Market Overview
The Global Technical Textile Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5% during the forecast period (2024-2031).
Technical textiles are products manufactured for non-aesthetic purposes, which involve functions as the primary criterion. The technical textile products impart high-performance qualities as compared to any other traditional textiles. Generally, synthetic fiber and natural fibres are used for the manufacturing purpose of technical textiles. Technical textiles are used in different industries such as medical, construction, machine clothing, abrasive substrate, and filters due to their excellent quality and high strength compared to any other human-made fibres.
Besides, technical textiles can be used in various industrial products such as electrical components and cables, diaphragms, flexible seats, and other domestic purposes. The technical textile industry is a vast and growing sector, which is estimated to show significant growth at about 4% on a per year basis, which is much greater than the development of home and apparel textiles, growing at a rate of 1% per year. The future fabrics market is expected to be re-conceptualized entirely as researchers from different parts of the globe understand the products that will appear in the market over the coming decades.
The researcher's ongoing research on technical textiles has built a belief that there will be a material capable of self-repairing when damaged, fabric with build-in digital devices, smart textiles with nanomaterials, and many other smart features. The growing advancements in technical textile aim to offer innovative solutions for global problems such as health issues, pollution, protection, transportation, communication, etc.
Market Summary
| Metrics | Details |
| Market CAGR | 5% |
| Segments Covered | By Material, By Process, By Application and By Region |
| Report Insights Covered | Competitive Landscape Analysis, Company Profile Analysis, Market Size, Share, Growth, Demand, Recent Developments, Mergers and acquisitions, New Product Launches, Growth Strategies, Revenue Analysis, and Other key insights. |
| Fastest Growing Region | Asia Pacific |
| Largest Market Share | Asia Pacific |
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Market Dynamics
The global technical textile market is driven by growing applications and rising demand across different end-users such as construction, aerospace, agriculture, medical and packaging, and government support. Growing biotechnological advancements, rapid changes, and the evolution of traditional farming methods boost the technical textiles market in the coming tenures. The researcher's ongoing projects on technical textiles to building material capable of offering some properties such as self-repairing when damaged, fabric with build- digital devices, smart textiles with nanomaterials, and others create tremendous opportunities for the technical textile market to increase in the coming years.
Growing applications and demand of technical textiles across different end-users such as construction, aerospace, agriculture, medical and packaging, and government support
Technical textiles have played an integral role in different daily life phases, starting from construction to agriculture, packaging, medicals, etc. The products involved in technical textiles are obtained with varying production methods to offer strong strength, lightness, fire or water resistance, versatility, and excellent performance.
Different types of technical textiles have played various roles as per the industrial demand. However, the global pandemic's arrival has accelerated the medical sector's global technical textiles market due to the increasing demand for protective technical textiles. It has raised the growth expectation of technical textiles even higher than the pre-existing market.
Apart from this, increasing drought leads to increasing demand for agricultural productivity from the farmer's side. Similarly, growing demand for high energy-efficient fabrics from vehicles leads to building the market for technical textiles in the transportation and sector. Thus rapid advancements in technical textiles and increasing manufacturer approach towards building an advanced textile material with high strength are more likely to accelerate the market of its products in different sectors in coming years.
The government adds value to the growing research in technical textiles by investing a significant chunk in the R&D sector. For instance, in 2019, the Indian government came up with another set of technical textiles policies targeting the defence and agriculture sectors. This new policy has made government extend support for domestic manufacturing and set standards to make India the hub for production units.
Growing biotechnological advancements, rapid changes, and the evolution of traditional farming methods boost the technical textiles market in the coming tenures.
The technical textile market has seen an unprecedented upward trend globally due to improving economic conditions, increasing end-users, growing technological advancements, cost-effectiveness, user-friendliness, and eco-friendliness of technical textiles. The use of new materials and technologies such as environmentally friendly finishing 3-D textile formation and computerized patterning is the promising factor adding to the growing market of technical textiles in recent times.
New polymers and additives having unique properties such as high chemical resistance, flame retardancy, and high tenacity are now available in the market to withstand high-temperature applications. In the last few years, polymers processed from renewable biomass have been developed as a permanent substitute for traditional fibres and created new biodegradation opportunities.
Apart from this, various techniques and applications are used in the finishing and coating of textiles coupled with rapid developments since the past few years in digital printing in textiles is expected to boost technical textiles in the forecast period.
The increasing use of nanotechnologies and electronics in technical textiles to improve their properties creates opportunities for the market.
The growing use of nanomaterials such as nanoparticles and nanofibres in technical textile production helped impart higher mechanical strength, chemical resistance, antibacterial properties, and water repellence to textile. The first generation of nano-enhanced textiles has benefitted from nano-finishing, including coating textile and clothing surfaces with nanoparticles.
The new approach produces highly active surfaces with UV-blocking, antistatic, antimicrobial, water and oil repellent, wrinkle-resistant, and self-cleaning properties. Nano-silver is used to exert antimicrobial properties while non-metal oxide coatings impart nano-silver, self-cleaning, UV-blocking, and flame retardant.
Besides, conducting polymers and graphene's electrical conductivity offers attractive properties for creating textiles that incorporate actuators and sensors. Incorporating digital components into this e-textile is expected to open up an entirely new area of functional clothing. Thus growing addition of electronics and nanotechnology is creating a room full of opportunities for the technical textile to grow in the forecast period.
