Paintball clothing is often one of the things that many players struggle with. Players would rock up to the paintball arena and simply use the clothing provided. However, this does not necessarily provide you with optimal protection and it can often leave you vulnerable to hits. You must know which paintball clothing is required.
Paintball Clothing / Paintball Armor – What Do I Need? The main goal of playing paintball is to make sure you have as little of yourself exposed as possible. With paintballs traveling at rapid speeds, one hit can be painful. Additionally, you don’t want to give your opponent an easy target. Wearing the right gear would significantly improve your paintball game:
With paintball being all about protection, you must know what to wear and when. Fortunately, we have you covered with the best paintball clothing and options available. This article aims to give you some advice on what you should wear when you are playing paintball.
Clothing By Body Part
The first thing we should start with is the clothing you would wear for each body part to ensure you have optimal protection. The idea is to be as strategic as possible with your clothing, without the need to sacrifice weight, which could affect mobility. Here are a few suggestions for you to protect yourself.
Head
When it comes to your head, this is the most important part of your body that you want to protect. Wearing some form of hat is often great when you have optimal eye protection. However, you can also choose to wear a full-face helmet, which would keep your head and eyes protected. Unfortunately, it can be a bit of a drag to wear these helmets for prolonged periods.
Shirt/Top
For the upper body, you want to limit the exposed skin as much as possible. Longer sleeves and even thick hoodies would work best. However, you want to minimize the chances of the paintball breaking. I have found that a softer material like wool could cause the ball to bounce off your body without breaking.
Keep in mind that you are only eliminated if the paintball breaks and causes some splatter of paint on your clothing. It is hard to prove that you have been hit if the paintball simply bounces off your clothing.
Legs
Your legs can often be one of the biggest targets and you would want to keep your legs as protected as possible. Two pairs of trousers would often be a great option. The idea is that the first pair of pants should be thick to ensure you don’t get any injuries if the paintball hits you.
Additionally, you want some loose-fitting trousers for secondary protection to ensure that the ball might also bounce off the pants instead of breaking.Footwear
Footwear
Footwear when playing paintball is more important than you think. You want sufficient footwear, which would provide comfort when you are running about. You should not worry about the clothing becoming dirty either.
A thick boot, like a hiking boot, is often a great investment and would not only offer you comfort when walking or running but also ensure that you have optimal protection. You might even want to invest in something to provide stability for your ankles.
Gloves
Your hands are another one of the most exposed parts of your body and since it is also one of the most sensitive parts of your body, you need protection. The ideal would be a comfortable glove with thick padding, which does not hinder the movements of your hands. I would not suggest using fingerless gloves as paintball guns can be accurate.
Paintball-specific or even football gloves would work well if you don’t mind them getting dirty with some paintball splatter.
Paintball Armor And Accessories
Once you have the most basic of paintball clothing sorted, you can move on to the layers. The layers would refer to the extra items that would not only keep you protected, but also enhance your playing performance. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Goggles
One of the most important parts of your paintball kit would be the goggles. The goggles have the responsibility of keeping your eyes efficiently protected and making sure that you can play. The Xaegistac Airsoft Goggles Tactical Safety Goggles are some of the best on the market today and offer great protection and visibility.
Snood
The snood is a cover, which goes over your head and serves to protect a large part of your face when playing paintball. The snood is one of the best options when it comes to optimal protection and would work with the goggles for optimal face protection. It is one of the cheapest kit items that most people neglect to consider.
Body Armor
Body Armor would be the final piece of the puzzle and it will wrap around your body to ensure you have maximal protection from paintball shots. There are various body armor options that you can consider. However, the TOPWISE Body Safe Guard Padded Compression Shirts are some of the best options for protection that you can wear. These are lightweight while offering optimal protection.
Battle Belts
The battle belt is another gear item that could offer you adequate protection, whilst offering you an accessory that would make life easier. These belts can hold additional ammo containers, which should enable you to continue playing. However, they are often padded and have a thicker design, which should ensure extra protection as well.
Do You Need Paintball Armor?
If you are wondering about paintball armor, don’t because you should probably have it. Most paintball games would be rapid and shots can travel at 200 MPH with some of the newer and more advanced guns. Using paintball armor would ensure that you have optimal protection and give you the confidence to efficiently move around in the arena.
More experienced players can use loose clothing. However, this is still a risk and some of the mandatory requirements for playing paintball are often things like goggles. You must have adequate eye protection.
Can You Use Any Armor For Paintball?
The main goal is to have as much protection as possible when playing. Using additional armor like those you would for other games could work. In fact, the armor used for airsoft games would offer up the same performance and value. Keep in mind that paintball shots can be more painful, especially at closer ranges.
Wrap-Up
Finding the right clothes for paintball can be daunting and you often learn by experience, which clothing is the best to use. You need to make sure you have the right paintball clothing when you are starting out for your own comfort and confidence purposes as well as for your protection.