Rothco in Staten Island is at Quazi Supply, 519 Port Richmond Avenue, 10302. We carry BDU pants in solid colors and woodland camo, the 6-pocket cargo shorts that every contractor on Staten Island somehow owns three pairs of, tactical vests, military-spec gloves, watch caps, and the EMT trauma shears at the counter. Open 11 to 8, seven days.
Rothco isn't fashion. Rothco is military and tactical surplus-style gear at working-people prices. The brand has been operating out of Long Island since 1953 and the catalog reads like a quartermaster's checklist. We stock the workwear-relevant subset — pants, jackets, gloves, accessories — and skip the costume side.
BDU pants are the volume SKU. Battle Dress Uniform — six-pocket cargo cut, drawstring leg ties, button fly, reinforced seat and knee. We stock them in solid black, solid khaki, and woodland camo. Carpenters who want cargo pockets without paying $80 for Carhartt cargos buy them at $35-$45. Stagehands and event-production crews wear them in black as the de facto uniform. Hunters and outdoorsmen on weekends grab the camo. Sizes from XS through 4XL on the regulars; the 6XL we order in.
The 6-pocket cargo short is the warm-weather equivalent. Same pocket layout, same reinforced seat, knee-length cut. Every electrician, plumber, and AC tech in this borough seems to own three pairs in different colors. We stock black, khaki, OD green, and the woodland camo. June through September we go through them in volume.
Tactical vests cover the off-duty security and EMT crowd. The lightweight 8-pocket assault vest, the cross-draw vest, the trauma response carrier — we keep one or two of each on the wall. Most of what we sell on the vest side goes to security guards working secondary shifts at events and to volunteer EMS folks staging their own kit.
Gloves are the underrated side of Rothco. The military-spec leather glove (the OD-green or black flight glove) is the one we keep in the box at the counter — leather palm with knit back, fits well, breathes, and survives a season of mixed work. The mechanic-style tactical glove with the synthetic palm is the cheaper option. Crews buying gloves by the dozen pick the Rothco at $8-$12 a pair over the Mechanix at $20-$25 when the work doesn't need vibration dampening or A4 cut rating.
"Rothco isn't fashion. It's military-spec gear at working-people prices. That's the entire pitch."
Watch caps, beanies, and balaclavas — Rothco is the bargain shelf. Wool watch cap in black, $5. Acrylic beanies in eight colors, $4. Balaclavas in winter, $7. Foremen buying for a crew of ten on a December morning grab a stack and the math works.
Other line items we stock: BDU shirts (long-sleeve and short-sleeve), the M-65 field jacket in winter, the canvas web belt with the open-face buckle, GI-style canteens for the guys who actually use them, and the EMT trauma shears in the impulse rack at the counter for $4.
Fit reality: Rothco is sized military-style. BDU pants are roomy through the thigh and seat — tool belt friendly. The size on the tag is your waist; the inseam is regular (32) unless marked. The 4XL and up are real plus sizes, not stretched 3XLs. Drawstrings at the bottom of the BDU let you blouse them into a boot.
Trades that reach for Rothco: stagehands and event production (black BDUs are the uniform), electricians who want cargo pockets without the brand markup, security and corrections officers off-duty, hunters and outdoorsmen on weekends, and value-conscious contractors who treat their work pants like consumables and don't want to spend Carhartt money on them.
Fleet pricing on Rothco volume gets meaningful fast — the per-unit cost is already low and the bulk tiers compound. If you're outfitting an event-production company in twenty pairs of black BDUs, we have the price.
Walk in. 519 Port Richmond Ave. The BDU pant is the one we hand to first-time Rothco buyers. Try it once and you'll get the appeal.