IWA 2022 – M-Tac – “Ukraine in the fight”

M-Tac is a Ukrainian company, with a local branch in Poland. As a result they were the only Ukrainians being able to make it to IWA, despite the current Russian invasion. And they made sure to stand their ground and show colors – literally speaking.

The booth of M-Tac was an eyecatcher from tens of meters afar. Not only did it seem as if they brought the whole product line up with them, it was also clearly marked with an Ukrainian flag. They also had a custom patch made “Ukraine in the fight” and created a huge map of Ukraine with it – half way through the show, most of the patches were exchanged with patches from other companies, bloggers, influencers, etc. who did a patch swap to show their solidarity.

Coming back to the company itself – it is only around 5 years old and since then has been equipping law enforcement and the military in Ukraine. Born out of necessity, they are producing everything from underwear to jackets, and from small pouches to big packs and plate carriers. From the corporate design they might appear like an offshoot of Helikon-Tex. And when looking at the various jackets and pants, you can see that there are influences of all the major brands that one might know from western Europe. They arre an independent company however and have nothing to do with other firms.

Additionally, they manage to give every product its independent design and looking from the material point of view one will only find high quality material. So while it might look similar at first, it is more different than expected.

Laser-cut Cordura and Hypalon for the packs and bags, Polartec, G-Loft, Thinsulate or Merino for clothes. The list of details is long and it would take me several pages to look at everything in detail.

Personal highlights were the backpacks, which looked very decently built and also unique in their designs. The different pants also looked very promising and for me the various boot as well as sneaker designs look interesting.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Hopefully we will hear more from this company.