Armored clothing (from UARM) is probably one of the best things that came out in the personal protection industry in the last few years. Unlike before, we no longer need to carefully layer our plainclothes over a bulletproof vest, and can simply wear our regular jacket, which is our armor.
But, because the designer choices are slightly limited, we need to make sure to pick out a piece that we will be able to use as often as we want, and that will blend in with the rest of our equipment.
Currently, there are three major types of armored clothes:
- Armored Singlets and T-shirts
- Disguised Armored Sweatshirts and Vests
- Covert Armored Jackets
As most will notice, all of them can be worn in different circumstances, depending on the location and the weather. Also, they will be able to offer different types of protection.
While outerwear like sweatshirts and jackets will come with the maximum in soft ballistic armor with NIJ Level IIIa, smaller items will only go up to NIJ Level II.
On the other side, you will be able to wear any type of clothes over armored tees, which is not really the case with a jacket.
Finally, the choice will depend on whether you need to stay completely covert with your arms and armor and want to blend seamlessly into the background, or would you rather retain your open carry status but only keep the armor low-profile.
Internal Armored Clothing
Despite the name, internal armored clothing doesn’t only need to be worn under other clothes. Your CAT™ Covert Armored T-Shirt can be very fashionable and worn on its own, especially in warm weather.
Many security companies, especially when it comes to a public venue and party security, don’t want to stress their patrons with security personnel wearing body armor. This is easily solved in colder weather when a vest can be worn under a company hoodie but used to be impossible in the summer.
Now, with armored tees, you can be protected and low-profile at the same time. And, when winter comes, you can just wear something over the armored t-shirt as you would any regular apparel.
External Covert Armor
Although there are downsides to external armored apparel, mostly the fact that you might take it off when inside, the level of comfort and protection it supplies is unsurpassed even by dedicated soft bulletproof vests.
Something like an APJ™ Armored Puffer Jacket is only slightly heavier than a parka and generally very warm to wear. But, unlike a parka, it will stop a Magnum .44 cal round from any angle.
These armored clothes are also great for concealed carry because you can keep your arms right under the jacket, and stay protected while you pull the pistol out.
Finally, if there is nothing happening, you will only look like someone in a normal jacket and will move the same. Even upon close inspection, nobody will notice that you are armored. They would literally need to wear the jacket to even notice that the weight is off.
