Vel-Tye Soft Armor Carrier

Here’s another piece of kit that Vel-Tye made for me recently:  a low profile soft armor carrier. The ubiquitous Eagle Maritime CIRAS vest was part of my standard gear issue, which includes the soft armor inserts as well as plates. I find the LBT 6094 plate carrier to be a far superior vest. It is less bulky and provides a more streamlined setup. The 6094 does provide spaces for soft armor, plates, and even side plates. Since my soft armor is cut to fit the CIRAS vest though, I needed a separate soft armor carrier to wear under the plate carrier. Vel-Tye said they could make me what I needed, and at an extremely competitive price, compared to off the shelf low profile soft armor vest. And I was getting it custom fit and made to my specifications.

The carrier turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. The fit is very snug, but adjustable to accommodate what I’m wearing underneath. The outer fabric is tan 1000D Cordura with a lightweight nylon mesh on the inside to help with cooling. In the center of the chest and back is a square section of hook to interface with the loop sections that the inside of the LBT carriers have. This feature locks the plate carrier into place and keeps it from shifting around while moving.

The shoulder straps have a type of super Velcro hook at the ends (I am not sure of the actual name) so that once you have the length set they will not move. The super Velcro hook takes some serious force to pull off.

As I do with all of my gear, I carefully trimmed the corners of all the velcro for smoother operation and to avoid snagging. fingernail clippers work best for this.

Vel-Tye makes a solid product. I highly recommend them for anyone who is looking for a custom piece of kit.