A fashion makeover for male commandos of Delhi Police’s SWAT team

Delhi Police’s SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) unit is getting a fashionable makeover. The unit’s 250 male commandos will don a new uniform created by designer Ashish N Soni on Republic Day next year. Officials tell us that the uniform, which will be in blue, has been created keeping in mind the needs of a commando on the field.
Ashish N Soni had several meetings with senior police officials
Ashish has been working on the designs for the last three months and says that it is an extension of what he designed for the SWAT team’s women commandos in August.“The idea was to present gender equality, so the design had to be more or less the same. Sanjeev Yadav, DCP Special Cell, asked me if I could also design uniforms for the male commandos, and I said I would be more than happy to. There are just minor differences in the uniforms for the men and women commandos, and they have been designed keeping functionality in mind. We were informed about the paraphernalia that male commandos usually need to carry. The colour remains the same, blue. We had our homework and research ready as we had already designed for the women. The material for the uniform is poly viscose, which is easy to wear and comfortable,” Ashish tells us.
Sanjeev Yadav says, “After getting feedback on the uniform of the women’s SWAT team, we decided to get the same blue uniform designed for the male commandos too.” He adds, “It was Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik’s idea to rope in a fashion designer for the SWAT team. Ashish presented several designs to us, and then the Police Commissioner gave his inputs and those elements were added. It took several meetings and a lot of brainstorming after which two final designs were presented. From the final two, the blue design was selected.”

Comfort and style for police commandos
The blue uniform is more durable because the material is poly viscose, which is different from traditional polyester. “It won’t get worn out easily,” says Madhur Verma, DCP, New Delhi. He adds, “Sometimes, the SWAT units have to be on the field for hours. Hence two factors were important to consider – comfort and style. Besides, they have to carry weapons and magazine with them, and pockets are designed accordingly.” SWAT commandos are equipped with AK-47 rifles, MP5 machine guns, Glock 17 or 26 pistols and corner shot devices for enhanced night vision. The new uniform of the male SWAT unit is expected to be ready in January in time for Republic Day.


Sketches of the new design
— With inputs from Divya.Kaushik@timesgroup.com