As you might expect, the concealment industry is fraught with secrecy. “We know it is effective.” In keeping with camo-designing custom, though, Cramer declined to show it to me. “We’ve been developing our pattern over the past six years,” he said. (Cost will be one of many factors in choosing a winner.) When I visited his office, it was clear that Cramer wasn’t losing any sleep over the bid. Nobody knows yet how much the winning bid will net, because each design shop will propose its own licensing fee. The winner of this Pentagon Project Runway will walk away with one of the most prestigious-and possibly most lucrative-contracts in military fashion. Cramer is expected to be among the top contenders for the contract to create a family of patterns and palettes that can function nearly anywhere in the world. In April, the United States Army issued a request for proposals for a new family of camouflage patterns to replace the Universal Camouflage Pattern design that’s been the Army’s general-issue print since 2004. Ultimately none may have more influence than his most recent design. Over the past 10 years, Cramer, 43, has created more than 8,000 unique camouflage patterns. He practices the fine art of not being noticed. Once you get to know Cramer, you realize the environs express his aesthetic of concealment. HyperStealth’s research lab is an unmarked office in a former grade school in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. But it’s really just him and a part-time assistant. Cramer’s company, HyperStealth Biotechnology Corporation, sounds like one of those large, villainous military contractors in a Matt Damon thriller.

Invisible inc