Plan2026
Every “stab-proof” hoodie on the market is either a cut-resistant knit or an uncertified claim. We make the first one a lab has measured, and we make it light enough to wear every day.
Mission, vision,
values.
Protection you actually wear.
Make certified stab protection so light and comfortable that it is worn every day, not left in the closet.
The new standard.
A flexible panel developed in Estonia becomes the default for everyday protective clothing in Europe.
Only tested, certified claims. Cut-resistant is not stab-proof, and we say so.
Every construction passes a measurable test before we call it a product.
Protection that isn't worn doesn't protect. Weight and flex are design requirements.
Developed and produced in the local composite industry. The knowledge stays here.
Nobody sells
what people want.
- No certified everyday garment
Not one hoodie, jacket or shirt on the market holds a VPAM K1 or CAST KR1 certificate. The lifestyle brands sell EN 388 knits that fail a stab test.
- Flexible K1 under 1.5 kg doesn't exist
PPSS is light but rigid. Armadillo is flexible but 1.8 to 3.2 kg. Cheap K1 is a 1.2 mm aluminium plate.
- No triple certificate
UK makers have CAST and NIJ without K1. German makers have K1 without CAST. One panel with all three sells in DACH, UK, NL and the Nordics without a new test.
- Empty mid-price
Germany is split: 90 to 130 € aluminium in police shops, 555 to 843 € Armadillo. Nothing transparent in between.
- Baltics and Nordics have no maker
Estonia has one reseller of Danish PGD. No local producer, no procurement-grade certificate, no stock.
Rigid, heavy,
or unproven.
| Maker | Technology | Certificate | Weight | Price | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armadillo TexRemscheid, DE | Overlapping carbon-epoxy scales on aramid, panel sourced from Suzhou Higharmor (CN) | VPAM K1 on Profi and Elite only | 1.8 – 3.2 kg | 295 – 843 € | Heavy for K1, no CAST, no KR, garments uncertified |
| PPSS GroupWetherby, UK | 3.6 mm rigid carbon composite plate | CAST KR1/SP1, NIJ 0115 L1 | 1.5 – 1.7 kg | ~475 £, quote only | Rigid plate, no VPAM K1, no direct sales |
| PGDRanders, DK | Segmented 2 mm aluminium, or Dyneema hybrid 7 mm | NIJ 0115 L3, HOSDB KR1 | 1.75 – 3.2 kg | 396 – 950 € | No VPAM, stiffer than textile. Only maker sold in Estonia |
| Dutch Body ArmorNL | T-shirt with integrated UHMWPE soft-armour panels, 5 mm | VPAM 3 ballistic (TNO), NIJ 0115 P1/S1 stab (Element) | n/a | 519 € ex VAT | Ballistic first, stab added. No VPAM K1 or D1, weight not published |
| EnGardeAmsterdam, NL | Kevlar 7.7 mm, multi-threat Dyneema/Twaron packs | NIJ 0115 L1, NIJ IIIA | 1.6 – 2.3 kg | 546 – 950 € | Thick, heavy, institutional only |
| COPTEX / CESTDachau, DE | 1.2 mm aluminium plate in plastic | VPAM K1 | n/a | 90 – 350 € | Cheap, rigid, nobody wants to wear it |
| Lifestyle brandsstabsafe · StabApparel · ArmorLite | Chinese OEM HPPE knits or carbon-plate copies | EN 388 (glove cut test), no stab certificate | n/a | 135 – 550 € | Claims without proof, 2 to 5× OEM markup, no stock |
| STILLARMOURTallinn, EE | Overlapping rigid micro-scales on a flexible carrier, in a removable garment sleeve | VPAM K1 + D1 target, then CAST KR1 and NIJ L1 | under 1.5 kg | 249 – 549 € | Not yet certified. We ship only after the public lab report |
Public retail prices, September 2026. Where a maker sells only through resellers or tenders, reseller price is shown. Lifestyle brands and Hi-Armor UK list certificates without a named lab or report number.
