The use of camouflage – or “disruptive pattern material” (“DPM”) – in fashion has been much misunderstood. Alongside other designers, I’ve sought to reclaim the symbolic value of camouflage, away from warfare, back to its roots in nature and art. With our media saturated daily with images of war, its perhaps not surprising to see camouflage quietly inflitrate the collective unconscious and re-emerge in the Autumn/Winter 2010 collections of Prada, Rag and Bone and Junya Watanabe. Summer 2011 collections will likely reveal much more, in part due to the noise the Ministry of Defence are making about “their” “new” British pattern released this year.
Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Tresidder, the Chief of Staff for Defence Clothing at the MoD is leading the PR charge for the release of the Multi-Terrain Pattern (“MTP”), the first time the British Armed Force’s core pattern has been changed since 1968, when the current UK pattern, commonly known as DPM, was developed in Farnborough’s Army Personnel Research Establishment by civil servants of an artistic background.
By 2012 the UK’s tri forces (Army, Navy and Air Forces) will be kitted out in their new colours. MTP has a very distinctive colourway, in that it combines earlier efforts to conceal troops in either desert or woodland environments, therefore mixing traditional tones of green and sand in a 7 colour combination, with a brown to light tan gradient and a hint of lime, quite unlike traditional camouflage which uses 4 colours and a more simple rotary printing process.
MTP reveals as much as it intends to conceal. With such efforts being made to create a pattern useful in arid terrain, it supports the conspiracy theorist’s view that it is still early days in the bid to take control of the Middle Eastern region. Our tour of duty in the region started with us joining the U.S. led coalition forces ‘liberation’ of Kuwait from occupying Iraqi forces in January 1991 and continues today in Afghanistan, nearly 20 years later. If suspicions that the underlying motivation is to lay down a gas pipe to serve our energy resources, more invasions are on the horizon, in order to take full control of the region.
The Chief of Staff is an unlikely fashion guru, but he describes the current DPM as “iconic”, proudly admits that Alexander McQueen used the same brushstroke pattern on handbags, and concedes that the UK has historically sold their pattern to Holland and other nations. Several more countries have simply copied the pattern or created their own similar versions. The US Woodland pattern also been used by many countries – even being worn by Osama Bin Laden in several media appearances. Often when a nation’s pattern can be seen in use by a second nation, it reveals a trading history; where patterned clothing is sold as a small part of a much wider arms package. Not long before the Gulf War, the enemy itself, Iraq, had been allowed to purchase the UK’s desert colourway of DPM, which necessitated the emergency creation of a 2 colour version, which will now finally be replaced with MTP.
A recent MOD press release explains that “MTP keeps our sense of being British, which was something the Junior Ranks said was important to them during the development process for the new camouflage. “. Lt. Colonel Tresidder also suggests that this time around there will be a strong effort to protect the design rights from unofficial usage. “We have licensed the pattern from a private U.S. company Crye Associates and are not allowed to sell it on, however with our approval, other nation’s could also take a license from Crye”.
Its unclear as to how Junior Ranks (no relation to Shabba) will react when they discover the Americans will be joining other nation’s and civilians who are already using versions of the 7 colour pattern. The unusual colour make up of MTP involves advanced printing techniques and has far more visual prominence than the subtle British brushstroke shapes that have been incorporated within it.
Crye’s Multicam® technology has already been licensed in similar patterns in the exact same distinctive colourway to others, many of whom have already deployed the new uniform. Crye also unashamedly offer a wide range of products through other non-military licensees, so for all the MOD noise of protection and despite their investment of £250,000 in trials, many mercenaries, fisherman, sport hunters and camouflage enthusiasts are already kitted out in a pattern that can only be distinguished from MTP on very close study. There are even officially licensed Multicam® Vans and a Harley Davidson! Any manufacturer of military or civilian product can buy official licensed Multicam® cloth or transfer paper by simply placing an order online, without any process of licensee approval. If Multicam® dont have what you are after, try MultiSham and other lookalikes already available.
US Armed Forces were considering Multicam® when they updated uniforms in 2004, having developed it in collaboration with Crye, but instead selected their current Universal Camouflage Pattern. However, just 2 months after the British first announced their Multi-Terrain Pattern plans in April 2009, the US revealed their plan to re-introduce the very similar Multicam, joining unlikely early adopters Australia, Montenegro, Russia, Poland and the Special Forces of Jordan, the Netherlands and New Zealand who currently use patterns in the same distinct colourway using similar advanced print technologies, which will make for a fairly uniform uniform, across many countries.
In addition to concerns that the British are paying design license fees to a private US company, and that the desires of the Junior Ranks to stand apart arent being fully considered, the MoD have taken the unusual step to allow the production of the new uniform to be carried out in China. They are using a UK production agency so as not to award the contract directly to the Chinese, but its a wonder that they take such steps in order to reduce costs, when the cost of the MTP shirt and trouser are compared with the costs to fully kit out an armed soldier, complete with bullet proof vest and state of the art weaponry.
The production quantities are substantial, and boosted further by the high staff turnover within the Her Majesty’s Forces, which necessitates 20 – 25,000 new young recruits annually. With each soldier being issued with 3 MTP uniform sets, there would seem real potential in supporting a UK based manufacturer to produce the 120,000 pieces of clothing required annually for new recruits alone; as well as considerations for uniform supply to the 50,000 cadets, 30,000 reserves and 170,000 regulars, whose uniform sets are typically replaced after each 6 month tour of duty.
Written by Hardy Blechman, On GQstyle Magazine, 2010AW