Denseley woven cotton fabrics with high performance were originally produced in England. In the 1930’s they were used as fire hoses and water buckets. During the Second World War the fabric protected the lives of the British Hurricane pilots who frequently had to bail out of their aircraft by parachute or ditch their planes in the icy waters of the Atlantic. The Immersion Suits made of this performance cotton fabric proved to be comfortable to wear, both in the cockpit and during the endless hours of waiting to be summoned for take-off. The water tight and thermally insulating fabric gave the pilots a genuine chance of survival in emergency situations.

After the war these fabrics continued to be used for the airforce, the navy and more and more every day performance jackets and coats. With the decline of the British textile industry the stringent demands of the British MoD (Ministry of Defence) could no longer be met by the home industry. In the 1990’s the British MoD contacted Stotz with the demand for a superior and more consistent quality compared with that of their English supplier. As Stotz have been weaving such dense cotton fabrics for the MoD’s in Scandinavia and the USA since the 1960’s we were the natural choice to meet with the British requirements. Within 6 months of development work Stotz could produce to the British MoD the traditional L19, L24, L28 and L34 fabrics in a quality they have never seen before.

Today Stotz is the sole manufacturer of these high performance cotton fabrics.