Three things
nobody else does.
Scales, not plates.
Thousands of overlapping rigid micro-scales slide over each other at rest and lock under a point load. The panel drapes like fabric and stops a knife and a spike. Demonstrated in the literature, never certified as a product in Europe. We take it from lab to garment.
One panel, every market.
VPAM K1 + D1 first, then CAST KR1/SP1 and NIJ 0115. Tested at −20, ambient and +70 °C with a named accredited lab. Procurement-ready in Germany, UK, Netherlands and the Nordics from a single panel.
Garment first, proof before money.
A hoodie and a jacket, not a vest. The panel lives in a sleeve, comes out for the wash. 300 numbered pieces, free to reserve, paid only after the lab report is public. No one in this market sells on evidence. We do.
Tallinn first.
Then the world.
Pre-screen three constructions with TalTech. Freeze the panel. VPAM test at an accredited lab, CE mark under PPE Regulation 2016/425.
- Drop 001: 300 numbered pieces
- Public lab report on the site
- Estonian composite production
Flexible, certified, 250 to 400 € for the panel. Direct-to-consumer in the Baltics and Nordics where no maker exists, and content-led marketing built on test data.
- Drops 002 and 003
- Panel P1 sold alone for any carrier
- Nordic and DACH e-commerce
Employers buy by certificate. Security firms, rail, healthcare, prisons and municipal enforcement across DACH, UK and NL, unlocked by the triple certificate.
- CAST KR1/SP1 and NIJ 0115 added
- Tenders and framework deals
- Uniform-integrated panels
Weight is the buying criterion in Korea and Japan too. License the panel to garment brands and uniform makers worldwide while keeping development and IP in Estonia.
- Panel licensing and OEM
- Asia through weight, not price
- Patent family around scale geometry
Cut-resistant is not stab-proof. We only ship what a lab has measured.
Knife crime is rising, regulation is tightening and employers pay for protection by certificate. The market wants flexible, light, proven protection. Nobody makes it. We will.
What we do better.
And how.
The only stab panel that is flexible, under 1.5 kg and certified, sold as a hoodie, with the lab report public before you pay.
- LighterUnder 1.5 kg. Flexible K1 panels today weigh 1.8 to 3.2 kg.
Overlapping micro-scales on a thin carrier instead of 20 to 30 layers of aramid or a solid plate. Scale geometry, layer count and adhesive are optimised with TalTech until weight and thickness beat the best certified product.
- Flexible and certifiedNobody has both. Flexible is uncertified, certified is rigid.
The scales slide over each other at rest and lock under a point load. Six identical panels tested at an accredited lab to VPAM K1 + D1, then CE marked under the PPE Regulation.
- A garment, not a vestNot one certified hoodie or jacket exists on the market.
The panel sits in a removable sleeve inside a heavyweight hoodie or coach jacket. Take it out, wash the garment, slide it back. Panel P1 also fits any carrier you already own.
- Proof, not claimsCompetitors list certificates without a lab name or report number.
The full report goes on this site: lab, date, six panels, three temperatures. Reservation costs €0 and you pay only after the report is public. Until then we call it a target, never a certificate.
- Honest mid-price250 to 400 € for the panel. Others are 90 € aluminium or 555 to 843 €.
Own development, Estonian composite production and direct sales. No Chinese OEM panel resold under a German name, no reseller markup, no tender-only pricing.
- Every market, one panelUK makers lack K1, German makers lack CAST, Nordics have no maker.
Add CAST KR1/SP1 and NIJ 0115 to the same panel. One test set opens DACH, UK, Netherlands and the Nordics for employers who buy by certificate.
The terms,
in plain words.
- Stab-proof
- Stops a knife point pushed with force. Tested by dropping a blade onto the panel.A screwdriver or kitchen knife thrust at the chest. The panel keeps the point out.
