Tactical Shirt or Cargo Trousers with Built-In Pads, Sold Singly

Shirt or trousers — one garment, pads included.

The jobs that ruin trousers happen at ground level. Down on the gravel to reach a hydraulic fitting, kneeling in a trench pulling cable, flat on a deck chasing a leak. Ordinary work trousers go at the knee first, and strap-on pads either slide down your shin or live in the crib bag.

That is the same failure as losing a glove. The pad does not have to break to fail you — it only has to not be there when you go down on one knee. Then it is bare cloth on blue metal, a knee that is sore by smoko and useless by Thursday.

These are the two halves of a tactical kit, sold one at a time, and each one arrives with a pair of pads that drop into hook-and-loop pockets sewn inside the garment. Knee pads in the trousers, elbow pads in the shirt. They stay in the garment, so they are on you whenever it is.

Read this before you choose: every option in the list is a single garment. “CP Shirts with Pads” is a shirt on its own. “CP Pants with Pads” is a pair of trousers on its own. If you want the pair, put both in the cart. Nothing on this page ships as a two-piece set.

What It Does

• Keeps the pads on you: the pads live in pockets inside the garment instead of strapped round your leg, so there is nothing to slide down and nothing to leave behind.
• Doubles the wear points: knees, elbows, seat and hips carry a second layer of cloth, which is where trousers and sleeves normally give out first.
• Sheds a splash: the woven shell is finished to bead light water off, so a spilt drink or a passing shower does not soak straight through.
• Moves without fighting you: the shirt’s torso is a cotton knit with a little stretch in it, and the woven camouflage is kept to the sleeves and shoulders where the abrasion is.
• Hood on or hood off: the hood unzips from the collar completely, so the shirt works under a pack strap or a harness without a lump behind your neck.
• Carries what you need: arm pockets on the shirt, cargo and hook-and-loop pockets on the trousers, plus loop panels for your own patches.

Key Features

• Two pads per garment: a matched pair of black pads, removable through internal hook-and-loop pockets so they come out before the wash.
• Detachable hood: zips off the stand-up collar and pulls in on a drawstring.
• Quarter-zip front: on the shirt, so it goes on over the head and vents at the chest.
• Adjustable cuffs: hook-and-loop tabs at the wrists and at the ankles, on both garments.
• Patch panels: loop panels on both upper arms take your own patches; nothing is supplied fitted.
• Wide belt buckle: trousers run a broad buckle with belt loops and side adjustment tabs at the waist.
• Reinforced seat and hips: double-stitched panels across the areas that scuff on ladders, seats and rock.
• Eleven colourways: five in the shirt and six in the trousers, from plain navy and grey through to CP and black camouflage.
• Sizes S to XXXL: with the supplier’s full measurement chart published in the Specs tab so you can check before you order.

Limits

The honest list of what this is not.

• It is not a set: the title reads like a two-piece uniform and it is not one. Every variant is one garment. Order the shirt and the trousers separately if you want both.
• It is not waterproof: the supplier’s artwork prints the word in large letters and then contradicts itself in the small print with “water splashing resistance”. There is no hydrostatic head figure and no standard behind it. It will bead a splash and it will wet through in sustained rain.
• The pads are not certified: no impact rating, no standard number, nothing marked on them, and the supplier does not say what they are made of. Treat them as cushioning against gravel and grit, not as protection against a real impact. If you need kneeling protection tested to EN 14404, this is not it.
• The sizing runs small: the supplier says so plainly, and the three sizing charts do not agree with each other — see the Q & A tab, because this one matters more than usual.
• The fabric spec is unsettled: the listing text and the artwork state the cotton and polyester ratio in opposite proportions. We have published both rather than pick one. No fabric weight is stated at all.
• It is not site PPE: not hi-vis, not flame resistant, not cut resistant, and no part of it is tested or marked to AS/NZS 1906.4, AS/NZS 4602.1 or any flame standard. If your site mandates hi-vis or FR clothing, this does not meet it.
• Camouflage is a pattern, not a pedigree: this is civilian clothing cut in a tactical style. It is not issue kit, it is not defence-approved, and it carries no service affiliation of any kind.
• Only the garment and the pads ship: the belts, boots, gloves, packs and shoulder patches in the supplier photographs are not supplied.

Returns cover faulty or not-as-described only. Change of mind is not covered, so use the measurement chart in the Specs tab rather than the size letter.

Q & A

Do I get the shirt and the trousers together?

No. Every option in the list is one garment. The shirt options and the trouser options are priced separately and ship separately. If you want the pair, add one of each to the cart. This is the single thing people get wrong on this page.

Are the knee and elbow pads actually in the bag, or just the pockets?

The pads are supplied. Two with every garment — elbow pads with a shirt, knee pads with trousers. They slide into hook-and-loop pockets sewn inside the sleeve or the leg and pull straight back out for washing. What the supplier will not tell us is what they are made of, how thick they are, or what impact they are rated to, so all three of those rows read “not specified” in the Specs tab.

What size do I order? I have heard these run small.

They do, and it is worse than that: the supplier gives three different sizing tables and they disagree. The size names in the dropdown say M suits 60–70 kg; the supplier’s measurement chart says M suits 60–65 kg; a third chart puts anyone over 65 kg into an L. Go by the measurement chart in the Specs tab, not by the size letter. Lay a shirt or a pair of trousers you already own flat, measure the chest or the waist, and match the centimetres. If you fall between two sizes, take the larger one.

Will these keep me dry in the rain?

No. The shell has a repellent finish that beads water off for a while, which is enough for a shower on the way to the ute or a splash off a hose. It is not a wet-weather layer, no immersion or rain rating is stated anywhere, and it will wet through if you stay out in steady rain. Put a shell over the top if the weather has set in.

Can I wear these on a mine site or a construction job?

Depends entirely on your site rules. They are hard-wearing trousers and a hard-wearing shirt, and the reinforced knees suit anyone working off the ground. But they carry no hi-vis, no flame resistance and no certification, so on a site that mandates any of those they will not pass a gate check. Plenty of trades, farm work, camping, hunting, paintball and airsoft have no such rule and these suit that work well.

Can I take the pads out?

Yes. Each pocket closes with hook-and-loop, so the pads come out in a couple of seconds. Take them out before you wash the garment, and take them out on a hot day if you want the knee to breathe — the trousers still have their double-layer knee panel with the pad removed.

Specs

Shirt Measurements

The supplier’s own chart. Height and weight are the wearer; the rest are the garment. Millimetres in brackets.

Trouser Measurements

The size names in the buy box carry different weight ranges again — S 50–60 kg, M 60–70 kg, L 70–80 kg, XL 75–85 kg, XXL 80–90 kg, XXXL 90–100 kg. Where the two disagree, the measurement chart above is the one to trust, because it is the only source giving actual garment dimensions.