Commercial Camouflage Patterns

5.11 Tactical

• A series of three digital camouflage designs were created by the US-based 5.11, Inc. with the primary target audience being law enforcement and military personnel. Categorized as Woodland Digital, Desert Digital, and Urban Digital patterns, they have seen some usage by US Federal Agencies, and may have also seen limited use with (primarily ex-military) contractors serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seen below is the Woodland variant.

Adder/Adro (South Africa)

South African companies produced a large number of varied camouflage patterns during the apartheid era, in part to provide some legitimate hunting designs for commercial purposes in an era when it was illegal to own or even wear camouflage uniforms in public that had been adopted by any military or paramilitary organization. Seen below are two such patterns produced by the South African firm Adro (or Adder):

• A commercial copy of the Rhoesian Brushstroke camouflage design was developed in South Africa and originally produced by the Adder/Adro company. Although the design resembles the Rhodesian pattern, it was not copied directly from the original screns and varies considerably in the size and shapes of the brush strokes, as well as the overall coloration. The original screens from this pattern were later sold or licensed outside of South Africa, where they were utilized by companies in both the USA and Asia to produce additional fabrics in poly-cotton twill and ripstop fabrics.

• Another pattern produced by Adder/Adro specifically for civilian distribution (although often attributed to "special forces" or "special police urban operations") is this two-color pattern derived from British DPM designs. Consisting of black disruptive shapes on a grey background, this pattern seems to have been produced exclusively in South Africa and does not appear to have been exported like the Rhodesian version.

ASAT

Developed in 1986 by hunting buddies Jim Barnhart and Stan Starr Jr., the All-Season All-Terrain (ASAT) pattern is still in production today. The design is relatively simple, consisting of vertical, wavy stripes in black and medium brown on a light sand colored background.

A-TACS

A-TACS® was developed by Digtal Concealment Systems (DCS) and has been designed as a universal pattern for a wide range of operational environments. Adopting a design philosophy at variance with typical modern digital or pixelated patterns, A-TACS replaces traditional square pixels with more organically-shaped pixels, utilizing a patented process. The original AU (Arid Urban) design has been tested by some US special operations personnel, and is also being fielded by special forces units of Afghanistan. A second variation called A-TACS FG (Forest Green) is designed for employment in heavier vegetated environments, but does not appear to have (as yet) been adopted by military personnel to any great degree. A-TACS LE (Law Enforcement) was released in 2013 primarily for use special operations or tactical response teams. The LE design was discontinued in 2018.

The iX (Intermediate Extreme) camouflage design was released in 2016 as the flagship pattern in a new “X series” line of camouflage designs from DCS, intended to be a complete multi-environmental concealment solution. This pattern incorporates enhanced edge detail in the transitional areas between light and shadow within the pattern to create the added illusion of depth while maintaining the unique A-TACS Camo “pattern within a pattern” concept. The design is best suited for transitional environments with a blended mix of intermediate greens and desert tans. A variation known as LE-X has also been developed primarily for use by law enforcement SRT units conducting low-light operations.

Backland

Canadian company BackLand produces a series of three camouflage designs using GlobalTech 44™ technology. Backland claims their designs scientifically blend natural colorations and defused backgrounds with leaves, bark and other forest elements. The pattern then is meticulously hand digitized to form incredible depth with realistic colors, forms and shadows, resulting in a camouflage design that changes color and form to adapt with each surrounding. The Adrenaline pattern is designed to perform in deciduous timbered environment, Waterfowler in swampy regions, and West in grasslands.

Brookwood

Brookwook Companies Incoporated, an integrated textile and product company, has submitted three camouflage designs for consideration in the US Army Camouflage Improvement Effort Field Trials of 2012. The patterns are designed to perform in desert, temperate and transitional environments.

Camogrom

The Polish company Helikon-Tex™ produces this variation of the Suez pattern worn by Polish Special Operations Forces, itself a variation of Multicam. Camogrom is a close copy of the Suez design, with the addition of a crude lettered logo dispersed throughout the pattern. Along with various other copy designs produced by this company (including MARPAT, UCP, Greek lizard, and Polish woodland and desert patterns), Camogrom is quite popular with Airsoft enthusiasts, but does not appear to have been adopted by any military or government agency.

Fishoflauge

Designed using cutting-edge underwater photography, digital rendering, and the latest in high definition imaging to achieve unsurpassed realism, the Fishoflauge series of camouflage designs are produced with the needs of fishermen in mind.

