There are a growing number of firearms products out there marketed specifically to women gun owners these days. Sadly many are not worth the material they are made from. Marketers seem to think if it is pink or frilly that's all women care about. One such product is the Lethal Lace Holster.
I recently read a review Annette Evans wrote about the Lethal Lace Holster. Her comments were not positive to say the least. The owner of the company wrote a response addressing some of the concerns Annette had. I felt they may have some valid points so I decided to do my own test.
Construction
The Lethal Lace holster arrived folded in a plastic blister pack with an instruction card. It is a very simple design. The holster is nothing more than a length of stretchy lace with two pockets constructed of more lace on one end. There is an alligator clip on the other end and one at the bottom of the pocket. The end clip is meant to attach to the lace once wrapped to hold the holster in place. The bottom clip is attached to the lace when done wrapping to offer extra support for the firearm.
The company claims the fabric is strong enough that grown men can play tug of war with it. I have not worn the Lethal Lace holster long enough to judge the integrity of the material over time. I assume, like most elasticized materials, that it will eventually stretch to the point of being useless. After removing my gun, I did find lace strings in the trigger guard more than once which is a concern.
Testing Parameters
I am a big supporter of women shooters and women entrepreneurs. For that reason I wanted to give this product every opportunity to impress me. I tried wearing it in the appendix and waist high strong side hip positions over four different days.
The guns used in the test were my Glock 48, a Smith & Wesson .380 Shield EZ, and a Ruger SR22. I picked these because they represent a variety of gun sizes that women are more likely to carry. The company's website claims that their product will work with any size gun. They do caution that smaller guns may fall within the pocket and be harder to draw. They also say bigger guns may be harder to conceal. I worked with an unloaded gun because of safety concerns.
I tried to do normal daily activities while wearing the Lethal Lace holster. This includes driving, sitting at my desk, jogging, bending, and relaxing on the couch. I briefly tried using the holster in the thigh position but it slid below my knee within minutes so I abandoned that idea.
Putting It On
Putting the Lethal Lace holster on is ridiculously hard. It did get a little easier with repeated practice, but overall it was a pain in the rear. The instructions say to hold your gun in place until you have it firmly covered by the first wrap. Then you continue to wrap the lace around you, completely covering your gun.
The unwrapped lace kept getting tangled in my feet. Most times the wrap ended in a position that had me trying to attach the end alligator clip behind my back. When wrapping my Glock 48, I had to get 2-3 layers over it to keep it from slipping out of place. Twice I dropped my gun while trying to get the wrap started.
Wearing It
Within seconds of attaching the alligator clips, the Lethal Lace material rolled up in the back. I am a girl with curves and no matter what position I started in, the fabric became scrunched up. It pinched and was extremely uncomfortable to wear for any extended amount of time.
When I tried jogging on the treadmill the lace slipped off the gun enough the back edge of the trigger guard was exposed. When sitting at my desk the fabric rode up, forcing the grip into my ribs. In their response, Lethal Lace talks about belly bands being too hot for Louisiana temperatures. The average temperatures in Kansas are similar and I got sweaty in the Lethal Lace holster after just a couple of hours. It was also difficult to breath with the lace wrapped as tight as it needed to be to hold the gun in place and provide concealment.
Drawing and Reholstering
The idea of carrying a gun on your person is to have immediate access if you need it in an emergency. The way this holster works adds several precious seconds to your draw time that could be costly. Not only do you have to clear your cover garment, you also have to pull the lace down off of the grip so you can draw your gun. No matter how much I practiced, I was never able to get a full grip on my firearm like I can with a kydex holster. The material pulled up with the gun, putting it close to a high pectoral index before falling away. During one draw the holster even turned inside out and the padding fell out onto the ground.
When it comes to reholstering your gun there is just one thing to know; you can't. Once your weapon has been drawn you have to completely remove the Lethal Lace holster and rewrap it. This leaves me with a few questions. If you have to draw in public, where do you put your gun once the threat is eliminated? If you carry to the range, once you're done training how do you reholster? Do you just hike your shirt up right there and start wrapping? You certainly can't carry your unholstered weapon to somewhere more private.
Retention and Concealment
When it came to retention and concealment I had mixed results. Smaller guns were easier to conceal and contain. No matter what I tried or wore, I could still see the imprint of my Glock 48. This is a problem I do not have when I carry AIWB with my kydex holster. In most outfits you could also see the bulk of the material under my clothing giving me a lumpy appearance. No body likes to look lumpy.
Overall the retention was good if the material was wrapped tight enough. However, having the material wrapped that tightly was uncomfortable to wear for any extended period of time. My heavier Glock 48 also slipped as time went on, exacerbating the material rolling problem. While they advertise that the Lethal Lace holster works for any size gun, it definitely handles smaller guns better.
Trigger Protection
In her review, Annette notes how easy it is to reach the trigger while using this holster. Lethal Lace claimed that Annette had wrapped the material too loosely and that was why she could reach the trigger through the fabric. I wrapped and rewrapped the holster multiple times. Even when it was wrapped tight enough to restrict my breathing I could easily reach my trigger through the material. The company's answer to that is to use a sticky holster for extra coverage. I tried that as well and the extra bulk of the sticky holster inside the lace made concealment nearly impossible.
Conclusion on the Lethal Lace Holster
I really wanted to like this holster and to be able to support this female owned business. I tried multiple times to make it work. Despite my best efforts, I just cannot recommended this holster to anyone. It is uncomfortable to wear and the chance of dropping your firearm during the wrapping or unwrapping process is high. The material is also bulky and easily visible under many types of clothing, especially if you have curves.
Even ignoring the comfort and concealment issues, the safety concerns are too many. The fact that the trigger is easily pressed without the addition of a sticky holster is extremely concerning. Finding strings in the trigger guard also causes me some concern. Add to that the inability to safely reholster your weapon and it's easy to see why the Lethal Lace holster is a bad idea.
If you want to carry on your person I recommend you do your research and find a quality belt and IWB holster combination. There are many great reviews of both here on Primer Peak. When you find the right combination, safe and comfortable concealment is easy to achieve.
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