Many times, designers create products based solely on their imagination of real-world applications from their comfortable office. In the recent Russia-Ukraine war, we saw that various advanced camouflage patterns turned out to be mostly ineffective. Soldiers on both sides even tied bright blue and red tape around their arms and helmets to differentiate between friend and foe, making the camouflage uniforms designed for concealment practically useless. So, aside from offering some concealment during ambushes, the most important thing in combat is the ability to distinguish between allies and enemies.
The same goes for true tactical gloves. Many designers believe that since it’s a tactical product, it should offer maximum protection. As a result, many gloves feature bulky protective modules on the back of the hand and palm, using materials like carbon fiber or PVC. However, most real-world combat is shooting-based, and there are rarely, if ever, situations where both sides are unarmed and need to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Designing gloves with excessive protective features for such unlikely scenarios is a disaster for the hands. Many tactical gloves lack flexibility and comfort, are hot and sweaty, and can’t even provide basic grip.
When designing the REAPER gloves, we listened to the feedback from many soldiers and police officers. They told us they only needed breathability, grip, comfort, and flexibility—unnecessary features should be avoided. In particular, the protective padding on the back of the hand was seen as redundant. This feedback directly led us to scrap the idea of adding built-in protective padding. In fact, most law enforcement and military personnel prefer this type of lightweight and comfortable design.
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