Canadian Camo combat pants in the 1960's?
 

Hi All,
Have been going through my collection tonight and came across a pair of Canadian issue combat pants dated 1963 which I believe was the first year they came out with the combats replacing the bush dress of the 1950's. I was given these pair of pants probably 15 years ago and at first thought somebody washed them and bleach somehow got on them and turned the material a funny color but as I looked at them closely, the material was purposely died this way and then sewn together. Were there to anybody's knowledge Camoflage combats produced? I have only ever seen this one pair and am curious about them. Anybody have information on the Canadian Combat uniform from the 1960's? Would love to know more about them. Thanks for any information you can give me.
Regards,Derk

I would suggest you go back to the bleach theory for two reasons. First, the tag does not differentiate from a normal pair of combat pants and calls them GS.

Second, the camoglauge pattern runs right through things like the pocket and accross the crotch. Nobody matches camoflauge that way when making uniforms.

I note there is no NSN on the tag. I believe the NSNs just came into being (adopted from the US federal stock number system) in that year.

Camouflage combat pants
 

"Never attribute to conspiracy what incompetence can explain," to paraphrase a Cold War era Russian spy handler.

The colour changes look too closely matched for me to believe the fabric was sewn that way on purpose. Having observed a number of different nations' camouflage uniforms, there is never any attempt to match edges or carry over patterns. In fact, doing so would make the purpose of the clever design less effective. I agree that bleach in the wash caused this accidentally effective pattern.

To answer your higher level question about Canadian camouflage uniforms, no. The WW2 Denison smocks were the height of fashion amongst senior officers who wanted to look like parachutists or snipers. The Canadian Airborne Regiment smocks appeared in the 1970s, but were only one garment. The rest of the soldier's uniform was conventional olive green. Sometime in the 80's there was an attempt to trial the same colour scheme in shirts and pants. I believe when the trials were cancelled, a few pairs were never returned (see my comment about high Look Cool Factor - LCF) and whatever was leftover was sold to Tanzania! The Garrison Dress smocks were next and shortlived. CADPAT has been the current fabric since just before Afghanistan. The no-nametag folks in Special Forces wear a variety of Crye-brand MULTICAM pattern uniforms to sustain their LCF.

Terry, I used to own a pair of the camo airborne regt pants. Wore them until they wore out. I guess in hindsight a stupid move as they would have been a great collectable today. The best part was that they were human sized. Size 6 large regular....

Camouflage Misconceptions
 

Just to clear up a few misconceptions, the camouflage uniform being discussed was a Canadian trials British DPM style pattern that had been initiated in the early 1970s. The trials seem to have progressed to the point where this uniform would have replaced the OG 107 (green) coloured Combat Uniform that had been issued since the early 1960s; but for whatever reason, I suspect perhaps due to finances, this never happened. Tanzania was the recipient of the clothing although a number of pieces could be found languishing in surplus stores well into the 1980s.

These are the trousers.

Attachment 88507

The Parachute Smock, Disruptive Pattern was developed for the Airborne and their associated units and issued in the late 1970s as a replacement for the OG 107 Nylon Parachute Smock that had been in use since the mid-1950s. The British DPM style camouflage used a pattern similar to the trials clothing and this smock was used until the advent of CADPAT in the late 1990s early 2000s.

Attachment 88508

As I stated in the first paragraph, the trials camouflage clothing could be readily found in surplus stores in the late 1970s but it was not an issue item, therefore the trousers should not be considered an 'Airborne' item.

Thanks for everybody's input. I only wondered about accidental bleaching or purposely camoflouged as the inside labels and green material were not affected which made me think the outside material was dyed that way and then sewn together. I would have thought bleach would have discolored the inside green material and washed out the labels as well? At least I don't have to look for a matching jacket now!
Regards,Derk

Bleaching
 

It looks like the nylon areas were unaffected.

Camo pants
 

It looks more like oil stains than bleach to me.

Eric

Derk

Peerless Garments is still making uniforms for the CAF. Perhaps send them an inquiry?

I remembered hearing that if the guys washed their combats at home with a certain detergent or too much detergent that it would turn the material a ''Pinkish'' color so I am thinking that is what happened here. Especially where the nylon material was not affected but the cloth material was. And here I thought I had a very rare set of Canadian ''Camouflaged'' combat pants!
Regards,Derk