DPM: Forty Years of British Brushstrokes

Ask anyone who served in the British Army before the last decade what camouflage looked like, and they will not describe pixels. They will describe brushstrokes. Wide, lazy smears of black and brown and green dragged across a sand coloured background, like somebody painted a hedgerow with a broom. That pattern was called DPM, Disruptive Pattern Material, and for roughly forty years it was the uniform of choice for the British Army and for Commonwealth forces who followed their lead. If a soldier of that era closes his eyes and remembers stores, he smells damp cotton and sees those four colours stacked in a pile.

Four colours, one very long career

DPM entered British service in the late 1960s and stayed the standard pattern until it was replaced by MTP in 2010 and 2011. That is an astonishing run for any piece of military kit. Governments changed, rifles changed, boots changed, the world map changed twice over, and the brushstrokes stayed. The classic woodland version used black, brown and green printed over a sand base, four colours in total, which sounds simple until you stand thirty metres away from someone wearing it in a European treeline and realise you have lost them. The pattern did not try to imitate leaves. It tried to break up the shape of a human being, which is a very different and much cleverer job.

Not just for green places

Because armies rarely get to choose their scenery, a desert DPM variant also existed, using the same disruptive logic in a lighter, drier palette. Same idea, different wardrobe. Meanwhile the woodland version travelled wherever British and Commonwealth troops travelled, becoming so recognisable that it was quietly copied, admired and imitated around the world. By the time MTP took over, DPM had become less a camouflage pattern and more a national accent. It is the visual equivalent of tea served too strong.

How to wear a piece of this history

The nice thing about DPM is that it never needed a museum. It works in a forest today exactly as well as it worked decades ago, and British field clothing was built to be worn hard, ironed rarely and repaired often.

• BRITISH FIELD TROUSERS - LIGHTWEIGHT - DPM CAMO - LIKE NEW, the lightweight field trouser in classic DPM, in like new condition. A good starting point if you want the pattern without the patina.
• COMBAT JACKET - DPM CAMO - BRITISH ARMY - MILITARY SURPLUS (USED), a used British Army combat jacket in DPM. Used means it has already done a working life outdoors. Every fade mark and softened cuff is a service record you did not have to write yourself.
• GB COMBAT JACKET - LIGHTWEIGHT - DPM CAMO - MILITARY SURPLUS - USED, the lightweight version of the combat jacket, also used, for warmer days when you still want the brushstrokes but not the weight.

Pair the trousers with either jacket and you have a full DPM outfit that would have looked entirely unremarkable on a British parade square, and looks entirely excellent on a mountain trail. Wear it for hiking, bushcraft, airsoft, fishing, or simply for the pleasure of owning clothing designed by people whose only goal was to make you harder to see.

Have a look at the DPM pieces in the shop. Forty years of service is a decent reference, and this kit is not finished working yet.

Products in this article

• BRITISH FIELD TROUSERS - LIGHTWEIGHT - DPM CAMO - LIKE NEW
• COMBAT JACKET - DPM CAMO - BRITISH ARMY - MILITARY SURPLUS (USED)
• GB COMBAT JACKET - LIGHTWEIGHT - DPM CAMO - MILITARY SURPLUS - USED