In the concealed carry market, there are a lot of novel products designed to address various perceived and actual problems. Purpose-built concealed carry clothing is a large section of this market. Sadly, many of these garments are little more than average-quality department store items with universal “one size fits none” gun pouches, which have lousy retention and underwhelming construction. TarnKappe Gear rejects this trend and has put some very serious thought into how the company designed its concealed carry dress shirts.
Concealed Carry Dress Shirts from TarnKappe Gear
If you weren’t paying attention, you’d think that this is just another menswear company.
The company’s casual sports shirts have cuts and colors that are perfectly suited for business casual and suburban backyard cookouts. However, they forgo the typical “off-duty” vibe that most of the popular “tactical” brands give off.
TarnKappe Gear built several features into its shirts specifically designed to facilitate access and deployment of your concealed pistol.
The small construction details, like the reinforced placket (the strip of buttons/buttonholes down the front of the shirt) and double-layered yokes (shoulder panel) are designed to withstand the rigors of a purposeful and deliberate draw and presentation.
They also have a shorter hem, which is not only aesthetically appropriate (most button-up shirts are far too long to be worn untucked), but also results in less fabric that can bind and foul your draw.
John Hearne of Rangemaster and Two Pillars Training likes to take his shirts and replace the bottom couple of buttons with snaps. This creates a breakaway placket to provide easier access to your holster.
TarnKappe Gear saves you the effort and has that as an included feature on all of their shirts.
Their shirts will run you about $100/ea (+/- 10 bucks). This is admittedly a little pricey for what they are, but supporting a small business always carries a bit of a premium.
But Are They Worth It?
That’s not a question I can answer for you. Value is incredibly subjective.
For me personally, I’ve spent my entire gun-carrying life working with the limitations of traditional button-up shirts. So, when I put my draws on a timer to compare the features of this shirt to the rest of my wardrobe, I didn’t find an appreciable difference.
These features absolutely address a pain point for some folks. It’s just going to depend on the individual’s needs.
If you are wrestling to dig your EDC pistol out from under a button-up, or you’ve been rocking the same graphic tees you wore in high school because anything else is “hard to draw from,” these are absolutely worth checking out.
-DISCLAIMER- This shirt was provided to me at no cost for testing & evaluation.