King's

King's offers a series of five camouflage patterns that blend realistic colors with high definition designs: Desert Shadow, Field Shadow, Mountain Shadow, Snow Shadow, and Woodland Shadow.

Kryptek

Kryptek™ L.E.A.F. camouflage features a bi-level layering design that incorporates background transitional shading and sharp random geometrical foregrounds to create a three dimensional effect that ensures concealment at both close and long ranges. Several variations of the pattern exist, all of which are based on mimicry of foliage, animal, marine and geographic visual qualities. Three of its designs were submitted as part of the US Army Camouflage Improvement Effort Field Trials of 2012, meeting the US DOD's requirement for patterns capable of performing in desert (Nomad), temperate (Mandrake) and transitional (Highlander) environments.

Mirage

Originally released in 2007, Mirage is a complex pixelated design produced by Bulldog Tactical Equipment and submitted for consideration by the US Army and the Polish Army, as well as marketed to special operations units around the world. The pattern was not adopted by the US Army and any use it may have seen with special operations units is limited. In its present incarnation, a limited selection of uniforms and equipment are available on the commercial market.

PenCott

PenCott™ Multi-Environment Camouflage was developed by UK-based Hyde Definition (founded by Dominic Hyde in 2008) and has been available commercially since 2009. PenCott is a 360 degree pixelated pattern that makes use of and has eight colorways. The PenCott family of designs offers a range of camouflage patterns for various terrain types, including desert and semi-desert, grasslands and jungle, mountains and highlands, urban, and snow and subdued (low-light). The design prides itself on being omni-directional and achieves excellent camouflage results using just four colours, making it more cost effective than other types of "multi-terrain" camouflage on the market today. The eight designs available are as follows: HD1 GreenZone, intended for use in verdant temperate, tropical, and semitropical terrain; HD2 BadLands, intended for use in dry, upland, bushland, semi-arid, and transitional terrain; HD3 SandStorm, intended for use in arid, scrubland, barren, and desert terrain; HD4 SnowDrift, intended for use in snow-covered terrain; HD5 MetroPolis, intended for use in industrial, subterranean, and temperate rocky/above-the-treeline environments; HD6 WildWood, intended for use in drier / semi-verdant mixed woodland and bush environments; HD7 LeatherNeck, intended for use in North American mixed woodland and brush environments (utilizing the same color palette as USMC MARPAT); and HD8 DevilDog, intended for use in North American high plains, semi-arid, and scrub brush environments.

HD1 GreenZone

HD2 Badlands

HD3 Sandstorm

HD4 SnowDrift

HD7 Leatherneck

P1G-TAC (Ukraine)

This Ukrainian company produces uniforms and field equipment in a number of camouflage patterns, including some such as Zaba and Varan that are in use with Ukrainian military units. Another camouflage design, called TP 38 Partizan, is seen here. As yet this has not been documented in use with military or paramilitary forces.

Royal Military Surplus patterns

Popular in Italy but marketed around the world, the uniforms produced by the Royal Military Surplus Company in China are based on the official Italian Armed Forces vegetata uniforms, with some modifications. Several pattern variants are known, including one marketed as Royal MARPAT, which only loosely resembles the USMC original. Among the known patterns reproduced by this company are CADPAT TW, CADPAT AR, UCP (Universal Camouflage Pattern), ATACS-AU, ATACS-FG, six-color DBDU ("chocolate chip"), US three-color desert, US Woodland, British DPM, German Flecktarn, Multicam, commercial Tiger Stripe, Italian Vegetato, several "urban" patterns, and a copy of the Kryptek "Mandrake" pattern. Since these uniforms are not marketed as military issue they are featured here in the Commercial section, but it should be noted that reproduction of many of these designs is a violation of international copyright law and illegal.

Tiger Stripe Products

In business since the 1980s, this company originally started out by faithfully reproducing one of the original South Vietnamese tiger stripe designs worn by both ARVN and US personnel during the Vietnam War. The company has since introduced other patterns based on the original design but utilizing a different color palette or alternative design features. These include the Desert Tiger pattern and All Terrain Tiger patterns.

Voodoo Tactical Camo

Designed and marketed by Voodoo Tactical Camouflage (VTC), the "Badlands" camouflage pattern is a multi-terrain design and can be used in many environments.