COVID-19 Impact Analysis
The global technical textile market has shown significant growth due to the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the medical sector. Increasing demand for protective textiles has raised the bar of the growing market in recent times. Material such as yarns, fabrics, and fibres supported the medical textile market in this crisis period for infection control, hygiene, barrier material, and medical implants.
Medical textiles offered laminated and coated materials for various gowns for much better protection from infections, such as PPF gowns for the nurse, doctors, and hospital staff by healthcare personnel as personal protective equipment, isolation gowns, patient gowns, and surgical gowns. Pre-dominantly in COVID-19 technical textile for the medical sector is also used to provide face masks, FFP2 facial masks, disposable nitrile gloves, and others, thus building the technical textile market medical sector in recent times.
However, apart from the medical sector, the rest of the other technical textile sectors have seen an unprecedented drop in the market growth due to the sudden shutdown of various production and manufacturing of technical textiles due to the COVID-19 lockdown. It leads to a decline in consumers' interest in purchasing any goods. A halt in transportation sectors has severely hampered the technical textile market's business due to disruption in the product's supply chain management.
Market Segmentation Analysis
The global technical textile market is segmented based on material, process, application, and region.
Rising agriculture productivity in different regions of the globe and increasing demand for technical textile in the agriculture sector for crop protection, crop development, and reducing the risk of farming practices
In terms of application, the technical textile market is segmented into cloth tech, MedTech, agritech, build tech, home tech, indutech, mobitech, Ecotech, sports tech, Geotech, Protech, packtech, and oekotech. Out of the mentioned segments, the agritech segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate in the conjecture period, especially in countries like China, India, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, the U.S., and others with the highest agriculture productivity.
As per the statistics, the agriculture sector contributes 6.4% of the entire world's economic production, and China contributes to India's most considerable market revenue. Therefore these growing numbers are triggering the demand for technical textiles in the agriculture sector for crop protection and crop development and reducing the risk of farming practices.
Various textile products such as fibres, fabrics, and techniques are used in agro-textiles for crop protection and crop development. Examples include shade nets, windshields, thermal insulation, sunscreen materials, and anti-bird nets, which offer minimum shading and standard temperature and air circulation for plant protection from sunlight and birds. Agro-textile is gaining popularity among horticulture, landscape gardening, horticulture, and foresty in recent times. Thus increasing the application spectrum of technical textiles in the agriculture sector builds the market of technical textiles in the forecast period.
Market Geographical Share
The presence of major exporters in the Asia-Pacific region and changing schemes by the region's government to promote the adoption of the geotechnical and agro-technical sectors are triggering the market of technical textiles in the Asia-Pacific.
Asia-Pacific is expected to dominate the technical textile market in the forecast period, with China contributing nearly 20%and India contributing 12% of the total region market. As per technical textiles: growth engine of Indian textiles sectors 2019 Asia-Pacific to show the highest growth at an expected rate of 30% in coming years at the global market. China leads a textile and apparel exporter worldwide for the past three decades. On the other side, India promotes and kick-start key schemes such as Technology Mission on Technical Textiles to encourage geotechnical and agro-technical adoption in the northeast region.
On the other side, Europe is estimated to grow at an impressive CAGR of 4.8% to 5.2& during 2018-2022 as per technical textiles: growth engine of Indian textiles sectors 2019. Mobiltech, sportech, oekotech, indutech as the major market propelling sectors of technical textile in the European market. Countries like France, Germany, and the U.K. are expected to contribute a major chunk of revenue from Europe.
Technical Textile Companies
The technical textile market is highly competitive with the presence of many local as well as global companies. Some of the key players contributing to the market's growth include Ambika Polymer, Reliance Industries, Supreme Nonwovens Pvt Ltd, Asahi Kasei, Mitsui Chemicals, Freudenberg & Co, SRF Limited, Koninklijke Ten Cate., Lanxess, DuPont, Inc and among others.
The major players adopt several growth strategies such as product launches, acquisitions, and collaborations, contributing to the technical textile market's global growth. Most of the key players build profit through mergers and acquisitions as the primary growth strategy.
- For instance, in March 2019, Asahi Kasei announced its production capacity expansion for spunbond nonwovens in Thailand through new production lines at its Asahi Kasei spunbond Co. ltd.
- In 2019, Vitrulan Group acquired a fibre optic reinforcement business from Ahlstrom-Munksjo. The acquisition aims to expand the market of Vitrulan Group.
Mitsui Chemicals
Overview: Japan-based chemical company specializes in produces and supplying speciality chemicals and high-performance polymers to North and South America. The company provides chemical & intermediates, elastomers, engineering plastics, tapes, sheets, electronic materials, etc. The company came in 1982 as MTC America and merged with Mitsui Petrochemicals in 1997 and changed to Mitsui Chemicals America.
Product Portfolio: The company has a product portfolio of technical textile includes:
- Syntex: The product is a nano sub-micron nonwoven fabric produced from the Mitsui chemical proprietary technology. It is a high-performance nonwoven fabric suitable for the most demanding filtration applications that require the removal of fine particles in a liquid.
Key Development:
- In 2017, Mitsui Chemicals developed the world's first flexible nonwoven- AIRYFA with excellent strength by exploiting its proprietary polyolefin technology. The product is gentle on the skin; eco-friendly impart softness and strength.
