Java - making a class more generic

Here's some code I've inherited for a game. The sample code creates Armor.

At the moment to make some new Armor, you need to write a new class. E.g.

// Armor.java
public class Armor extends Item {   
    public int tier;

    public Armor( int tier ) {
        this.tier = tier;
    }
}

and

// ClothArmor.java    
public class ClothArmor extends Armor {
    {   
        name = "Cloth armor";
    }

    public ClothArmor() {
        super( 1 );
    }

    @Override
    public String desc() {
        return "Some Cloth Armor.";
    }
}

How would you structure the code to make it more generic? It would seem obvious to just read from a text-based config file but I can see this running into problems when you wanted to create an Armor with special abilities for example.

Are there any resources or design patterns I can use to figure out how to proceed?