I can't cite sources I am afraid but have come across a number of mentions of the British Government providing clothing from surplus military stock and having it dyed dark colours to de-militarise it. During the Second World War, with clothing rationing, surplus military clothing was a useful source of workwear.
Similarly, to avoid waste, garments not up to standard for military issue may have been dyed and released for civil use rather than scrapped.
There were certainly plenty of outlets for this kind of stuff - civil prisons, POW camps, refugee/DP camps, internment camps, as well as Civil Defence, Land Army, etc.
IIRC one of the sources was concerned provision of 'off coupon' clothing for labourers working on the 'New Town' construction schemes of the late 1940's.
Dyeing the stuff may also have been a convenient way of sidestepping complex issue of disposing of items supplied to them under restricted contract - from wartime quality issues to Lend-Lease.
I hope that this helps.
Keith
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