Abstract Commercial cotton fabric was coated with SiO 2 nanoparticles wrapped with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer, and the resulting material surface showed a water contact angle greater than 160°. The superhydrophobic fabric showed resistance to water-soluble contaminants and maintained its original superhydrophobic properties with almost no alteration even after many times of absorption-washing cycles of oil. Moreover, superhydrophobic fabric can be used as a filter to separate oil from water. We demonstrated a simple method of fabrication of superhydrophobic fabric with potential interest for use in a variety of applications.