Textiles

From a multi-part series addressing the textiles industry: by Alex Strzetelski

The textile industry is divided into three major markets: apparel, home furnishings and technical/ industrial textiles. The apparel market is the largest (38 percent) sector of the $74 billion industry and also the sector fairing the worst. This sector accounted for 45 percent of total textile employment decline over the last year. It has also experienced a 12 percent decline in production over the same period. For the most part, these declines can be attributed to record amounts of imports from China and Australasia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines.)

Although many feel that the U.S. and Canadian apparel markets are going to disappear in the next many years, the overall consensus is that a bottom has been reached and slow, long-term growth will occur in the range of approximately 3 percent annually. Retraining of displaced workers to higher value jobs will be critical for this to occur. If a reliance on lower wage and skill positions continues, this growth is unlikely to be maintained and further deterioration is likely.

The home furnishings market comprises 37 percent of the textile industry and has been on a rollercoaster ride over the last year or so. This sector is largely dependant upon the housing market, as a majority of purchases for the home occur within six months of home purchase. Where the current mortgage mess ends up will largely dictate the state of this segment.

The technical/industrial fabrics market comprises 25 percent of the textile industry and is the only textile sector of the three that is growing at a consistent and stable rate of 6.5 percent. This consistent growth can largely be attributed to the diverse niche nature of the market. Although there are many ways to define this market, there are generally about 21 different market segments that comprise technical/industrial fabrics. If one area has a slow or down year, there are several others that are having good or banner years. This of course is indicative of a “standard” economic period and less so in “unknown” periods such as today.

Among the largest segments of this market are: recreation, medical apparel (which is considered technical/industrial because of the type of fabric used), automotive interiors, geosynthetics (which are more of a polymer than a fabric) and protective products. With exception, these areas are growing at about 7.5 percent annually with the automotive interiors segment experiencing serious issues at the moment. In this regard, technical fabric end-use markets can be exposed to the credit markets, meaning adjustments need to be considered.

Because this market is so consistent and niche oriented, many apparel manufacturers are investigating entry into technical/industrial fabric niches. They reason that they already have the equipment and employees in place, so why not try a different but related market that is growing rather than retrenching? There are several segments that these manufacturers are investigating. Among the most often looked at are: protective apparel, surgical gowns and awnings.

One of the more puzzling aspects of the textile industry is its distribution chain. In most industries, the distribution chain is fairly straightforward. In the textile industry this is not generally the case. The synthetic, as opposed to the natural, technical/industrial fabric distribution chain starts with a petroleum-based, chemically composed (ethylene glycol, propylene) resin that is processed through a spinneret (a metal disc with numerous minute holes) into a fiber. From this stage, the fiber is shipped to a spinner who spins the fiber into yarn (which many people incorrectly refer to as thread) or a nonwoven processor. If the former is considered, the yarn is woven into a fabric for final product conversion. If the fiber is to be used in a nonwoven (a nonwoven is a fabric that is created by randomly mixing and entangling fibers together and attaching them to one another) application, it can skip the spinning step, thus shortening the distribution chain and reducing the overall cost of the final fabric. Nonwovens also hold the advantage of being diverse in their construction so that any number of characteristics can be put onto or into the fabric.