I'm not a ninja, I'm not an ATF agent, I'm not Johnny Cash, I'm not into Goth, and I don't have to worry about my knife matching my SWAT Team uniform. What in the wilderness does black blend in with, other than a charred forest after a fire? Outside of movement, the quickest and easiest way to spot OpFor on FTX's, and others from my own team as well, was to look for those black boots, because those always stood out the most out of all our kit, no matter where we were. Now the color of one's knife isn't anywhere near as important as the camo pattern of his uniform, but my point is, if it's going to have a color, it makes a lot more sense to go with a neutral brown than black. All that aside, the tan coating is much tougher than the black crinkle coat.