Crye Precision is an American apparel and accessories company based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. They are a major manufacturer of Berry Amendment compliant items for the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

. Crye created the common camouflage pattern

MultiCam MultiCam is a Military camouflage, camouflage pattern designed for use in a wide range of environments and conditions which was developed and is produced by American company Crye Precision. The pattern has found extensive adoption globally. Var ...

in 2002.

History

Crye Precision was founded in

in 1999 by Caleb Crye and Gregg Thompson, both graduates of

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

. Its original office/production studio was in

Chelsea Market Chelsea Market is a food hall, shopping mall, office building and television production facility located in the Chelsea neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan, in New York City. The Chelsea Market complex occupies an entire city block with a ...

. They expanded rapidly following

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

and the passage of the Berry Amendment which required the Department of Defense to give purchasing preference to apparel and accessories made in in America from American components. First unveiled in 2002,

was designed for the use of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

in varied environments, seasons, elevations, and light conditions. It is a seven-color, multi-environment

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

pattern developed by Crye Precision in conjunction with United States Army Soldier Systems Center. The pattern was included in the U.S. Army's move to replace the 3-Color Desert and

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

patterns, but in 2004 the U.S. Army chose the

Universal Camouflage Pattern The Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) is a digital camouflage pattern formerly used by the United States Army in their Army Combat Uniform. Laboratory and field tests from 2002 to 2004 showed a pattern named "All-Over Brush" to provide the ...

that came to be used in the

Army Combat Uniform The Army Combat Uniform (ACU) is the current combat uniform worn by the United States Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force and some elements of the U.S. Coast Guard. Within the Air Force and Space Force, it is referred to as the OCP ( Op ...

. Nonetheless, it remained in limited use by the U.S. Army special forces in the mid-to-late 2000s in Iraq and Afghanistan. MultiCam was also continually trialed for its "

Future Force Warrior Future Force Warrior was a United States military advanced technology demonstration project that was part of the Future Combat Systems project. The FFW project sought to create a lightweight, fully integrated infantryman combat system. It was on ...

" program demonstrations. MultiCam was officially re-commissioned by the U.S. Army in 2010, replacing UCP for units deploying to fight in the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

, under the designation Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern (OEF-CP). It had already been used by some American special operations units and civilian law enforcement agencies. On 25 November 2013, Crye Precision unveiled a family of MultiCam variants, which they claim can reduce the visual and near-IR signature of a person operating in different environments. In 2013 the company had 150 employees spread over 56,000 square feet in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. The U.S. Army discontinued the use of UCP in October 2019. In 2020 Crye was awarded a contract to produce a new family of uniforms for the British

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

. In April 2020, Crye collaborated with the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the NY Economic Development Council (NYEDC) and fashion house

Lafayette 148 Lafayette 148 is an American fashion house located in New York City. Originally launched in 1996 by Deirdre Quinn, Shun Yen Siu and Ida Siu, the brand produces women's clothing, footwear and accessories. It is a privately owned company. History ...

to manufacture surgical gowns for New York's front line medical workers during the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. As part of the introduction of the Belgian Defence Clothing System, it was announced that the Jigsaw camouflage pattern would be phased out by the

Belgian Armed Forces The Belgian Armed Forces (; , ) are the combined national military forces of Belgium. The Monarchy of Belgium, King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium Belgian Rev ...

in favour of Multicam from November 2022. The contract was awarded to Sioen and Seyntex with Crye Precision under a budget of €410 million. In 2024 Crye and another defense contractor's operations at the

Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York, U.S. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a se ...

were the subject of protests from pro-Palestinian groups.

Legal issues

In 2014 company was engaged in a dispute over intellectual property related to the

Operational Camouflage Pattern Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP), originally codenamed Scorpion W2, is a military camouflage pattern adopted in 2015 by the United States Army for use as the U.S. Army's main camouflage pattern on the Army Combat Uniform (ACU). This pattern ...

project with the US Army. Crye has been targeted by Chinese counterfeiters, these products are often sold in the US on online retail platforms like

Amazon (company) Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 ...

. In 2018 an operation in California selling counterfeit Crye products made in China was taken down by American authorities.

Products

* Combat pants ** G3

Awards and recognitions

In 2012 Crye were selected by

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

as one of their annual "Reasons to Love New York."

References

{{Reflist Clothing manufacturers Clothing brands of the United States Manufacturing companies based in New York City Defense companies of the United States Brooklyn Navy Yard