Dyed UCP Lvl 5 & 6 Camouflage Effectiveness

[@christopherlarsen7788]

Impressive. You've turned the UCP Gore-Tex uniform into a usable fall-winter brown camouflage. I like it. The trend of turning UCP into a green camouflage has been established. It is surprisingly effective. But for the Gore-Tex parka and pant, green would not be appropriate for most environments in the winter. Brown is a better choice.

[@jamesbridges7750]

Another piece of goretex that is a steal right now is the ABU pattern APECS set. 3 layer goodness. It's obviously less packable than the ECWCS LV6 but it's also a much better fit and quieter. If you 100% know it's going to be Arkansas /Missouri winter wet ,I'd take the APECS every time.

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

Absolutely, picked up a full set for just $50!

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

Tried dying the APECs, they use a different seam tape that doesn't handle the dye bath well at all. It separated after one bath. The Army ECWCS uses gore-seam branded seam tape whereas the APECs doesn't. Assuming this is the problem as I dyed both tops simultaneously.

[@coolbean9880]

im gonna be honest, i think it blended better un-dyed, and to claim this is so much better is purely out of hatred for ucp than it is actual reason i dont think its a problem with the idea in general, ive seen some ucp dyed with instant coffee that had it's lighter tones match a coyote brown tone incredibly well, which i think would work much better here as it's a lot brighter resulting in less of a silhouetting effect (especially in the shade)

[@tastycheddar7958]

A few questions: 1. Did dyeing noticeably affect the Goretex breathability? Goretex themselves specifically advise against dyeing for this reason. 2. Did you have to strip the waterproof layer to dye the Goretex and if so did you re-waterproof it? 3. Did dyeing the Level 5 top/bottom damage them at all due to the necessary boiling and the small percentage of stretch fabric in the material?

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

I'm treating the garments with NikWax Tech Wash & TX. Direct Wash IN to revive, repellency and bring back to life the breathability which should be done periodically any how to goretex. I plan on running both the Goretex & soft shell I dyed at Winter Forge next weekend to test those very things. The Level 5 seems just as well as it was prior. I'll report back if there are any major issues with frost or moisture forming under the goretex! Good questions. I will say, I never get the dye bath as hot as what RIT calls for, never really approach broiling.

[@tastycheddar7958]

@@sstrainingsolutions3832 I appreciate your answers as I have all of this gear and would welcome being able to improve it. I'll be interested to see these answers as well as how the dye holds up long term since even at the best of times Rit seems to require re-dyeing. I hope if testing goes well you'll make a detailed instruction on your dyeing process.

[@tastycheddar7958]

@@sstrainingsolutions3832 Any word on how the materials held up?

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

@@tastycheddar7958 both held up great! Very impressed and encouraged by this solution to affordable gear.

[@Misyu44]

3. Dyeing has no effect on performance of L5 softshell fabric. It takes dye well. Excellent for this. Havent dyed gore-tex, but i dyed usgi "improved rainsuit parka" by orc industries and if you dye at low temps it's OK - won't delaminate.

[@swalker157]

Went from chocolate chip (6desert) to coffee stain(3desert) to useless(ucp) to no bake cookie(chocolate ucp). Camo like history is cyclical I guess…

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

😆 or a brownie. Who else is hungry?

[@chantzklein6377]

have you had any experience with rit sandstone and old acu pattern?@@sstrainingsolutions3832

[@DriveCarToBar]

Funny thing is that another channel did a comparison and included a guy dressed in something like you'd find an average Afghan person wearing. Just regular clothes for some dude in the Taliban, and it worked remarkably well.

[@3is]

Wonder how this would do with a lighter brown dye.

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

Could use the same dye but use less to see what comes out.

[@Seongbin-0]

with all due respects,you are putting ucp camo in front of the camera. What do you expect any pattern to blend in with anything in that close of? Try to go anywhere further than 50feets away which really isn't far, the ucp would look just at good as it should be.

[@AnthonyMihelich]

Try RIT Taupe next time it isn't as dark as choclate brown. It makes the Sage like OD Green and the beige like coyote color.

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

Oo cool! I will check it out.

[@AnthonyMihelich]

@@sstrainingsolutions3832 Just dyed my level 5 ACU jacket last night with taupe and it came out perfectly. This is my third time using taupe. Taupe is a lighter dye so make sure you use 1 bottle of dye per 2 pounds of fabric and agaitate for 30 mins straight, and then I agiated every 15 minutes until I hit an hour of dye time. Since the level 5 is so thin it took the dye really well but I've noticed that molle pouches with the taupe dye dont dye as dark becasue they are thicker. They end up looking like a really dirty ACU but are still wayyyyy better in desert/brown conditions. This is why i started following the 2 pounds of fabric per bottle and i think the pouches turned out better since its more concentrated. Also I used water at like 160ish degrees to start since i didn't want to damage the jacket with straight boiling water. Wish I could DM you a picture on youtube lol.

[@BejamenSkiles]

Did you have any trouble with dye coming off on to you when sweating in the gear ?

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

Usually in the cold you won't or shouldn't be sweating, but applying the Fixative solution from Rit should alleviate the color bleed.

[@EstesRanch]

I just did my first effort of dying the ACU set. Top and bottoms are different shades. What size of container did you use? Did you dye them together? I did the cocoa brown and the top looks reddish. What did I miss?

[@DriveCarToBar]

Might be the difference in material composition. Depending on the blend of cotton to nylon, it can change the look. Also, Rit dye does not work as well on things like polyester. They do make a dye for synthetics but I haven't used it. Check the labels if you still have the clothing and see if the blend is different or if one includes synthetic fabrics other than nylon. Rit seems to work on nylon fairly well, but other synthetics not so much.

[@joebiggs135]

I think I actually preferer the level 5s in the UCP color. If you are going to be worn it's more likely to be in the snow and Ice. The Army would have been better off to change all of the other layers to OCP and keep the lvl 5s UCP to save money.

[@GruntProof]

Awesome!

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

Thanks Grunt!

[@ab5olut3zero95]

Cocoa brown you say? I know what I’m tryin with my M65 now…

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

Yep, we used the RIT Tan powder on the Level 7, RIT Synthetic Chocolate Brown on the Level 5 and RIT Dark Brown on the Level 6. Let us know how that M65 comes out!

[@ab5olut3zero95]

@@sstrainingsolutions3832 in the dye bath now. Got an email address so I can shoot yall pics?

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

@@ab5olut3zero95 [e-mail]

[@ab5olut3zero95]

@@sstrainingsolutions3832 danke. Soon as it’s dry I’ll shoot it to you, but right mow it’s a bright red….

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

@@ab5olut3zero95 mine has a slight red/pink hue in some light which actually looks great in the woods, lot of light reds/burgundy. Did you send any pictures to our email?

[@BlaineKK37]

Damn, it pisses me off how good multicam is sometimes

[@DriveCarToBar]

There's a pattern out there called All Terrain Tiger that is awesome. I wish someone would license it and put it in production. It's the hotness.

[@1lostinspace]

top looked way better before you colored it

[@sstrainingsolutions3832]

🤣🤣 you...you're funny.

[@1lostinspace]

@@sstrainingsolutions3832 Try it in actual use like concealment and further back, you ll see

[@thirdlantern]

lol "UCP doesn't blend in with anything in nature." 😆

[@gunblasterr]

what do u mean the standard UCP was way better😂

[@mrdrprof99]

What are the ratios and colors used?