General Description

For years, Clandestine Operatives have had the luxury of custom garment bags with nooks and crannies for all sorts of stuff you'd rather keep hidden. Those bags, built of nearly indestructible fabrics, have traveled the globe enduring years of abuse. BlackHawk® has secured this design and constructed an innovative and enhanced version that is the most sophisticated executive travel garment bag on the planet. Built of 1000 denier NyTaneon®, it contains cargo holds of space with internal dividers. Features: BlackHawk's Lifetime Guarantee. Heavy-duty #9 YKK® zippers with silent zipper pulls. Hangers secured with adjustable slide lock. Super heavy-duty top & carry cross bars. Protective removable shoe pouch. Two outside pockets provided for separating clean and soiled clothing. Includes carry handles (top & folded middle) made with our fighter grip handle. Includes fully adjustable shoulder strap and HawkTex™ non-slip pad. Dual side release securing straps when folded. Zip up and side release attachments for internal clothing cover. Weight: 7 lbs. 4.8 oz.

The CIA BlackHawk CIA Garment bag is the largest soft sided garment bag we've seen to date. The construction build quality and ruggedness are what one would expect from Blackhawk- Top Class.
The compartmentalization , load balancing and sheer volume surpasses anything else on the market in its class. Be careful not to overdo it though. Fully loaded this bag weighed in at 34Lbs. That's a manageable weight for a shoulder carry bag- depending on the user's height, build and strength.
My guess is that you could mix and match apparel categories a lot depending on the assignment or end use.
Special Items of Note:
-The center bar is velcro adjustable and makes for excellent security of the hanging suits once they're folded down. This is important as all too often inferior garment bags will not properly secure the contents.
- There are two hanger bars, allowing for staggered loading - preventing bunching and bulging.
- The hanger bars are supplemented with nylon cords .
- All zippers have cord pulls for durability and snag free transport on conveyor belts
- Two massive handles- one top and another on the bottom of the closed bag, allow for easier handling as well as two man handling.
- four lateral compression straps cinch the load tight to minimize bulk and enhance maneuverability.
- Reinforcement at high load and stress regions enstil great confidence in the bag's ability to handle rough handling and great weight.
- Use of steel hardware throughout ensures that a snap or D-ring will never break from stress.
- The heavy Duty padded shoulder strap is effective is cushioning the load. Aggressive rubberization ensures that non-slip contact occurs between the shoulder pad and the user's shoulder. A transparent and velcro closure label mitigate tag loss and therefore, mitigate a lack of owner identification.
- Both inner as well as outer compartments are intelligently divided in such a manner as to accommodate a variety of content organization as well as to make room for large objects, such as shoes or equipment.

Garment Bag Contents as tested
Journey: 4 Day Business Trip to Raleigh, NC
Luggage: BlackHawk CIA Garment Bag + Blackhawk Training Bag.
Contents: BlackHawk CIA Garment Bag:
- 3 Suits + outer shell
- 3 pairs of dress trousers
- 6 pairs of socks (4Dress + 2 Gym)
- 4 Dress shirts + 1 long sleeve dressy polo
- 911Tactical TDU Shirt
- 911 Tactical TDU Pants
- 4 Belts (2 Dress 2Duty)
- 2 Pairs of shoes (Dress/Casual)
- 1 large Toiletries Bag
- 4 Prs superlight undershorts + T-shirts
- 4 Dress Ties, cufflinks etc.
- Manila folder with papers in inside pouch

Target Market
-Traveler /Enough storage space for 3 suits
-journeyman/Professional/Up to 72 hrs of emergency provisions for one person or up to 48 hours for 2 people plus up to 1 week of survival gear

Form Factor & Build -
Size- Large. Large enough to carry business apparel and some tactical & casual wear plus sundry accessories
Geometry- Bi-fold
Material- Heavy duty Cordura nylon fabric and construction.YKK zippers throughout
Numerous velcro and fastex closures

Ergonomics- The garment bag carries over the shoulder or may be hand carried by one of two handles at either end of the closed luggage. It maximises efficiency by omitting extraneous handware that would allow it to be rolled or even attached to other luggage. As such it depends entirely on the end user's strength for carry support. Two massive rubber hand grips are ergonomically formed so as to facilitate this task. A wide and padded shoulder strap are a satisfactory alternative mode of carry as well.

Affordances- Compartments- One large main compartment hosts hanging apparel such as suits. A zippered secret inner compartment may contain assorted stashable gear.The outside of the bag breaks out into three zippered compartments for progressively smaller volumes. This allows for a graduated subdivision of one's valuables into logical spaces.
Carry straps- A 2" wide adjustable Nylon webbing strap terminates at two swiveling metal clip-hooks that attach to the case via two steel 'D' rings. Two overmolded hand grips allow for easy and sure manipulation of the garment bag in suitcase style carry.

Human Factors & Usability -TheBlackhawk CIA garment bag conforms to most heuristics guiding good user-centered design in the industrial engineering of a carry case.In other words, the need for effective, efficient and easy to learn functionality are fully accommodated through sound consideration of the cognitive, reflexive and contextual aspects of this product's use. From the point of view of matching the engineering and fabrication to the user's expectations and the anticipated contexts, the CIA garment bag meets most of the necessary requirements. The logical layout of the bi-folding garment bag concept is time-honored and familair to anyone that's owned such a piece of luggage.
It's loaded while flat on a horizontal surface or it may be loaded while hanging from a closet rod or door (via the included hook)

Styling and Aesthetics
The CIA Garment Bag's exterior appearance is all business and no nonsense- as is fitting of luggage of its pedigree and purpose. As such the mission specific nature of its classic design has become iconic of the stereotypical garment bag. The aesthetics thus mirror the functionality and that combination has endured for the better part of a half Century. The Blackhawk Garment Bag lacks superfluity or any form of decoration or triviality of trim. It gains much of it's rugged styling from extra reinforcements in the form of structural piping and stitching.

Environmental Stress- We evaluated the CIA Garment Bag under normal travel circumstances. The toughness of the fabric was well suited to aggressive brushes with rough but not sharp cutting metal surfaces such as those that might be encountered in typical circumstances of air travel. The soft-sided nature of the bag allows it to absorb shock well. In addition, the fabric is fully waterproof as evidenced by a deliberate showering for 10 minutes. This caused no water to enter the seams or seals.

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Price as evaluated (less accessories) 20GB00BK - Price: $259.99
Sales Source:http://www.blackhawk.com
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Specifications: BlackHawk- CIA Garment Bag

• 4" x 25" x 5"
• Shoe pouch: 22 x 11"
• Flap pouches: 19" x 3" and 19" x 10"
• Outer Pockets: 21" x 15" x 2.5" / 16" x 13" x 2.5" / 16" x 8" x 2.5"
• Two Flap Pouches: (19" x 3") and (19" x 10")
• Main Compartment: 25" x 43" x 5"

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Items of Note:
Excellent Customer Relationship Management |Superb design and construction quality|Fair protection from shock and impact | Logically arranged compartments and sub-compartments | Customizable content arrangement | Premium materials and hardware | Not impervious to water| Ideal for medium to large volume loads |Pack it, position it and grab it.