What color plate carrier should I get?

We get a lot of questions about “what color plate carrier should I get?”. There are a lot of options on the market and it can be overwhelming trying to pick one that both suits your operational needs and what color or camo looks most appealing to you. We’re going to try to make this choice a little bit easier for you!

So, what color plate carrier should you buy? Of course, there is no “correct” answer that will suit everyone. You should consider your tactical and operational needs, personal preferences, environment you are operating in and general advantages and disadvantages of colors and camos. Let’s go over the most popular plate carrier colors, so you can make an informed decision.

Multicam Plate Carrier: The most versatile camo

Multicam is a camouflage pattern that works well in most environments. First designed in 2002, it was picked up by the US Army in 2010. After that Multicam usage all over the world continued to grow and now it is used by special forces units in more than 40 countries around the world.

The pattern’s color scheme consists of 7 colors. The background is a gradient from brown to a light tan, which allows the overall appearance of the camouflage to change from mostly green to mostly brown in different terrains.

A Multicam plate carrier should be your choice if you want the most popular pattern that is used around the world and one that suits almost every type of environment extremely well. Check out our K19 Plate Carrier and K-Zero Plate Carrier in Multicam.

Ranger Green Plate Carrier

A close second in terms of popularity for military gear, Ranger Green is a perfect mix of gray, and green that performs well in both urban and woodland environments. It also allows you to blend well with your surroundings during night raids. Ranger Green gear is also used by most of the IDF’s Special Forces units here in Israel, replacing the traditional Olive green/OD Green as it works better in urban environments.

Buy a Ranger Green plate carrier if you want your gear to blend well in an urban and/or natural environment. Click here to order our plate carriers in Ranger Green.

Wolf Grey Plate Carrier

Grey color uniforms and camos have started to replace black ones for units that predominantly operate in urban, industrial and metropolitan environments. Wolf Grey blends better with human-created surroundings made of concrete, glass and asphalt and was adopted by a number of counter-terror and law enforcement units around the world such as the UK’s CTSFO.

Pick up a Wolf Grey Plate Carrier if you are operating primarily in urban environments. Check out the Agilite K19 in Wolf Grey.

Multicam Black Plate Carrier

Multicam black was designed specifically for Law Enforcement units and SWAT teams to mix well with the rest of their gear, which is mostly black. It features grey, olive, and black colors. Yes, it works well at night, but its main feature is to stand out and it does exactly that.

If you want to not only protect yourself, but also look extremely cool and Gucci in front of your friends or squad mates while doing so - a Multicam Black plate carrier is the one for you. Shop our plate carriers in Multican black.

Black Plate Carrier

Black is a classic and is still a preference for a lot of people, you can’t go wrong with it. Obviously, it works extremely well if you operate at night and generally there are not a lot of drawbacks with choosing black.

Although, be cautious, it absorbs heat more than plate carriers in other colors if you use it in a hot environment during the day. Pick a black plate carrier if you want a classic color or operate mostly at night. Check out the K-Zero and K19 in Black.

Coyote Brown Plate Carrier

Coyote brown is a perfect color for desert environments. A blend of brown and yellow, It allows you to almost disappear in sand and rocky surroundings. A Coyote brown plate carrier is also very compatible with Multicam and Multicam Arid accessories which is pretty useful if you already have some parts of your loadout or want to expand your tactical gear loadout.

Go with a Coyote Brown plate carrier if your unit operates in desert surroundings or if you live in an arid environment. Here you can buy Agilite’s K19 and K-Zero in Coyote Brown.

Multicam Arid Plate Carrier

An additional iteration of the Multical pattern, Multicam Arid camouflage combines colors that work well in desert environments with the traditional Multicam pattern which results in a reduced visual and near-IR signature of a unit. It features olive, highland, light tan, urban tan, and light coyote colors. Buy one if you operate in a desert environment and already have some Multicam accessories.

Multicam Alpine plate carrier

Winter is coming. Multicam Alpine is another camouflage pattern from the Multicam family. designed in 2013 specifically for units operating in snow-covered environments, it consists of medium gray, light gray, and white colors.

You probably already know if you need this one! Nevertheless, even if you’re not deployed to a snowy area, it might be worth adding to your collection in any case just to be prepared for anything.

Multicam Tropic Plate Carrier

The Multicam Tropic pattern features olive, bright green, green, dark brown, and dark green colors and was created to be used in jungle environments that are unaffected by seasonal changes. Currently no US SF Unit has it as an official camouflage pattern, but it is used by some of them when deployed to tropic regions.

Buy a Multicam Tropic plate carrier if you operate in jungle surroundings or if you plan to in the near future.

How to paint a plate carrier

Sometimes you fall out of love with your plate carrier color, want to customize it or just to make it look better after it's inevitably worn out and you are running out of budget for more tactical gear.

In this case you can paint your plate carrier with spray paint. Here are a few tips if you plan to paint your plate carrier:

• Use a place with good ventilation to protect you from toxic paint fumes. Outside is best, but an open garage could work well too. If you decide to paint indoors, make sure to open as many windows as possible and use a fan while spraying.
• If you paint your plate carrier too thick, the paint will eventually stretch and flake off over time.
• In general, it’s not a good idea to paint darker colors with lighter colors.
• Putting a lot of paint on a plate carrier can make material more stiff and less breathable.

We hope this article helped you choose your plate carrier color. You can check out our K19 Plate Carrier in most of the camos mentioned above here.