Cloth Armour

Cloth armour refers to protective clothing made out textiles. It was available to characters from Ultima II through Ultima VI, after which it fell into disuse.

Description
Cloth armour on Earth was made by layering and padding materials such as linen and canvas such as that the resulting garment was able to offer some padding against blows. It is unknown precisely how the cloth armours of Sosaria and later Britannia were manufactured, but it seems likely that the process was similar, given that both worlds share the term gambeson when describing such gear.

Of armours, it is the lightest available, and is commonly used by those lacking in funds for anything more elaborate or by those whose professional vows restrict them to such fare. At one point in time, many spell casters eschew non-cloth garments for reasons of their arts, although the reasons for this have never been made clear.

Ultima V
At the time of Ultima V, cloth armour was given a "1" relative protection rating, compared to a "2" for leather armour and "7" for plate.

Trivia

 * Iron (such as might be used in armor craft) has a long folkloric tradition as being a repellent against witches, fae and other magical creatures. While such mythology is never alluded to in the Ultima series, it may be possible that this association has helped to inspire long-standing high fantasy tropes of magi avoiding metal armour.