Triple Aught Design History?

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calvinw

Joined
Feb 28, 2012
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I'm relatively new to knives and (for lack of a better term) "tactical equipment". So I'm wondering about the history of Triple Aught Design. I've been to their store in SF (the second location) and all I saw was clothing and a few Zero Tolerance knives. The clothing seemed like quality stuff, with quality stuff prices. And now, all their products seems to be on the high end (even simple patches). I don't own anything fro them so this is not a statement about the worth of their products.

I wasn't around to witness the rise of TAD. So I'm wondering what was their rise I fame due to? Was it always just quality clothing and gear?

I read the Wikipedia article and now know that they were the first, exclusive company to offer one of the Emerson knives. (I also now know that the original founder, Patrick Ma, had now left the company.) But do they have any other claim to fame?
 
I don't know if they are known for anything else. They make good quality "gear" (clothes and packs) and always have. I knew about them from way back before they were anybody special and anything they made was in stock at any time. If I'm not mistaken they were featured in a few magazines which spread the word and they took off. Though they do have military contracts they pretty much are just a tacticool clothing company. I don't mean to put them down by saying that. Plus many of their items are domesticly made. As far as knives go, they sell small batch customs from makers with their logo. They do not manufacture knives.
 
I don't think they manufacture anything themselves. I thought everything was designed and prototyped by them and then contracted out to manufacturers. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong but that's how it came across when one of the TAD guys was on the Gear Geeks Live Podcast.
 
So I knew TAD when they were on Linden Street in Oakland, there is a brewery there now!
My first walk into the store it was really exciting. Lots of knives, BMs, Kershaw, SAK, lots of Striders. They had all kinds of survival gear like fire starters, mini compasses including the sweet NATO one. It was the first retailer to stock a Sparklite that I can recall.

On following visits they got more "Tacticool", more military looking, less production knives, more Striders and very pricey customs and TAD collaborations.

When they moved to SF everything changed, I will not discuss the SF store other than say don't bother.
Too bad at first they were an EDC geek's wet dream.
 
I have only visited their second store in SF. Seemed like it was mostly high end outdoor clothing with a military design slant. Really, just nice jackets and pants, etc. (There were a couple of ZT knives on display, I recall a ZT bayonet - but it seemed to be in the store more for decorative reasons instead of being intended for someone to buy.)

The guy in the store was cool. But from that experience, I didn't get the TAD thing. It really didn't seem much different than the clothing section at REI. That's not an insult - it all seemed like nice stuff. But I sometimes see TAD stuff pop up on the sales forum and wonder about them. I mean, I'm not interested in buying an REI patch. So I wonder why people want a TAD patch.
 
I would do a search on them, their products and their customer service before getting excited in any way. Things might be different now but I'll never spend a penny with them again and I know a few people like me. :)
 
I own quite a few items from TAD, I have never had a problem with any of the gear or their customer service. Whenever I have called or emailed with an issue it has been resolved immediately. All of my experiences with the have be nothing but the best.
 
rickdarris2004 said:
I own quite a few items from TAD, I have never had a problem with any of the gear or their customer service. Whenever I have called or emailed with an issue it has been resolved immediately. All of my experiences with the have be nothing but the best.
Click to expand...

I've personally had two backpacks, two jackets and an EDC capsule that would say very much otherwise. Not to mention the wild goose chase I got dragged through by their CS. I'm actually still waiting for them to get back to me about the latest of those items that fell to bits...... several years on now. :D As I say I'll never even look at them again and I'm not the only one, funny how all those people are all international customers, too.......we must just be easy to fob off. :rolleyes:
 
I have some TAD items that I Like and Dislike
A Goretex type pullover I got years ago. Old stealth hoodie not so stealth. Great just very loud.
And a Litespeed pack that kicks major ass, no complaints, carries my rifles slick. Most comfortable bag. Havnt enjoyed a piece of gear as much as my RAID more than a decade ago.
had some hats over the years all good. And a leatherman pouch that is by far the best made molle pouch Ive ever owned.
Always got me my sh*t no problems to Northern Canada.
 
I bought my MaxP Jumbo from the TAD store in SF, which I thought was before TAD made gear. Someone got in a fight with someone (I think) and they stopped selling their stuff and started making their own. I'm sure someone knows more about all that than I.
 
I really enjoyed perusing the TAD Gear website back in its early years. They were on the cutting edge of the trend toward "tactical" at the turn of the century and did well integrating a diverse selection of quality gear with an e-commerce site featuring a very slick web design. I don't know that you would say that bargains were in abundance, but they could be had. As one example, Patrick gave me a smoking good deal on an all stainless Luminox watch that still keeps good time to this day. In fairness though, a lot of what they advertised was top notch stuff that was commanding a premium regardless of where you might find it. They had a good selection of knives, both custom and production, backpacks, some hiking, backpacking and mountaineering gadgets, an occasional inventory of watches and quickly started making inroads into the clothing market.

