Carrying a concealed handgun is about more than just selecting the right firearm and holster. Clothing choices play a critical role in concealment, mobility, and avoiding unwanted attention.
The goal is to balance everyday style with practical considerations so your firearm remains accessible and discreet.
Does Tactical Clothing Help With Concealed Carry?
Tactical pants, vests, and shirts are designed for utility, but they often signal to others that you may be armed.
While cargo pockets and reinforced waistlines make carrying comfortable, obvious tactical clothing can draw attention in public. Criminals and even bystanders often associate overtly tactical clothing with firearms.
For many carriers, blending in with normal attire provides a stronger advantage in maintaining the "concealed" aspect of concealed carry.
Concealing a Firearm With Everyday Outfits
One of the most common questions is whether it’s easier to conceal a handgun in tactical trousers versus slim-fit dress pants. The truth is that nearly any outfit can work with the right holster and firearm choice.
A compact pistol carried inside the waistband (IWB) can be hidden under:
- Cargo shorts and a t-shirt
- Business attire with a suit jacket
- Jeans with a button-down shirt
- Seasonal layers like hoodies, flannels, or sweaters
The key is ensuring your shirt or jacket fully covers the holster area and doesn’t print when you move.
Tactical Look vs Blending In: Which Strategy Works?
Concealed carriers often fall into one of two categories: those who want to look armed to deter threats, and those who blend into their environment.
Looking armed may discourage some criminals, but it can also make you a higher priority target. Blending in with everyday clothing, on the other hand, reduces suspicion and allows you to maintain the element of surprise if a defensive situation arises.
For most carriers, matching your clothing to your surroundings while using a quality IWB holster is the safer strategy.
Clothing, Situational Awareness, and Concealment
Effective concealment goes beyond the garments themselves. The principles of camouflage apply: avoid outlines, shadows, and noticeable bulges that give away your firearm.
Equally important is situational awareness—understanding your environment, reading how people react to your presence, and ensuring your attire doesn’t stand out unnecessarily.
The right gun holster combined with consistent awareness is more valuable than relying on tactical gear alone.
Training and Consistency
No matter what clothing you choose, regular training is essential. Practice drawing from concealment in the outfits you wear daily, whether casual, business, or outdoor gear.
This ensures that your drawstroke remains consistent and effective across situations. Concealed carry is about preparation, not just the firearm or clothing—it’s about integrating them seamlessly into your lifestyle.
Closed-Front Shirts And Concealed Carry
Clearing a closed-front shirt (such as a t-shirt or polo) is easy, in that the procedure is "grip it and rip it."
Well...don't actually rip it...
The shirt has to pulled up so the gun is completely uncovered, allowing the shooter to get a firing grip, draw and then present the pistol to fire.
What has to happen is the garment is lifted and swept out of the way. As the gun is cleared, you'll need to pin the cover garment to your body while driving your hand towards the gun to get a shooting grip.
There are a number of different techniques taught by instructors. Check out this example from Mike Seeklander.
See what he does - he lifts the garment, pins it to his body first with the shooting and then with the support hand, then slides down to the gun to draw and present the gun.
Clearing the cover garment needs to be part of the entire drawing and presentation. Notice how his support hand is in a prime position to build a two-handed shooting grip.
Granted, this example is in the appendix position. For more traditional strong-side carry (meaning the gun is on or just behind the hip) you may not be able to use your support hand the same way, so you may have to only use your shooting hand to clear cover.
What you're going to have to do is figure out a technique that will reliably get the cover garment cleared so your draw isn't impeded by your clothing. Once you've figured it out, practice the heck out of it.
The Concealed Carry Draw From An Open-Front Shirt
When it comes to an open-front shirt, meaning a button-up shirt of some kind, there can be a bit more variation of technique depending on how you wear it.
The classic concealed carry cover garment is an unbuttoned flannel or denim shirt, long- or short-sleeve as preferred, worn untucked. It provides cover, allows use of either an IWB or a high-ride OWB holster, and looks presentable in the bargain.
You can also choose to button the shirt and close it. It gets pretty windy in Alien Gear Holsters' part of the world; gusts are pretty common in all seasons, so wearing an open shirt is not always an option!
With an unbuttoned shirt, one technique is to sweep it out of the way. It seems simple, but it actually takes some practice to get down. Since shirt fabric is incredibly light, the shirt tends to whip if you go too fast.
Instead of whipping the shirt, hook under the placket with your shooting hand thumb and pull it out of the way. That moves your cover garment in a smoother fashion, avoiding any potential mishaps.
If your shirt is buttoned, the procedure is the same as with a closed-front (non-button-up) shirt.
Top Tip: if you're using a buttoned but untucked shirt as your cover garment, leave the bottom-most button undone. This puts a bit of slack in fabric, making it easier to clear.
In either case, you have to experiment with exactly how you make it work best, and then practice the heck out of it.
Concealed Carry With A Tucked-In Shirt
If you tuck your shirt over your concealed carry gun, clearing cover will change in that you have to do a couple things differently.
First, you have to select a holster that allows for your shirt to be tucked over it, or you have to wear an OWB holster to avoid the issue. The latter case requires pretty much no adjustment in technique as the tucked shirt is a non-issue.
Tucking your shirt over the gun and holster, however, does require some adjustment.
A tucked shirt has to be grasped with a powerful grip to get good purchase and pulled out of the waistband to reveal an IWB holster. After that, the procedure is the same.
If you must tuck your shirt over the holster, leave a little extra material above the waistband. That way, you can easily grasp it.
Concealed Carry With A Jacket
Concealed carry with a jacket is essentially the same as with an open-front shirt, it's just that more layers are involved.
Clearing cover is the same, and the ideas are the same. You can wear it closed or open.
Classically, the concealed carrier will wear their jacket open. In spring and fall, when light jackets are the norm, this is...unnoticeable because almost everyone does it.
In winter, it becomes a different story. To the typical observer, it's just an open jacket and they don't really notice it. However, it's a dead giveaway to those initiated, such as other concealed carriers and also to law enforcement.
Whether this is a concern to you or not...is up to you to decide. Some people don't care about how they appear to the observant or unobservant, and others want to be as discreet as humanly possible.
If you do decide to concealed carry under a closed jacket, there are a couple of tips, tricks and so on that can help make clearing the cover garment easier and more efficient.
One tip is to put a zipper pull on the zipper to get reliable purchase on the zipper, and so you can unzip the placket in a hurry. Having some weight in the pocket also helps move the jacket out of the way of the gun.
If you're wearing a jacket more of the bomber or hoodie variety instead of a longer parka-style jacket, you may be able to pull the jacket up and over the gun just like you would with a shirt.
A longer hem makes pulling the jacket up and over the gun harder to do. It's also the case that not everyone has a range of motion in their shoulder that allows for it. Therefore, a parka (or parka-style) jacket, or the classic 3/4 length style is going to complicate the draw.
Buttoned jackets are right out. You can't open them quickly, unless they have a zipper under the placket which some - but not all - do.
What If I'm Wearing A Suit?
If you're wearing a suit, blazer or sport coat, there are a couple of strategies for clearing the cover garment.
Obviously, you can wear the jacket unbuttoned. However, if wearing the jacket buttoned, the classic trick is to leave the bottom-most button undone. That way, you only have to undo one button before clearing cover and drawing the gun.
Blazers and sport coats tend to be - but aren't always! - a little looser-fitting and many have vents that many suit coats lack.
If YOUR blazer or sport coat (what's the difference? Blazers are solid colors, sport coats have patterns) is a little roomy with generous vents, you may be able to pull the jacket up over the gun. You also may not. Experiment with your jacket to see what the case is for you.
Clothing Selection For Different Concealed Carry Holsters
IWB and OWB are the default choices of concealed carry holster, everyone knows that...but what if you don't wear one?
Not everyone does, for a variety of reasons, and some people may carry a backup gun in a pocket or an ankle holster, or may use an alternate carry method on occasion. Sometimes you might pocket carry if running an errand, or using a shoulder holster just because.
Alternative carry methods can also require some concealed carry clothing considerations, though - again - it's typically simple.
Pocket carry really only requires ample pocket space. What you're looking for is a pocket that's deep enough to allow the gun and holster to fit inside it.
The classical guideline is that you're looking for a pocket that allows your hand to go in to the wrist. If the rim of the pants pocket is at your wrist, with ample room inside it, that's good for pocket carry.
It's also crucial to carry with a .
Ankle carry merely requires loose enough pants to easily cover the gun...and to be easily drawn up to uncover it. Relaxed-fit pants or jeans are easily found, so that's a no-brainer. However, be sure to select an ankle holster that works with your footwear.
Some people will carry on occasion with a shoulder holster, though there are the rare folks who do so every day.
A shoulder holster requires a roomy jacket for effective concealment. The trick with shoulder holsters isn't so much getting the cover garment correct; it's finding a shoulder holster that works with the contours of your body so it's concealable in the first place.
Train How You'll Fight: Wear Your Street Clothes To The Range
The old saw is "train how you'll fight, fight how you train." When you practice with your pistol, you need to be wearing the clothes you'll actually wear.
This is important when you go to your favorite range for practice. This is also important when you do your dry fire practice.
Shooting at the range in full kit is fine if you compete in 3 gun matches or what have you, and wear that gear for the competitive shooting environment. But do you wear a chest rig and a battle belt every day? Do you wear that stuff at home?
Chances are you don't, unless you're in the military...or unless you just constantly LARP. Hey, we don't judge.
If your pistol practice is more for a practical purpose, which for the armed civilian means concealed carry and/or home defense or generalized personal defense, your gear has to reflect that or else you're not training in a realistic fashion.
Think of it like this: everything athletes do is for their sport. They practice for their events or games, and accessory exercises like weightlifting and so on are tailored to assist in those efforts.
So make sure you're making smart choices in the gear you're using, and how you use it. Practice makes perfect, so make sure you're practicing for what you may need to make happen in real life.
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About The Author James England (@sir_jim_england) is the contributing editor for Alien Gear Holsters. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and private defense contracting in Afghanistan. |