What "Pattern" Means: 37, 58, 95 and the Rest of British Kit's Numbers

October 15, 2026

Surplus listings are full of numbers: 37 Pattern, 58 Pattern, 95 Pattern. They look like a code and they are almost embarrassingly simple once explained — and once you have them, you can date most British kit at a glance.

What "Pattern" means

A pattern is an approved design specification. When the military adopts a design, it is approved as the pattern for that item, and the number is generally the year of approval.

So 37 Pattern was approved in 1937, 58 Pattern in 1958, and so on. The number is a date, not a version number or a size.

Two things follow immediately. An item of a given pattern cannot predate that year. And because patterns stayed in service for decades, an item of a given pattern can be very much later than its number — the number is the earliest possible date, not the actual one.

The webbing sequence

37 Pattern — the Second World War generation. Cotton webbing, brass fittings, blancoed to colour. Enormously collected, widely reproduced.
44 Pattern — developed for the Far East, designed to cope better with wet conditions than 37 Pattern did.
58 Pattern — the long-serving post-war set. Olive green, heavy, absorbs water enthusiastically, and remembered with a mixture of affection and loathing by everyone who wore it.
PLCE — Personal Load Carrying Equipment, from the 1990s. The modern modular system in DPM and later MTP.

The clothing sequence

Clothing uses the same logic. The 95 Pattern generation, usually called CS95 or Soldier 95, was the combat clothing system introduced in the mid-1990s and worn for many years. It was succeeded by later systems designed around multi-terrain camouflage.

Because clothing patterns and camouflage patterns changed at different times, the two together often date an item more precisely than either alone.

How to use pattern numbers when buying

Treat the number as a floor. Earliest possible date, not actual date.
Look for a stamped date on the item itself, which is the real answer. Webbing in particular is frequently dated.
Do not mix generations by accident. Kit was designed to work with its contemporaries, and fittings and attachment methods changed. Items from different patterns often will not connect.
Match the pattern to the impression. For re-enactment or display, the pattern is the single biggest factor in whether the kit reads as correct.

Other numbers you will meet

Not every number on British kit is a pattern:

NATO stock numbers — long numeric codes identifying exactly what an item is. Extremely useful, and searchable.
Dress numbers — No1 Dress, No2 Dress and so on, which identify an order of dress rather than a design pattern.
Mark numbers — Mk6, Mk7 on helmets, indicating successive versions of the same item.

Three different numbering systems, all in use at once, all appearing in the same listings. Knowing which is which is most of the battle.

Finding the date stamp

The pattern number is the floor; the stamped date is the answer. Where to look:

Webbing - stamped into the weave, often faint, frequently on the inside of a strap or the back of a pouch. Angle it to the light.
Clothing - on the label, usually with a size and a stock number.
Metal items - struck into a flat inside face.
Helmets - inside the shell or on the harness.

Dates are frequently two digits, which is ambiguous across a century - a "58" could be 1958 or, on a much later item, something else entirely. Use the pattern and the construction together rather than the date alone.

Blanco, and why old webbing is that colour

Older British webbing was treated with blanco, a paste applied to colour and protect the cotton. It came in several shades, changed over time, and is the reason 37 Pattern webbing turns up in a range of greens and buffs that can look like different items entirely.

Two practical consequences. Colour alone does not identify the pattern, because the same webbing was blancoed differently at different times. And heavily blancoed webbing is fragile - the paste builds up, cracks and takes fibres with it, so it should be handled carefully and never scrubbed.

Mixing patterns on a display

The commonest error in assembled displays is kit from the right era paired with webbing from the wrong one. Because the patterns look broadly similar to a non-specialist - green straps and pouches - the mismatch is invisible to most people and glaring to anyone who knows.

Fix it the easy way: decide the year first, then buy only kit whose pattern number is at or before that year, and check the stamped dates where they exist.