I was going to post about a specific Kryptek Outdoor Group product today, so I opened up Kryptek’s own web store to double check whether they still sell said product.
In the process I did my usual thing of checking their clothing section to see if they had anything new or interesting in stock. Now for a long time they didn’t actually offer a conventional cotton-blend combat cut uniform, it was all inclement weather layering and hunting gear and they sold the /cotton fabrics to companies like PLATATAC, VERTX and ur-tactical.comto make military styled items.
More recently Kryptek have added their own branded Tactical combat shirt and trousers to their store, so I had a look at the shirt: https://kryptek.com/tactical-shirt
The patterning of the fabric under the arms and the layout of the bicep pockets rung a bell, so I checked UR-Tac’s site to look up their IDA Gen 2 Combat shirt, which they’ve offered for some years now in many different camo patterns and colours: http://www.ur-tactical.com/…/1417/virtuemart_category_id/143
Carbon copy.
I’m going to hope Kryptek either paid UR-Tac some fee or is having them build this shirt for them or there is some other circumstance going on that I’m not aware of, because that’s some flagrant design theft right there if they aren’t. I get that it goes on and almost everything is a slight variation of another these days, but to pull something that would be expected from the likes of TMC or Emerson – and from a company that’s so loud and proudly American and ‘innovative’, well that’s disappointing to say the least.
In fact despite me saying carbon copy, let’s break down the differences:
Kryptek:
-Poly/cotton sleeves and yoke
-Apparently no different fabric for the under arms
-No heavy duty elbow reinforcement
-No elbow pads included or mention of pad pockets
-Imported, presumably from Vietnam
Price – $135
OPS (UR-Tac):
-50/50 NYCO Construction
-Stretch, rapid wicking fabric under the arms
-500D Cordura elbow reinforcement
-Elbow pad pockets sewn in with foam shaped pads included
-Made in Hong Kong
Price – $78
Now I take a somewhat international stance with this page so obviously those prices will vary by your shipping cost, but I’d bet you could still get the UR-Tac shipped anywhere in the world for much less than the $57 price difference above and you’ll have a superior product. Certainly buying the Kryptek version and shipping it to Asia or Europe would be pure insanity.
To me this is just a perfect example of less money actually getting you more product, it just requires that you take the time to find out what it really is you’re buying vs hitting checkout on the first thing you find.
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