I live in a mostly suburban/rural area.

Urban Wolf or Crocodile?

Crocodile would fit in better here, but part of me feels it's too "tactical' of a color. What say you?

Sounds like proprietary colors. What specific company are you referring to? Arc'teryx?

Urban wolf looks like a pretty decent color. Greys are good everyday urban camo as it doesn't pop out and is a normal color. "Crocodile" (IE: brown) would be perfectly fine for a jacket. As long as you aren't wearing head to toe khaki you won't look military.

What something that blends in? I wear Riggs Ripstop Ranger Pants every day to work. I have a pair in "bark" (light brown/gray) and "loam" (dark green). That's the kind of "every day tactical" garment you might be interested in looking at.

I think people overlook the "tactical colors" thing. Outside of wearing ATACS, woodland, Mulitcam, MARPAT, etc... patterned clothing you won't look overtly tactical. Browns, grays, greens, blacks... All are basic colors and all blend in in a civilized area.

Also, if it isn't a uniform item, even in "tactical colors" it won't stand out as tactical. OD green workpants and a brown Arc'teryx jacket won't look "tactical" while the same colors on Tru-Spec pants and jacket will.

Highlighted part FTW.

If I wear the clothes that will go unnoticed in my AO they'll certainly be noticed in the upscale suburb that was my boyhood home.

The cops from our town tried to rig up a white panel van as a OP. They put a new 28' extension ladder on it and figured it would be GTG.

As they were doing this right by our FD when I was going out to my truck - a real contractor's vehicle - I offered some suggestions, such as having a job ticket book and pens and a few McDonald's napkins on the dash, an extension cord hanging from the rack visible in the rear window and maybe a work belt or hard hat clipped up on the mesh by the driver's seat.

They looked at me with the look. After all, they were trained investigamators, and I was just a grunt smokeater. The fact that I've been in and around the trades for 20+ years went unrecognized.

They parked their van, and it was promptly made.

<Insert Nelson "Ha-ha!" JPG here>

For the most part, nobody gives a rat's ass what you wear. Only the "gear queers" really pay attention to any tactical stuff. And if they notice, they are sure as hell not going to walk up to you and tell you to go home and change. As long as you are not fully kitted out with webgear and backpack, few will look twice. I live in a rural area and cammo style gear is quite common, even with women and kids.

Yep. No one cares.

Some folks here focus way too much on colors and camos. It matters a whole lot less than you think.

I had the Drac jacket in Wolf. Nice color, but those horrid velcro panels on the sleeves kill the "grey man" factor. I wish Arc'teryx offered their garments with optional velcro, like Triple Aught Design does. That's why I'm glad I got one of their Alpha jackets in Crocodile without the velcro (special run they did a while back).

All the things mentioned in this thread are spot on: earth tones are very common these days with a huge resurgence of the outdoor community. I would recommend buying from the Arc'teryx civilian line, as they have more options for colors and styles, but are equally as well made. Just no velcro. I wear an Arc'teryx Ridgeline longsleeve button down shirt with their Rampart pants, and it works for a variety of activities, shooting being one of them (as seen in my avatar).

My question is: what do you want to do? Are you worried about walking home after an event? Don't want to stick out in a crowd? Threads like this confuse me, as I don't know what the ultimate objective is. I like to keep a couple of options in my van at all times-desert, flecktarn. I wear a suit and tie for business, so I wnat options. Most of my "everyday" stuff is some earthtone. Remember, the best camoflauge in the woods is blending in and shutting down––learned that in the Corps-human eyes are more drawn to movement than minor variations in coloration. No Native American ever wore multi-cam, but they could damn sure be quiet and stealthy.

Anything Arctyrx is going to stick out, your best colors will be found in the carhartt section.

How many people do you expect to see running around a significant event wearing $200-400 jackets? Theres only one thing I think of when I see someone wearing a softshell, especially in colors such as foliage green or coyote, and it isnt discreet.

Depends entirely on where you are.

Frankly, the human eye first and foremost sees contrast and movement. Burgundy will get the job done...

True that.

Seriously though, he's right the world is not AR15.com. Most people have no freakin clue what Arc'teryx is.

I saw a study years ago where most witnesses will remember blue as red (or vice versa, it was a long time ago). If you don't want to be remembered correctly, that might be a better way to set your focus. Maybe layers so you can quickly changes colors and appear differently.

Yup. Read a police report on one bank robbery where people described three different colors to the robber's hooded sweatshirt and some said he had on a jacket, some said sweater, some said sweatshirt...if the police hadn't seen him exit the bank he probably would have made a clean get away even on foot.