I’ve given up. I’ve been waiting for GoRuck to make my beloved Tac Hat in a color other than black and they haven’t done it. Evidently, GoRuck had a rocky road this past year stretching themselves too thin with some inventory that didn’t sell and ambitious ventures like Goruck Heavy that nearly doomed the company. According to a “State of GoRuck” post by Jason (GoRuck’s founder) earlier this year, they are now going to refocus on the fundamentals. What is that? The details were, not unexpectedly, vague:
The basics are the people that work at GORUCK, and doing more of what we do really well. Tyler and our Cadre are masters of the ruck and team building and firearms training and gear. And Jack and his team can build the toughest gear around so we’ll do that. Firearms gear is coming this year. Good Livin’ Events continue in full force and rucking as a sport is coming this year and next year and every year until the end of time.
And a little more on gear…
Gear and rucks and stuff. We continue to prove old gear at our events and test new gear at them before you ever see it. It’s literally abusive what we do I mean what you do and it keeps us honest throughout our entire supply chain. When our sewers see pictures of the gear in war or at our events, it makes a ruck about a lot more than just the ruck.
Rather than continue to hang my hopes on that last part, I’ve started to look for alternatives. At the time of this writing, nobody is making an operator hat in 1000D Cordura; unless you want to go all Bushcrafty/Aussie Outback, and even Turley isn’t taking orders right now.
The Turley LRRP
Most of the others available are done in NYCO 50/50, which is a Cordura nylon/cotton blend ripstop fabric and has a fabric weight of 6.4 oz per sq yard. Compare that to 1000D’s fabric weight of 12 oz per sq yard and you begin to understand that there really is no comparison.
Still, of the NYCO 50/50 options, a couple have caught my eye. Viper Headwear’s line of fitted operator hats are available in different sizes and can be ordered with or without velcro. The closest to the Tac Hat is the Adder.
The Viper Headwear Adder
They also make another custom fit version without mesh panels called the Diamondback, which is available in more colors.
Another I have my eye on is the ITS Crew Cover. It comes in even more colors and the price is $5 less than GoRuck’s own full panel ripstop version.
You might ask why I don’t go with the Goruck Full Panel Tac Hat, which is available in different colors. The answer is I have tried it, but it wasn’t the same. I guess the mesh made all the difference because the Full Panel wasn’t as comfortable on my large dome.
I’m going to give Viper Headwear a try first. But, Goruck… if you’re listening… I’m hoping returning to your core includes making more of the original Tac Hats. And if you make them in other colors, I’m pretty sure they are not going to be one of the products that stay in your inventory long. Just saying.
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