- Cut-resistant
- Resists a blade sliding across it. Does not stop a stab. Most "stab-proof" hoodies are only this.A kitchen glove survives a slicing blade but lets a fork straight through.
- VPAM KDIW 2004
- The German and Austrian test standard for stab and spike protection. Used across DACH.A German security firm’s tender says “VPAM K1”. Without that line on the report, the bid is out.
- K1 / D1
- VPAM classes. K = knife, D = spike. Level 1 means 25 joules of impact with penetration under 20 mm.K1 stops a test knife at 25 J. D1 stops a spike, so also a screwdriver or an ice pick.
- 25 J
- Joule, a unit of energy. 25 J is roughly a 2.5 kg weight dropped from one metre.About a firm stab by an adult. Higher classes test 40 J and more.
- CAST KR1 / SP1
- The UK police standard. KR = knife resistant, SP = spike. Needed to sell to UK employers.A UK hospital buys vests for A&E staff. They ask for KR1, not VPAM.
- NIJ 0115
- The US stab standard from the National Institute of Justice. Widely accepted worldwide.Korean police tenders quote NIJ 0115 Level 1 because there is no local stab standard.
- EN 388
- A European glove standard for cut, tear and abrasion. Not a stab test.The “stab-proof” hoodies on Instagram show an EN 388 label. That is a glove test.
- Triple certificate
- One panel that passes VPAM, CAST and NIJ. Sells in every European market without a new test.One set of reports. Sells in Berlin, London and Amsterdam without retesting.
- Accredited lab
- An independent test laboratory officially approved to issue certificates. Named on the report.The report names the lab, the date and the six panels tested. We publish it on this site.
- CE mark
- The EU label showing a product meets safety law. Required for protective equipment.The small CE logo inside a bike helmet or on a pair of safety boots.
- PPE Regulation
- EU law 2016/425 on personal protective equipment. The rulebook behind the CE mark.
- Micro-scales
- Thousands of small hard pieces that overlap like fish scales. Flexible at rest, locked under impact.An armadillo shell or a pangolin: hard plates that move with the body.
- Carrier
- The flexible textile the scales are attached to. Also: any vest or sleeve that holds a panel.Our hoodie sleeve is a carrier. So is a security guard’s vest.
- Composite
- Two or more materials bonded into one, for example carbon fibre in epoxy resin.A carbon bike frame. A fibreglass boat hull.
- Aramid / Kevlar
- A strong synthetic fibre used in soft body armour. Kevlar is a brand name.Police soft vests and motorcycle jeans.
- Dyneema / UHMWPE
- A polyethylene fibre stronger than steel by weight. Also sold as HPPE. Good against cuts, weaker against spikes.Climbing slings and sailing rope.
- Conditioning
- Testing the panel cold, at room temperature and hot, so it works in every season.A panel frozen at −20 °C, then stabbed. Glue that turns brittle in winter fails here.
- Drop
- A limited, numbered release. Drop 001 is 300 pieces, never restocked.Like a sneaker release: a fixed number, sold once, then gone.
- D2C
- Direct to consumer. We sell from our own site, no middlemen.
- B2B
- Business to business. Employers buying protection for staff.
- DACH
- Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
- Tender
- A public purchasing competition. Framework deal: a long-term supply contract that follows it.DB Sicherheit, Deutsche Bahn’s security arm, equips 4,300 staff through tenders.
- OEM
- Original equipment manufacturer. We make the panel, another brand sells it under its name.Armadillo Tex sells a panel made by Suzhou Higharmor under its own name.
- Licensing
- Letting other makers use our panel design for a fee, while we keep the rights.A workwear brand puts our panel in its jacket and pays us per unit.
- IP / patent family
- Intellectual property. A set of patents in several countries protecting the same invention.
- TalTech
- Tallinn University of Technology. Our materials research partner.
- Panel P1
- Our first protective panel, sold inside garments or on its own.