It's simply good gear. A lot of my wardrobe has gone in this direction over the past decade because it's fairly easy to find highly functional garments with goo

It's simply good gear. A lot of my wardrobe has gone in this direction over the past decade because it's fairly easy to find highly functional garments with good materials and good construction that are actually cut for athletic people. I wear tactical clothing because that's what makes my wife make the most comments about my butt. A lot of modern commercial clothing has become disposable, sized either too slender or too baggy, made of poor fabric and with poor stitching. The U.S. military has been at war roughly the last 20 years, with millions of veterans over that period working in extremely hot and dry or rugged and mountainous environments - environments very similar to the American West where a huge chunk of the civilian population finds its recreation. That first market iterated new kinds of clothing over the last two decades, and the latter adopted it because it was so good. Honestly I'm going to buy a Triple Aught Design hoodie over an Arcteryx one, because I know that the original customer base of TAD wore theirs for long periods in rough conditions, and despite looking similar on paper the former is probably going to be more durable in the long run. Personally, a couple of the pictures in the article look like my after-work recreations (the side by side shots from 5.11 Tactical 60% down the page). I live in Utah, and after I log off for the day I drive off-road to my friend's land and we practice shooting and using our concealed carry pistols so that we can actually be effective in protecting ourselves and our families and not endanger anyone in the process. We don't wear "tactical" pants to "LARP", we wear it because it's comfortable, doesn't rip when we fall on a sharp rock, is lightly water resistant, wipes clean easily, and doesn't pick up dirt permanently when I brush against my dirty Jeep. I have a Mystery Ranch pack and have never seen an ad with soldiers in it; I bought it because it's built so well and can comfortably carry heavy gear, and not tear when I do something stupid like fill it with river gravel and go rucking for fitness.