How to Get Cloth Early in Permafrost and What to Craft First

Cloth is one of the first resources you’ll lean on in Permafrost. It binds into Rope, becomes bandages that keep you alive, and later goes into the warm layers you’ll craft. In your opening hours you don’t make it — you find it. The first town, Horizon, and the cabin you wake up in hold enough to cover everything you need on day one, as long as you know which containers to open.

Quick answer: Cloth sits in and around Horizon — a 5-Cloth basket in the starting cabin, 4 in the kitchen’s Clothes Bin, loose pieces inside the walls, and 6 from Robyn. Spend your first two on Rope for the Crude Bow.

Where to find Cloth in and around Horizon

Everything you need for your first day is either in the cabin you start in or inside Horizon’s gate. Here is each spot in the order you reach it.

Place	Cloth	Difficulty
Starting cabin, “Quest reward” basket	5	—
Starting cabin, Wooden Cabinet	2	Survival
Horizon bunkhouse (loose)	1	—
Horizon kitchen, Clothes Bin	4	Both
Alcove beside the General Trader (loose)	1	—
Robyn’s reward box, after Horizon’s Kitchen	6	Both
The Mule (buy)	15 Bucks each	Story

Start in the cabin. The door stays locked until you craft a Stone Shiv and open it. Inside, a yellow-outlined basket labeled “Quest reward” with the prompt “Press F to open” holds 5 Cloth. A “Wooden Cabinet” marked “Press F Open” adds 2 more on Survival. Press R to Take all at once.

Container panel on the Inventory screen holding five red Cloth items with the Take all prompt — The starting cabin’s “Quest reward” basket holds 5 Cloth.

Head into the bunkhouse marked with the yellow tent sign, right inside the gate. One loose piece of Cloth is here to pick up. The sleeping bags in this building are free to claim, so you don’t need a Bed yet.

Go to the kitchen, the building with the pot sign, to the left of the gate. The Clothes Bin inside holds 4 Cloth on both Survival and Story.

Look in the recess beside the General Trader’s bars, on the right. Another loose Cloth is waiting there.

Complete Horizon’s Kitchen to receive a reward box from Robyn with 6 Cloth, 1 Dish, 30 Bucks, 2 Bandages, and the Survivor’s Backpack, regardless of difficulty.

Container panel of Robyn's quest reward box with Cloth among its items and the banner RECIPE UNLOCKED: SURVIVOR'S GLOVES — Robyn’s reward box after Horizon’s Kitchen, with 6 Cloth among the items.

What to craft with Cloth first

Hold your first Cloth for the opening quest. It wants a Crude Bow, which needs 1 Rope, and Rope costs 2 Cloth in your inventory (the Rope blueprint costs 1 point). That’s two of the cabin’s five gone right away. If you also want to set a Rabbit Trap, that’s another Rope, so budget another 2 Cloth.

Blueprints CRAFTING page with the Rope card open, listing Cloth under Required elements and Inventory under Used at — The Rope card in Blueprints: Cloth as the required element, used at Inventory.

Item	Cloth cost	Station	Use
Rope	2 Cloth	Inventory	Crude Bow, Rabbit Trap, Tent
Makeshift Bandage	2 Cloth	Inventory	Restores 70 Health; known from the start
Bandage	2 Cloth + 1 Surgical Spirit	Inventory	Restores 90 Health; blueprint 1 point
Bed	5 Cloth + 5 Wood	Build menu (Survival tab)	Sleep and respawn point
Tent	8 Cloth + 2 Wood + 4 Rope	Workbench	Workbench recipe; not built here

In order of priority, make Rope first for the Crude Bow, then one or two Makeshift Bandages since they’re known from the start and need no blueprint. Save a Bed for when you build your own spot outside Horizon. Until then, the bunkhouse sleeping bags cover you for free.

Buying and selling Cloth at Horizon’s traders

In Horizon’s yard, The Mule—the second trader—offers Cloth for 15 Bucks each, with 10 in stock on Story. Horizon’s traders give you only 2 Bucks per piece, making Cloth a poor item to sell. For comparison, on Story you can trade four Cloth for one Bag of Chips, valued at 8 Bucks and 40 Hunger. Cloth brings far more value when crafted than when sold, so hold onto it unless you’re desperate for coin.

BARGAIN trade screen comparing your inventory prices against a trader's stock before placing items to swap — The BARGAIN screen lines up your inventory sell prices against the trader’s stock, where Cloth shows its low resale value.

Can you craft Cloth yourself?

No recipe that makes Cloth showed up in the early game. Keep stocked by looting the containers above and buying Cloth from The Mule.