Technical textiles as defined as textile materials and products manufactured primary for their technical performance and functional properties, rather than for their aesthetic and decorative it characteristics.
Technical textiles are so ubiquitous that is difficult to envisage a world without them. Their end-uses range from simple products such as dental floss and sutures, to heart values and vascular prostheses from air filters to heat and flame barriers; and from car seat covers to load bearing composite materials.
A Technical textile is a textile product manufactured for non-aesthetic purposes, where function is the primary criterion.
It is a large and growing sector and supports a vast array of other industries.
Technical textiles include textiles for automotive applications, medical textiles (e.g., implants), geotextiles (reinforcement of embankments), agrotextiles (textiles for crop protection), and protective clothing (e.g., heat and radiation protection for fire fighter clothing, molten metal protection for welders, stab protection and bulletproof vests), and spacesuits).
Over all, global growth rates of technical textiles are about 4% per year greater than the growth of home and apparel textiles, which are growing at a rate of 1% per year.
In present market opportunities and in free quota system the importance of technical textile materials is increasing to accommodate the needs of requirement. Nowadays the most widely technical textile materials are used in filter clothing, furniture, hygiene medicals and construction material.