Paintball Equipment - Clothing

Clothing

Paintball clothing needs to be tough and durable. For woodsball, camouflage clothing is effective for blending in with the environment; players may wear army surplus military fatigues, Battle Dress Uniform (BDU), Army Combat Uniform (ACU) or DPM styles. For speedball, however, the small field and artificial obstacles make camouflage ineffective; players therefore will often choose to wear a brightly coloured team uniform for ease of identification. For scenario games, players will tend to dress themselves in a style appropriate to the character or force they are representing. In order to minimize the sting of close-range hits, players often wear extra layers of clothing padding as well.

Clothing worn for tournament paintballing is constrained by tournament rules, which prohibit thick padded materials likely to adversely affect the chance of paintballs breaking on the target. Players need adequate padding to protect the elbows and knees for slides on hard ground and chest protecters for shots to the chest. If not protected, the player(s) could get seriously injured if these parts are not protected.

Footwear varies enormously between Speedball and Woodsball/scenario games. In woodsball, the rough terrain and uneven, often muddy ground makes footwear with good grip and plenty of ankle support a necessity. This lends itself to boots, either military style or walking/hiking boots. In speedball, however, the added weight of thick boots is a distinct disadvantage, as is the reduction in mobility. Speedball players therefore tend to wear athletic shoes with soft cleats designed for field sports, such as soccer or football.