After a while, however, they started to become victim of their own success. I don't recall all the brands of knives they carried, but most were in the Emerson, Strider, Hinderer range of popularity. As such, it wasn't long until their website was effectively pages and pages of beautiful pictures of knives and other gear that perpetually had the words "not in stock" next to every listing. Quite frustrating from the consumer's perspective. Patrick tried to compensate by contracting with many of these popular makers and companies for exclusive production runs of various models of knives. He certainly had the clout to do this at the time and my recollection is that very nearly all of these runs were well received. But the net effect on the website was that things remained very much the same as before. Rumors of a new offering would circulate amongst the fanatics and then every knife in a new production run would be snatched up and spoken for the second it was officially announced. Thus, even with this success, the site itself largely remained a repository for pictures of cool gear that was seemingly never available to be purchased.

I suspect this may have been what prompted Patrick to make the move toward designing more of his own clothing and focusing less on the hardware. I never tried out any of the clothes they offered online - mainly because they rarely seemed to stock any sizes that could accommodate someone taller than 6'2" or heavier than 200 lbs. And now, of course, the emphasis at the new retail store seems to be almost exclusively on the tactical clothing market. I've not been myself, so again, I can't speak for the quality. Most of the reviews I've come across have been rather underwhelming. An acquaintance at Blade Expo last year rather humorously referred to the SF store as "a Banana Republic for mall ninjas". That certainly gave me a chuckle, but I'll reserve personal judgement until I have an opportunity to visit someday.
 
owed a couple of their hoodies - nice enough and would have lasted for years if the zips hadn't crapped out
 
I own a Stealth hoodie and I could not be more happy. Will definately be buying more from them in the future.
 
billym said:
So I knew TAD when they were on Linden Street in Oakland, there is a brewery there now!
My first walk into the store it was really exciting. Lots of knives, BMs, Kershaw, SAK, lots of Striders. They had all kinds of survival gear like fire starters, mini compasses including the sweet NATO one. It was the first retailer to stock a Sparklite that I can recall.

On following visits they got more "Tacticool", more military looking, less production knives, more Striders and very pricey customs and TAD collaborations.

When they moved to SF everything changed, I will not discuss the SF store other than say don't bother.
Too bad at first they were an EDC geek's wet dream.
Click to expand...


That seems to be the general impression I got looking at the website over the years. When I first found them I could make lists of dozens of items I would love to have (they actually sold functional grappling hooks!), but lately they seem to be a lot more fashion oriented.
 
I was a TAD customer since the year 2000. They started out like any other gear store selling Surefire lights, Emerson Knives, and Strider Knives among others. It was a pretty awesome place to go shopping for gear, but alas the constant sold out notices were quite annoying. Fun fact: The first version of the TAD Alpha EDC pack was made by Maxpedition till they had the great fallout.
 
Bronco really hit it on the head for the website.

The first time I visited the SF store, it still had a lot of cool gear. I bought a Spyderco Sharpmaker, some DMT diamond stones, SpecOPs sheaths (cheap), and an Aurora Fire Starter (which they had like bubble gum at the checkout counter). They had a decent amount of nice knives, and Surefire flashlights. It was nice at that time.

The next time I went, all the goodies were gone, except for the Surefire and some knives. Mostly all they had was funny looking clothing. Haven't been back in awhile so I can't say what's going on right now.

As for the clothing, I used to work at a Gun store and we used to sell guns near our cost and make our profits on everything else we sold the customer. The biggest profits were on the clothing. So if TAD is all in on clothing now, I'm not surprised, that's where the money is.
 
I've been a fan of TAD for many years. I've had good and bad experiences with their customer service. I had one guy get really rude with me on the phone once, about 10 years ago, but nothing like that since. I've owned 4 of their jackets, and still have a Ranger Hoodie. They used to carry Strider, Microtech, Benchmade, and even a few Spydies. Now, it's all high end collaboration/limited edition-type blades. Their old web site was FAR superior to the current one and they don't carry 30% of the inventory they once did.
 
I don't think their quality justifies the price they charge, given the brands we now have. I don't mean to be insulting, and I know why a CRK costs $350, but is their gear really really worth that price anyone thinks here? The price is a major turn off everytime I check their site (but I know there are TAD fanatics out there).
 
The customer service I have experienced has been great they had no trouble doing exchanges when I bought the wrong size and were always polite when I had questions. I believe years ago they tried to outsource their products and had horrible results and have now gone to very reputable USA and Canadian suppliers for their clothing. I also believe there maybe some connection between the. And a company called rocket bear or rocket something I don't think it ever became anything or failed or maybe had nothing to do with T.A.D. . I can tell you the current offerings are great I've tried to destroy my amphibious cargo pants and nothing not even a stain and the packs are rock solid. If you search through the busse forum you can see my post where I have them loaded down and do a small review. Also the stealth jackets have come along way too my favorite is the ranger hoodie though.
 
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