In the wake of global pandemic COVID 19, the general response of Pakistan’s textile industry in meeting the country’s textile based personal protective equipment (PPEs) requirement remains poor. This response is not a surprise as Pakistan’s textile industry, despite the country’s largest organized industrial sector, focuses mainly on conventional textiles. PPEs and several other functional textiles are classified as technical textile. Technical textile products used primarily for their technical performance and functional properties. Most of the PPEs used in healthcare are made using nonwoven fabrics. In Pakistan, there are only 3 known nonwoven fabric producers. There is not a single know producer of melt blown nonwoven fabrics which are being used in N95 masks and other sensitive protective gears. Due to high demand these days, the availability of quality products is limited in the global market. Furthermore, a credible testing laboratory is unavailable in the country to test and certify such products. Due to this fact, low quality products with unknown protection flooded into the market.
Technical textiles are divided into 12 main categories and in case of need, our situation in other categories is not different than medical textiles.
In comparison to 700 billion USD market of conventional textiles, which accounts for 78% of the total market, the value of the technical textile market is about 200 billion USD. This can be attributed to the increasing demand for functional products in different end-use areas such as personal safety, light weight replacement materials for metals, medical and health care, and industrial applications.
The main areas of technical textiles are given below:
- Protech are the protective textiles that are used in protection against various threats such as heat and radiation for fire fighter clothing, molten metals for welders, bulletproof jackets for army and police officers, and chemical materials for labors working in petrochemical. They also provide protection against bacterial and blood pollution in hospitals.
- Sportech are the sports textiles used mainly for making sportswear, including sports shoes and other sports accessories. Increasing interest in active sports and outdoor leisure activities such as flying and sailing sports, climbing, and cycling has led to immense growth in the consumption of textile materials related to sport goods and equipment.
- Packtech are the packaging textiles used for bags, packaging sacks, Flexible Intermediate Bulk Carriers (FIBC) and wrappings for textile bales and carpets, durable papers, tea bags, and other food and industrial product wrappings.
- Oekotech are the environmental textiles used in environmental protection applications, such as floor sealing, erosion protection, air cleaning, prevention of water pollution, water cleaning, waste treatment/recycling, depositing area construction, product extraction, and domestic water sewerage plants.
- Mobiltech is used in the transportation industry for the construction of vehicles such as automobiles, railways, and ships. Examples of Mobiltech include seat covers, seat belts, nonwovens for cabin air filtration, airbags, parachutes, inflatable boats, air balloons, truck covers and restraints which are significant textile end-uses in the transportation sector. Pakistan is importing most of these textiles for locally manufactured vehicles.
- Medtech includes all textile structures that are designed and manufactured for a medical application. They are used in health care and hygiene applications in both consumer and medical markets. They are generally used in bandages and sutures that are used for stitching the wounds.
- Indutech are the industrial textiles used in different industries for functions such as separation and filtration, transportation of materials, and serving as substrates for abrasive sheets and other coated products.
- Hometech is used in manufacturing for many home furnishing fabrics including carpet backings, curtains, and wall coverings. Much of Hometech consists of fire-retardant fabrics.
- Geotech are textile fabrics which can be woven, nonwoven, or knitted fabric used for a variety of purposes such as support, drainage and separation at/or below ground level, coastal engineering, earth and road construction, dam engineering, soil sealing, and drainage systems.
- Clothtech includes functional textile products that are most often invisible components in clothing and footwear products e.g., interlinings, sewing thread, insulating fiberfill, and waddings.
- Buildtech is used in construction and architectural applications, such as for concrete reinforcement, facade foundation, interior construction, insulation, noise prevention, visual protection, protection against sun light, and building safety. The field of textile architecture is also expanding as textile membranes are increasingly being used for roof construction.
- Agro-textiles, also known as Agrotech, are used in agricultural applications related to growing and harvesting of crops and animals. They are also used in forestry, horticulture, and animal and poultry rearing, including animal clothing.
The biggest market of technical textiles is automotive, healthcare, construction, agriculture sector, and military applications. Since technical textiles are sophisticated products based on knowledge, technology and intellectual properties, the profit involved is also high. On the other hand, margins in conventional textiles are squeezing day by day. Due to support by the current govt., there has been an improvement in textile exports after remaining stagnant for several years but increase in export volume does not correspond to the increase in export value. It is encouraging that the stakeholders are aiming to double textile exports to achieve 25 billion USD by 2025. However, with current product range, this is only possible if the capacity of the industry is doubled. It requires a big investment which seems very difficult in the current scenario. The second option is to enhance the capacity with product diversification e.g. start producing high end technical textiles along with conventional textiles. India adapted similar approach and its technical textiles market is valued at US$ 17 billion, which has been growing a CAGR of 12% since the last five years.
Being the largest organized industrial sector of Pakistan, textile associations should come forward and sit with the policy makers and universities to devise a strategy. A national level working group should be formed to present its recommendations for strengthening of this sector. Potential technical textile producers/exporter should be identified leading to the formation of clusters for each of the twelve specialized areas. This selected industry should dedicate at least 2% of their revenue for R&D. The clusters should be linked with the universities for R&D support. Well-equipped specialized testing laboratory for each area should be established in the associated universities. Capacity building trainings should be arranged for the stake holders. A web portal containing information of all the raw materials manufacturers, product manufacturers, end users and R&D facilities should be developed to showcase the national capacity. Govt. should offer special incentives for industries willing to shift to this sector. With an organized effort over a period of 5 years, the industry will not only be exporting more, but will also be able to meet national needs indigenously.