5.11 makes tactical clothing and uniforms for law enforcement, public safety and military professionals.

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As a maker of tactical clothing and uniforms for law enforcement, public safety and military professionals, 5.11 Tactical ’s products are made to withstand some of the roughest conditions on Earth. That makes the company’s latest product line a change of pace, as CEO Dan Costa explains. The company will soon launch the Station Wear line of casual wear for fire and EMS professionals, something Costa says was borne out of the company’s attention to its customers.

“One of 5.11’s niches is really to look at the business and try to understand the consumer’s needs and wants,” Costa says. “We’ve done that for years in law enforcement and have been very successful.”

Costa says he noticed firefighters and EMS personnel frequently wore shirts embellished with their station logos even while off-duty. “They’re just proud to be firemen,” he says. However, this usually meant that they would have to go to a embroidery or screen-printing shop to have their clothing embellished. Costa says 5.11 Tactical wanted to give these first-response professionals a one-stop shop for all their embellished clothing.

The Station Wear line is scheduled to launch in October, he adds.

Burning Bright
Although the company’s latest addition to its clothing line is strictly casual in nature, that doesn’t mean 5.11 Tactical has forgotten about the practical side of its customer base. Costa says the company is also ready to introduce an “industry-changing” new flashlight. He says the new rechargeable flashlight will be the most reliable one 5.11 Tactical’s customers have ever used.

“You will buy this flashlight and pass it down to your children, and they will pass it down to their children,” Costa says.

Using a new type of ultra-capacitor technology developed in Idaho for use in hybrid cars, the flashlight provides more than one-and-a-half hours of burn time and recharges in about 90 seconds. What’s more, Costa says, the flashlight will not give users diminishing returns on battery life over time.

“It will do that forever,” he says.

Past, Present and Future
5.11 Tactical has been meeting and exceeding the needs of its customers since 2003, but law enforcement, public safety and military customers weren’t the company’s original focus.

Originally known as Royal Robbins Outdoor, the company made and sold rock-climbing apparel such as its 5.11 Tactical Pants. The pants became favorites of an FBI agent who introduced them to a trainer at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Va.

The pants’ heavy cotton canvas material made them both comfortable and long-lasting, Costa says, and soon students at the FBI Academy were issued them.

Agents and other law enforcement officers who trained at the academy approached Royal Robbins Outdoor with offers to buy the pants, but the company didn’t sell to individuals, Costa says.
When Royal Robbins Outdoor began to struggle, its owner approached Costa, who had a history of reviving lackluster businesses in foodservice.

Costa says he advised the owner to sell the company, which he did – to Costa. Once in charge of the company, Costa changed its sales policies and began developing more products specifically for the law enforcement, public safety and military markets.

In 2003, Costa sold the company and founded 5.11 Tactical.

The company’s biggest initial hurdle was convincing stores that supply law enforcement agencies to carry its products. Costa says such supply stores were initially only interested in carrying products that were required gear for law enforcement.

Today, the company is a global presence, with distribution centers in California and Sweden, and manufacturing operations in Hong Kong, Vietnam and China. Its catalog is published in 18 languages.

Costa says the addition of the Station Wear and flashlight products to its catalog are only a harbinger of further innovations. “I think these two programs – plus the others that are in the hopper – will allow us to continue our 30 percent growth annually over the next three to five years,” he says.