The world of camouflage this week has been rocked by the news of the retirement of Le Covert Sartorialist, and for me, he’s led an absolute revolution in concealment these last few years. His work has been so far ahead of the rest and he changed the way so many of us thought about and used camouflage. Briefly in discussions with the team, I did think that we’d be lost without him, but reflecting on his research and looking back through the archives, there wasn’t much that he didn’t teach us all. And for free, it must be said.

If you don’t know the name, you definitely should. Le Covert Sartorialist brought us Haloscreen, which has become the gold standard in materials and was very much ahead of its time, so much so that only recently have YouTubers like Novritsch and Kicking Mustang copied the idea and released their own, although as we know with copies of things they’re not quite to the same standard. I remember KM in particular on a video call when Haloscreen was first released saying he loved the colour, but it didn’t really look like anything in the days of leaf suits and artificial leaves, and he didn’t quite understand it as a material so it was cast aside. The genius in having a material that reflected light correctly and came in so many good colours instead of just light, medium and dark green though was that it was the tip of the iceberg in a whole new methodology. I remember a chat with Pencott creator Dom Hyde, who said that “he really gets it” and I think that sums Le Covert. He gets it in a way the rest of us don’t.

Into the bin went leaf suits and shoe goo, artificial plants and “Realtree” type patterns. Le Covert showed us the importance of starting with the correct base colour and pattern, not just a green suit or a brown suit. Through tutorial videos on his Facebook and YouTube, he demonstrated how to actually develop your own base layer rather than buying off the shelf. The importance of testing at every stage instead of just sticking a load of fake leaves on a suit in your kitchen and hoping for the best. “Colour trumps pattern” he said, and then controlling pattern allowed you to break up the shapes of the human body instead of outlining it. Reflectance was king, understanding that flappy polyester suits did more harm than good, and IRR was important many years before it became a common theme on the Airsoft field.

I admire most that since he left the Forces, the man has spent years testing and developing this idea. He didn’t just look at someone else’s hard work and go “yeah, I think I can copy that and release it myself”. He had an idea, and he worked to make it work, and then brought it to the world and shared his knowledge with it.

I was fortunate enough to do a couple of Live shows with him, and there is one on my YouTube which was a bit long but I wished at the time we could have doubled it. It’s a long watch, but you learn so much from it (feel free to hit subscribe, I promise I won’t bombard you with notifications, it’s a quiet channel). I wished at the time we could have talked for ten hours and learned even more. Le Covert looks at camouflage in a very different way and to have even 10% of that knowledge that he’s earned and learned would put you so far ahead of the field.

He also did an introductory video to camouflage and his methodology which is linked here, and for me is essential viewing for anyone who wants to get serious about camouflage. I know that won’t be everyone, some people are happy enough just buying a cobra hood and running around with a DMR and each to their own, but if you want to be levels above then definitely have an evening in with a notepad and give it a watch.

Even if Haloscreen goes, the brilliance of the methods and the understanding of how fabrics behave and interact with the environment, and the way we used patterns, colours and reflectance to manage our camouflage will live on, hopefully in his media if it’s still available but if not then certainly in the minds of those of us who took the time to listen to him.

Mr Sartorialist, I hope you enjoy your well-deserved retirement and if you ever want to pop back for a chat or a Live show again, I look forward to it.

Thank you for everything.