Tactical .75 pants
So here’s the deal: I’m looking for some pants that keep you a bit cooler in the summer than the original tactical pants, or even the lightweight tacticals. Blackhawk! and 5.11 both provide a series of shorts, but those are not really my thing. I’m more of a three-quarter length pants, that go just over the knee. If at all possible I’d like them so that the kneepads still fit.
Since both my major tactical suppliers don’t make these pants, the only other option I had for buying such pants was the Kitanica Short IX.C. Bit expensive though… And coming to that: they don’t make them anymore. I was like “what?!”, so I mailed the guy, asking if they still make them. Well, he still had two pair left which I could buy, a size L and XL. Bad luck because I need an M.
So that meant I needed to make one myself. And so I did. I started out with the 5.11 TacLite Pro pants, in the colour tundra. First I decided what length they should be. I found out that if you turn the pants inside out you can easily decide a handy length as follows: on the inside seam find the opening for inserting the kneepad, and about 15cm lower is the seam of the reinforced knee. The best length is right between those two places.
Now I have to admit that I’m not really good at sewing, so I had a little help with the stitching. (that is, somebody did it for me). The result: a three-quarter length pants. Really nice, and I can still fit kneepads inside (maybe with a little ‘adjustment’).
As for the name, I think I’ll go with .75 TacLite.