Have you ever wanted tactical capability from a suit jacket? I’m betting most of us would love to have John Wick’s actual jacket with all its bulletproof stylings. We can’t get to that level of lightweight, durable armor, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get a slick blazer worthy of tactical use. 5.11 Tactical has finally released the Founders Jacket we saw at SHOT 2024.
The Founders Jacket brings tactical flair to your normal blazer.
What Makes It Tactical?
Admittedly, the term “tactical” gets thrown around an awful lot these days. Tactical backpacks, tactical fanny packs, tactical pens, and more.
What makes a blazer tactical? There are two answers to that. The first answer is the more obvious and the varied accouterments the blazer comes with.
Inside the Founders Jacket
The Founders Jacket is half fancy jacket and half utility belt. Inside, there are various pockets and places to mount all manner of goodies.
Let’s start from the top. One layer of webbing on each side is designed to allow the user to route communication cables through the jacket. As we travel southward, the right side of the jacket has a larger interior pocket.
5.11 refers to it as an interior drop pocket. A single button secures the pocket closed, making it fast and easy to open. This large pocket makes it easy to drop whatever you need to retain inside the pocket. It’s perfect for partially depleted magazines, extras from an open IFAK, and more. The wide pocket design makes it easy to quickly stash stuff and forget all about it.
MoLLE
Below the drop pocket, we have two rows of elastic MOLLE. This MOLLE sits on both sides of the inside of the jacket. The MOLLE’s elastic nature and the jacket’s textile nature mean it’s not designed for anything heavy. Anything heavy will sage. It’s better suited for small lights, pens, very light pocket knives, and possibly a small container of OC spray. I tried various pouches and spare magazines, and they are only comfortably compatible with pocket pistol mags.
Below those MOLLE straps are interior pockets sized for modern cell phones. You get one on each side and aren’t limited to phones, obviously. These bigger pockets can hold bigger gear. They turned out to work perfectly with my Montana Knife Company WarGoat, and will store magazines, but they are a little haphazard with the magazine storage due to their size. These pockets can contain gloves, a pocket IFAK, and similar items.
More Than Meets The Eye
Beyond the obvious pockets and straps, we get a few hidden goodies. At the rear of the blazer, we have a split in the jacket. It’s hard to see, but it’s big enough to squeeze your hands through. On the inside of that split sits a hidden handcuff key. Lord forbid you’re on the wrong side of cuffs. This offers you a sleek way to keep an extra handcuff key for those escape and evade scenarios.
There is also a small vertical channel designed to make it easy to carry flexicuffs. This hidden channel allows a sworn officer to carry extra detention capability without drawing any eyes. The channel is so hidden that it took a bright light and some close inspection to find it. The pouch makes it easy to load and easy to deploy flexicuffs when needed.
Finally, we have two small zippered pockets in the chest area. The closure offers excellent retention and makes it easy to store valuable goods that you don’t want falling out in a fistfight.
The Founders Jacket: The Other Tactical Part
The other tactical part of the Founders Jacket comes down to its construction. It’s easy to focus on the inside features and the pockets, but none of that matters if you can’t do tactical things like wrestling, fighting, shooting, crawling, and jumping. Most blazers are going to fall apart the minute you do any of that.
The 5.11 Tactical Founders Jacket is built to last. The lining is 100% nylon dobby for durability and abrasion resistance. The damn thing is machine washable! That should be one of the best ways to judge a blazer’s durability. More than that, they built it the same way you’d design a piece of sports clothing.
The tactical athlete isn’t much different than a normal athlete. You need freedom of movement, flexibility, and beyond. The Founders Jacket offers you that. It moves, stretches, and doesn’t impede your most critical movements. I went to the range with the blazer — which is a first — and used a Safariland 578 GLS and 7053 7TS shoulder holster.
I worked my draws and reloads from both rigs. The Founders Jacket never got in the way. The stretch and fit allow for a solid two-handed stance without restriction. I ran a few basic drills and never felt restrained. I used cover, I swapped hands, and more, and the coat moved with me without complaint.
The jacket conceals firearms well. It’s a little wider at the bottom and seems to be purposefully designed for concealment.
Who Needs a Tactical Blazer?
I think the main appeal of this blazer would be for plainclothes police officers. It offers a greater degree of utility and durability than the average suit jacket. It also offers you additional accessories and capabilities. It’s also not that expensive. At $160 MSRP, it’s not Armani.
To me, it could also be a more formal option for concealed carry. It hides a gun well and offers a few extra accessories options. Even when unarmed, the jacket offers you lots and lots of ways to carry a variety of goods. It’s also just plain comfy, and as a big guy, it’s hard to find comfy blazers.
The 2XL Founders Jacket fits exceptionally well. It’s comfy. It’s even fairly lightweight and breathable. Plus it stretches and moves, which I appreciate a lot.
5.11 Tactical has a real winner in this new blazer. It currently seems like there is only one color, but hopefully, we’ll see a few more in the future. I need one in dark blue, black, light blue, and maybe even tan so I can pretend to be the guy from Burn Notice.
