The Ventile fabric story begins in England during the early days of World War II. British fighter pilots often had to ditch their planes into the ice-cold water of the North Atlantic. They could die within minutes, due to the cold. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked the Shirley Institute to develop a fabric thin enough to make garments for the pilots, while also protecting them from the cold. It also must be waterproof. “This was in the early 1940s,” says Daniel Odermatt, brand manager for Ventile. “At that time, there were no chemical fibres, there was no PFC, so they had to stick to natural fibres. In this case, they chose cotton. They developed a fabric that was dense enough to protect the pilots from the cold water, and it worked. With these garments, 80% of the pilots could be rescued. That was the start of Ventile. Switzerland-based Stotz & Co. acquired the Ventile brand from Talbot Weaving in 2017.

High quality alternative to synthetics

“We are offering the solution to replace synthetic fabrics,” Odermatt says. “The sustainability comes from the use of natural fibres. We mostly produce fabrics made from organic cotton fibres. These are excellent staple fibres, so they are very rare. Only 2% of the world’s cotton crop production are staple fibres, and then if you use only organic, it goes down to 0.04%. These fibres are very rare, very special.” Odermatt says Ventile fabrics offer an alternative to fabrics made with synthetic, or “plastic” yarns. Ventile uses fine yarns, spun evenly. The yarns are then twisted, to make them stronger and more even, both in the warp and the weft. “We use a special dense weave for the construction,” Odermatt says. “The dying and finishing process requires even more know-how. These fibres end up in a fabric that is super dense, and that is breathable, yet waterproof and windproof. The fabric can be exposed to water for two or three weeks and there will be no leakage. This fabric is not coated. When the garment is worn, it allows moisture from the body to escape.” Cotton used in Ventile fabrics is sourced from the U.S. and Egypt, the two countries that produce the best quality of staple organic cotton. “It is very difficult to get these fibres, because of their rarity. So of course, they are expensive. Most of our competitors do not use this quality of fibres. The density of our fabric sets us apart. Not many manufacturers can produce anything like it.”

A global manufacturing network

In the past, the manufacturing processes for Ventile fabric were performed in Switzerland. However, over the years, many textile mills have closed in Switzerland, and now manufacturing is outsourced to several countries. Spinning is done in Egypt, Italy, and India. All of these mills have the most modern spinning machines and equipment, which Odermatt says is a must for Ventile’s high level of quality. Weaving is the key step in producing Ventile fabrics. Odermatt says the process of developing new weaving methods is one of trial and error. “Even though this idea started in England, there is no textile manufacturing left in that country,” Odermatt says. “That is why it landed in Switzerland for a while. Now, the Swiss weavers have disappeared, so we have had to go abroad. Our weaving is now in Austria, Egypt, and Germany. That is where we weave our fabrics. We have more than 20 different types of fabric, with various specifications.”

While all of the manufacturing of Ventile moved to other countries, Stotz & Co.’s headquarters remains in Zurich. “When we find out the new specifications, we always say, this is not cost effective, this is not reasonable. But after much time and many trials, we bring it up to a reasonable level. The same goes for the finishing as well. The finisher needs months, sometimes years, to get to the level of what we need. Unfortunately, since I joined the company 16 years ago, I have had to replace three weavers and three finishers.” Odermatt is now working with the fourth finisher he has worked with since he joined the company. A growing list of brands use Ventile. These include Gucci, Stone Island, J Crew, Nigel Claibourn, Levi, Converse, Nike, Timberland, Private White from Manchester, Brooks, Doc Martins, Ralph Lauren, and Louis Vuitton. It goes into products like pants, jackets, coats, and shoes. New Era, a leading baseball cap brand, uses Ventile in its caps.

Blending cotton with other natural fibres

Ventile’s Eco Blends is a range of fabrics in which organic cotton is blended with hemp or linen. All these blends have the same properties as Ventile. “It makes these fabrics more interesting,” Odermatt says. “For example, if there is linen in the fabric, it looks different. You can see and recognize the presence of linen, and it looks very nice. There is an optical aspect. There is also a different feel – the hemp and linen are a bit stiffer. They are even stronger than cotton, so the abrasion resistance is higher and the tear strength is better, making it interesting for some uses.”

A major challenge for Odermatt and Ventile is maintaining the fabric’s high quality. That has been a concern due to the closing of Swiss textile manufacturers in recent years. “We recently had to replace the last Swiss dyehouse, a 200-year-old company that closed down,” Odermatt says. “We moved that to Germany and we are on the way to bringing that plant up to the level that we need it to be. Always, our focus is keeping the quality.”

Products made with Ventile are expensive due to the rare fibres and the complicated production process, but Odermatt says the products are more durable. The company is poised to take advantage of the growing trend of brands and consumers avoiding plastics. “We have a plant in Turkey where we make a fabric that is 100% recycled cotton,” Odermatt says. “The cotton in this case is collected from Turkish knitters and weavers, and brought to a specialised spinning mill. We decompose these leftovers into single fibres again. They run it through a spinning process again and do the twisting and weaving to create a greige fabric.” The fabric is then taken to a dyeing and finishing plant in Germany. “These yarns cannot be as fine as the originals, because they are shorter fibres,” Odermatt says. “The shorter cotton fibres cannot make very fine and even yarns. The yarns are coarser, and the coarser the yarn, the bigger the fabric pores, so you don’t get the softness or the waterproof aspect. But it is still a nice protective fabric, and good enough to use to make a jacket or shoes. This recycled cotton is even more sustainable than the organic cotton.” What’s next for Ventile? More natural-fiber-based fabrics are in development. Odermatt says one new fabric is based on fibers sourced from banana trees. “It is another way to create a waterproof blend,” he says. “We are not quite there yet, so it is not ready to go to market.”