Advances in polymers, fibers, yarns, chemical technology and fabric/web forming technologies especially in past two decades and the ever increasing applications for fibrous material in non-conventional sectors such as protective clothing, medical and health care products, automotive components, building material, geotextiles, agricultural products, sport and leisurewear, filter media and environmental protection etc have lead to the emergence of one of the most dynamic and promising area for the future of the textiles industry - Technical Textiles. Within the overall technical textiles, it is the field non-woven that has grown and expanded its horizons across many applications.

Broadly defined technical textiles are today held to account for 27-40% (about one third approximately) of the worlds annual consumption of fibers, both natural and man made. The wide range in the percent of fiber consumption is mainly due to the differing classifications of technical textiles. Also whether non-woven fiber consumption is included or not has a major influence. While the majority of fiber usage continues to go into traditional apparel and home goods, they also benefit from technology found in the technical textile area. Technical applications present a far more positive outlook however than the traditional fiber applications in textile and clothing markets. Expected volume growth in developing countries will average between 4% and 5% per annum to 2010 of which a large part will come from Asia, mainly China and India. China imported almost 500,000 tons of technical textiles in 2004 and the countrys consumption of such materials has grown by an average of 11% a year since 1998. The latest data on US imports (2004-6) of certain traditional but representative technical textile products show an impressive increase in imports from China (Table 1).

In terms of machinery, exhibitors of machines and accessories for manufacturing nonwovens and technical textiles are expected to have a much-increased presence at ITMA 2007 in Munich, Germany, later this year. Show organizers, CEMATEX and Messe Mnchen International (MMI), say that 64 exhibitors of machines and accessories for nonwovens production will occupy an area in two halls that is 50 percent larger than at the last ITMA event held at Birmingham, UK, in 2003. For technical textiles, there will be machines, accessories and technologies in all trade fair halls ranging from fiber manufacturing to making-up. The growth in exhibition space devoted to nonwovens and technical textiles manufacture reflects the increasing significance of these products in the global market. Production of nonwovens increased by 13 percent to almost one million tons in China in 2006, and increased by about 5 percent to 1.5 million tons in Europe. By the year 2010, global production of nonwovens is forecast to reach almost seven million tons with annual growth rates between 6 and 10 percent (depending on the region and type of nonwovens). Similarly to nonwovens, the world market for technical filament yarn (polyester and polyamide) is expected to double to 3.6 million tons from 2000 to 2010.

The David Rigby Associates (DRA) report of 2003 is widely accepted, both for the approach used and for the classifications that define the twelve end-use applications areas. These end-use application areas were established by DRA in conjunction with Messe Frankfurt Techtextil exhibitions and they depend on a definition of technical textiles as comprising all those textile based products which are used principally for their performance or functional characteristics, rather than for their aesthetics, or are used for non-consumer (i.e. industrial) applications. The study approach then uses the end-use products as a basis to work back to quantify the fiber usage. DRA also presented a forecast for the world technical textile consumption in volume and value terms between 1995-2010, summarized in Table 2a and b, putting some estimates to what is still a gray area.

According to the study in many developed countries like USA and Japan, technical textiles account for over 35 per cent of the textile industry output. For developing countries, such as China, the share is well over 19 per cent, and for India, about five per cent. The study report also highlights that the real engine of world growth in the end-use consumption lies in Asia and "the fastest growth prospects appear to lie with entirely new markets such as India and other emergent Asian economies". Table 3 reveals the maturing of Asia as a significant market in the world of technical textiles. Consumption is expected to grow by only 3.2-3.4% per annum on average in both Europe and the Americas. Asia, however, remains an engine of growth, with annualized consumption growth rates forecast to increase across each of the 5-year periods between 1995 and 2010 reaching 4.6% per annum over the five years to 2010.