UPDATE: This information has been transplanted to the master “Is It NiR Compliant” page.
There was a pretty good response to the somewhat of a joke-post about MultiDoge (DogeCam) being NIR compliant or not. So, why not make this an actual series and get something out of it? Hopefully I can post some of the more obscure and harder to find patterns that I have access to for those of you who make your own gear.
So, how did genuine Flecktarn material do under Infrared?
First off let’s talk about the material. This specific fabric was listed as Flecktarn Mil-Spec 1110 Denier (what is Denier you ask?) with polyurethane rear coating and printed in Germany. It was a very high quality material and made a great base for a plate carrier project. You can see the material for sale yourself at MOSTactical.com.
Ok enough waiting. As you can see from the images below the Flecktarn did fairly well under IR illumination. You will notice that the camouflage pattern is quite visible between white light, green phosphor night vision and then IR illuminated night vision. It is in this illuminated state that many fabrics do not hold up and you completely lose the pattern due to the reflected IR light. A great example of a fabric that DID NOT hold up is the afore mentioned MultiDoge. Not surprising as it was printed up as a joke.
While this is of course a single data point of a single piece of fabric from a single source you should nevertheless be reassured that NIR compliant Flecktarn is out there and available (see link above) if you find yourself in need.