Multicam is a family

Multicam is no longer alone. The secret has been revealed a few days ago, and Multicam is now part of a family. You can find the new homepage HERE. In addition to the classic Multicam, there are now variations such as Arid, Tropic, and Alpine. And a special version is Multicam Black. This is surprising because Multicam originally aimed to be a sort of all-round camouflage. And it is - especially when compared to the somewhat pointless "universal camouflage pattern" UCP. It first displaced UCP in Afghanistan, and most recently, the Army's decision to completely switch to Multicam has been announced.

The establishment of the family is related to the now suspended U.S. Army Camo Improvement Effort, which was supposed to replace UCP. Since camouflage is only as good as the background you're standing in front of, achieving a "universal" camouflage pattern with conventional means is nearly impossible. Multicam shines with its averageness in this regard. It performs very well in arid regions, so-so in all others. But at least it works, unlike UCP, which didn't work almost anywhere. During the U.S. Army Camo Improvement Effort, all candidates presented various regionalized camouflage patterns. Kryptek, for example, was represented with its family of patterns (HERE is the interview with Kryptek CEO Butch Whiting). Not represented, but also organized into a family of patterns, is the excellent PenCott (HERE is the interview with the PenCott team).

Amusingly, this development means that in addition to the "universal" Multicam, there is now one for the desert, one for the forest, and one for snow. And then there's the "tactical" Black. Whether this fragmentation is beneficial for Multicam remains to be seen. It is certainly a response not only to the Improvement Effort but also to the pressure from competitors offering locally adapted patterns. And supposedly, there's no arguing over taste: the grey-white Winter Multicam is nothing special. With the Desert and Forest Multicam, we amusingly return to DCU and Woodland, where perhaps we could have stayed 15 years ago if the US wanted to save a lot of money. (And for those interested in a kind of Multicam for the forest, you can also check out the very good SLOCAM from the Slovenian Army.)

Multicam Black targets the Law Enforcement market and is already presentable in a first set. Whether it looks particularly modern and good is up to each individual to decide. In our opinion, it falls far behind Kryptek Typhoon, which is certainly a serious contender.

The "Woodland" Multicam is certainly a benefit for users in Europe, where Multicam Classic only camouflages well in late summer. Overall, the move from "1 to 5" is an exciting development. We will see how the new Multicams will fare against other camouflage families - with Kryptek and PenCott being the main competitors. But what's even more intriguing: this development shows how quickly you can adapt an existing pattern to specific conditions and achieve better results than with a "universal" pattern - of course, only if the background is right.

HERE is the link to the Multicam Family