Not a super gucci gear post, but one name that’s been an absolute staple in the world of cordura goods for as long as I can even remember is Tactical Tailor. I think what a lot of people don’t realise is there aren’t a lot of those ‘household names’ in the realm of tac kit that run really huge factories and can churn out thousands and thousands of a given item per month as you would see in other industries. A lot of the companies who make standard issue stuff for large militaries (and churn out literally millions of uniforms, armour vests etc) aren’t the same names you’ll be familiar with in the commercial space, in fact they tend to have almost zero public/marketing presence and even if I could list a bunch of them you wouldn’t have ever heard of them.
TT sit somewhere in the middle between the comparatively small boutique businesses and the grey, faceless corporate giants. They make high quality equipment that’s more than good enough for the front lines and at pretty reasonable mid-range prices. It’s not all carbon-fibre looking and laser cut laminates etc it’s mostly just simple, effective designs that may not be the very latest bleeding edge but certainly are not the bloated, bulky, overbuilt gear of 15 years ago either, not by a long shot.
When I wanted tough, simple and reliable pouches for my modular chest rig setups that are ready for PALS mounting and available in a good range of standardised colours I picked up a few Smoke/Flahsbang Grenade and Accessory Pouch 1-Vs from the Fight Light line. These are the sorts of pouches that just do what they say on the tin and securely hold a huge range of items while maintaining accessibility. They also cost in the range of ~$15-25 per pouch, whereas many pouches from Crye/FS/SS will run you more like $40-60+, with a lot more features and much nicer finish to the construction of course, but when you want the most value for simple functions in a sturdy package TT are just excellent and they still use the same quality fabrics that will match up with those boutique brands if required or desired.
Kyle
I use a fight light split front with the additional padded yoke, as well as their double mag shingles at work. I’ve been in nuclear security long enough to actually have worn out a Mayflower chest rig, and TT is what I settled on for a replacement. My only “upgrade” was putting Haley mag inserts in the shingles so I wouldn’t have to mess with retention straps.
Comfortable and lightweight and very reasonably priced.
b0mbh34d
Very hard to beat that setup. I had various 2-piece MAVs many years ago and just wanting to look cooler was literally the only reason I switched to PCs, but for sheer practicality the MAV is just superb.