: