Claw Gear Aviceda Fleece

It’s very interesting to see how the tactical gear and clothing industry has ‘trends’ every bit as much as the fashion business, and recently I’ve noticed that a number of European manufacturers have begun to offer garments and kit in ‘RAL 7013’.

So what is ‘RAL 7013’ and why is this colour suddenly so popular? In 1927 the German Reichs-Ausschuß für Lieferbedingungen und Gütesicherung (State Commission for Delivery Terms and Quality Assurance) invented a collection of standardised and numerically referenced colours which has been continually expanded from that day on. If you check out www.ralcolorchart.com and search for RAL 7013 you’ll find it in the ‘Grey’ palette; RAL provides a colour standard for all manufacturers to adhere to.

In the tactical world, this colour works in a wide range of ways. For professional end-users the Brown Grey colour blends into a broad spectrum of environmental settings and can be perfectly combined with other block-colour or camouflage clothing or equipment. Brown Grey gear is becoming increasingly popular because it works very effectively in all settings; it’s equally at home in towns and cities, as it is in the backwoods. It’s a subtle and clever tone that allows the user to visually blend into their surroundings.

RAL 7013 is the colour predominantly used by the Austrian Armed Forces, so it’s hardly surprising to see Claw Gear, who are based in Steyr-Gleink, being at the forefront of this colour adoption. Claw Gear are highly innovative in what they produce, not just in terms of cutting edge design and their use of the most up to date fabrics but also in their choice of colour options.

All the Gear

Claw Gear has worked this colour into their entire range of tactical clothing and recently they sent me one of their Aviceda fleece garments to trial. This lightweight, mid-layer garment is extremely comfortable to wear and the modern styling allows a fullrange of unrestricted movement. It’s made from a 100% polyester fleece fabric, which looks and feels great, and high-quality YKK zips are used throughout. The fleece itself is water repellent and breathes extremely well, making the Aviceda a superb layering piece. I especially like the low-profile hood, which works perfectly in conjunction with a hard or softshell outer layer, effectively eliminating cold spots around the neckline.

The Aviceda also benefits from two lower, mesh-lined handwarmer pockets, pockets on both upper arms with velcro patches for team/unit patches, and an inner pocket which allows routing for comms cables; the outer pockets are neatly trimmed with black fabric, which gives the jacket a visually stunning appearance as well.

Weighing in at just 410g, the Aviceda is easy to pack and takes up minimal space in a pack, so it’s absolutely ideal if you want to stow it away ‘just in case’.

Overall, it’s a superbly designed jacket, made of high-end fabrics and components, and the finish of it just oozes quality and attention to detail. If you’re in the market for a new performance fleece jacket, in the very latest tacticool colour then I would thoroughly recommend you take a very close look at the Aviceda.

Claw Gear is currently available direct from the manufacturer, although I’m led to believe that it will soon be more available in the UK. The Aviceda costs €74.90 and is available in RAL 7013, Black, Coyote, and Solid Rock (grey) in sizes small to XXL.