The classic British Army Disruptive Pattern Material (DPM), the go-to" camo for "Fudds" and "Tacticool" operators alike - and still in use all over the world after over half a century of operational use. Woodland DPM, particularly of the CS95 variation, remains one of the most successful camouflage patterns of all time.
First designed in the 1960s with heavy influence from the earlier Second World War era Denison smock pattern, it was initially designed to be a new "combat smock", to fulfil the same role as the older paratrooper smocks. The distinctively European 4-color scheme of black, dark grown, green and dark khaki made it extremely effective, and became the benchmark for DPM style patterns over five decades of official service with the British military. Shortly after the first combat smocks were deployed, the British quickly fielded a smock and trouser system in the pattern by 1966, followed a large number of variants for arctic, temperate and tropical environments from 1968 through until 1994. These patterns of DPM had slight variations to account for environmental changes, particularly with distinctive "lime greens" within jungle DPM variants. In 1991, these woodland variants were all supplemented by the "No. 5 Desert Combat Dress", a "desert" variant of the DPM pattern, which was rapidly issued for the First Gulf War. Beginning in 1992, a large effort was undertaken to completely standardize individual kit for the British serviceman under a new "Combat Soldier 95" (CS95) system. The CS95 clothing system included efforts to standardize camouflage into a uniform DPM pattern across all elements of dress, with troop trials taking place over the course of three years.
In 1995, a temperate CS95 DPM was formally adopted as the "No. 8 Temperate Combat Dress", and served as a basis of a standardized camouflage uniform for all-arms across the British military. This pattern would eventually see use in British service until 2011 when it was replaced by Multi-Terrain Pattern, though it would continue to see additional use across Africa, Asia, Oceania, and even some cloned usage in Eastern Europe. It is this exceptionally effective pattern that we've been able to "clone" ourselves, and breathe some new life into!
