The development of camouflage patterns specifically for military application by American forces can be traced to the First World War. Like her British and French allies, military engineers experimented with a number of designs for hiding reconnaissance personnel and snipers employed along the frontiers. One design, based on the British-designed Symien sniper suit, consisted of loose strips of multi-colored cloth, twine or burlap attached to a loose-fitting hooded jacket & trousers, designed to appear as foliage from a distance. Another uniform designed by an Army Engineer unit at the American University in Washington, DC consisted of jacket, trousers and hood painted with wide dark stripes on a lighter-colored fabric, and was intended to provide concealment specifically while hiding in trees. Manufacture and distribution of such suits, however, was minimal and although there is evidence to suggest speculation and experimentation regarding military camouflage clothing did continue in America after 1918, it was not given serious consideration until the Second World War.
