In the last 40 years, no other sailmaker has contributed as much to the design and direction of sails and sailcloth as Hood Sailmakers.

High quality sails begin with high quality sailcloth. Hood, throughout their history, have pioneered the way in introducing the newest and very best sailcloth. Here are a few Hood landmarks:

• The early 1950's saw Dacron^®, a polyester yarn in woven sailcloth. This was the beginning of Hood cloth.

• Cloth innovations continued with Kevlar^® sailcloth in 1972.

• 1977 saw the introduction of Mylar^® laminated film.

• Hood was the first to introduce and effectively use Spectra in 1983.

• In 1995 Hood launched Vektron™ sailcloth, a breakthrough in sailcloth technology, utilising Vektran^® fibre to weave a higher strength, lighter weight woven fabric with superior durability and longevity. is the trade name of CNA, a liquid crystal polymer fibre which is underwoven with super high tenacity polyester. This process which has a worldwide patent, has been pioneered by Hood Textiles in Ireland.

So where did Ted Hood fit in? 

An avid sailor, Ted began repairing and then improving sails of local Marblehead, MA sailors. He found that commercially available cloth failed to hold its intended shape and stability and set about, with his father Stedman Hood 'the Professor', to find an answer. Together they reasoned that polyester monofilaments twisted into yarns could be woven tighter than cotton. This tight weave proved to be the secret of Hood Cloth.

Hood purchased looms to weave this fabric, producing the first Dacron^® sailcloth. This cloth yielded significant improvements over existing sailcloth. More looms were purchased and modifications to stretch the warp and pack the fill lines closer. THE RESULT, a tighter and tighter weave. Hood was now able to weave cloth that would guarantee the low stretch characteristics needed to hold the sail shape they desired.