MkII Tactical Vest Development - Design to prototype beginnings

We've taken a commission from someone to develop a full tactical vest for military style LARP characters. This is a custom item that won't ever enter full production so we've obtained permission to blog about its development. I thought it'd offer a nice insight into one method of development. This way is much looser and less combat focused than our usual method but it's still fun to write about an item from beginning to end.

The brief we received was reasonably broad and is paraphrased as follows:

• Military style vest replete with PALS webbing and stuff
• No cost limit, just build something amazing
• Must include all amenities for a day in the field including water and food storage
• Character will take the same attitude to camouflage as Warhammer 40K Space Marines
• Red and Black or White and Blue colour schemes

From that reasonably broad brief, we developed a specification:

• Use a military pattern MOLLE system plate carrier as the departure point and build from there
• Include hydration pouch pocket with appropriate tube fixings and access points
• Inside pocket for secure storage for keys and the like
• ALL of the MOLLE webbing
• Morale pouch attachments points on the front only
• Tactical belt attachment in the same way as our production MkV tactical rig
• Lightweight breathable mesh and foam to be used on the back plate if possible
• Front zip for easy doffing and donning
• Rank slide attachment points
• Easy to disassemble and clean parts separately whilst being completely adjustable to fit the client
• Thick padded front plates to provide a physical representation of Osprey style body armour
• Use red and black colouring because we have all of the black Cordura fabric floating around
• Medical pouch to include quick access glove pouch and space for basic first aid kit
• Catering pouch to include cutlery pouch and space for rat packs
• Production clip holders made in custom cloth with custom edging

Some not-final scribbles

We didn't have a military style plate carrier to hand so we had to improvise. Using waistcoat patterns found on-line, the Nerf tactical vest and some scribbles on a piece of paper we drew up our own pattern. We had to take measurements from the client to give us a broad outlook on how big the vest needed to be but with that we were able to proceed.

Wild scribblings on some fabric

This is my personal favourite stage of any development project. We take some cheap calico fabric and cut out a very rough version of the item. This one, as you can see opposite hasn't even been hemmed or sewn beyond the very rudimentary lines to give it a rough shape. Black marker pen is then used to mark out the layout of key features on the final vest itself. That's what's so fun about it, you can stick it on someone and draw on the fabric, adding things in and crossing stuff out. This item is very feature heavy in line the client's brief with lots of expansion and storage space hence a lot of black about. The 'SRB' text stands for 'side release buckle' which will allow the product to be readily adjusted and disassembled for cleaning and maintenance. It also makes the production team happy because the three components (two front plates and one back plate) can be worked on separately. The double width Velcro MOLLE serves two purposes. First it allows for the fixation of Velcro backed morale pouches. Second it's wide enough that it will serve as a loop to feed slings through and prevent neck chafing and other things. Not sure if it will work yet but it's a prototype for a reason! :)

In case you're still wondering, MOLLE is this stuff. I think I elaborated on it in a previous post but it's a webbing format that allows modularity and customisation in our, and a lot of other companies', products. Nearly all of our kit is MOLLE compatible in one way or another and it seemed logical to continue with this theme in our custom work. There is a huge amount of space for locating pouches and such on this design with including plenty of space for morale patches and ID stuff. There is only one fixed pouch on this one and that's for an ID pouch with optional cover flap.

The construction of this vest will differ from our current production items. Many of them are built inside-out and then turned about to give rolled seam and softer edge than would normally be expected. In this instance, all the extra pouches and additions would favour a different method. The attitude to camouflage item of the original brief came into play here so we elected to edge the vest with bright red textured binding tape in the style of a lot of DPM pouches and stuff. What we'll do this time around, rather than turning things, is put together all the layers to form a sandwich and then sew them together in one big run. If successful, this could become a mainstream construction method as we develop the 'look and feel' of our products in the coming months.

Any seaming or sealing method like this is needed for two reasons. One, to stop fabric fraying. The ballistic nylon we use isn't prone to it but in the field it might well get tattier quicker so it needs doing. The other advantage is that it covers a great many sins when cutting the fabric by hand. Cordura is a nightmare to work with (not as bad as calico but that's for a different reason) at the cutting stage because it can be so inflexible. There is a third reason (one I discovered when discussing this with my Production Director) suggesting not needing seams is likely to induce some kind of panic attack in your haberdashery trained staff followed swiftly by a thick ear and a telling off! :)

Rough Cordura prototype

Still, the third stage is the prototype: opposite is a pinned together shell of the three body components to give a general idea of what we're looking for. Remember, this is only a prototype and it's pinned not strapped together as it will be in the final version. The pin in the middle is knocking the whole thing out of shape making the final shape difficult to see from just a simple photo. It's why we do this, having things in your hands you can work with is much easier than having to do it all in your head. You can see the beginnings of chalk drawings as we thrash out the layout of all the layers, more have been added since this photo was taken and they will allow us to add bits and pieces as they are made. It's all a long, step by step process to get to the end result. No different from anything else we've put out on the market really.

I'll continue to update the blog with how this commission progresses over the next few weeks. The item itself won't enter production but the opportunity to reflect on three solid months of development work with such freedom is guaranteed to yield results as methods and ideas are exchanged between the two separate development threads. This sort of custom work will be one of two engines of growth for our product portfolio over the next few months. I'll blog about the other one when BUZAN starts up again.