The MOLLE system was first introduced in 1997 by the United States Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Maryland, as a replacement for the old All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipement (ALICE) system that had been standard since 1973.
MOLLE is an acronym for Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment, and is pronounced like the girl's name Molly. MOLLE uses Pouch Attachment Ladder System (PALS) webbing to allow for a modular approach to attaching pieces of gear by interlinking complementary nylon webbing.