The textile sector constantly changes and evolves due to the protection requirements of such natural factors as cold and hot weather conditions. The technical textiles reached the last stage during this development process. Technical textiles are not known in daily life, but the products of technical textiles have been extensively used in such different fields of daily life as houses or cars, apparel or agriculture, hospital or highway. Technical textile sector has reached significant rates with its market value and has increased its market share 30 % in such fields as traditional textile and garment industry of textile sector.
Unlike traditional textile and ready wear sectors, technical textiles constantly grow in a strong manner and in many countries including Turkey, the relevant institutions and organisations conduct intense works. At the end of these works, they are now being used in such fields as industry, space industry, military, maritime sector, medicine and construction as well as high technology applications.
Products of High Added Value
Technical textiles are as old as conventional textiles. Production of canvas for ships is accepted as the start of production of technical textiles. After the first synthetic fibre was used in 1939, the production and application fields of the technical textiles have increased widely. Especially thanks to the usability of the synthetic fibres of high resistance and performance, the market of the technical textiles has enriched and the rate of these fibres in the total amount of fibres used in the production of technical textiles has reached 30 %.
Technical textile products of the present day which have high added value came out as a result of the R&D studies in the fields of military and space industry as in many other fields. Technologies for these products are transferred to the private sector after they are used for a while, their use is extended and the private sector is supported.
Technical Textiles in Turkey
Textile sector is one of the traditional branches of industry of our country and is a key factor in success in industry and export. The Turkish textile and ready wear sectors as a whole is the sector having the highest foreign trade surplus. Additionally, they contribute greatly to the decrease of unemployment and welfare of the community. Turkish textile sector has a very special place in the world with its product quality, designs having the power of determining fashion and trends and high technology. Ranking first in the country in such parameters as share in GDP and use of local inputs, the sector constitutes a basis for our existence in the global markets.
More than 200 firms manufacture technical textiles and spun lace fabrics. Although there are large scale and international firms, a part of these manufacturers are small and medium scale firms. Most of the large scale Turkish spun lace and technical textile manufacturers are members of EDANA (European Disposables and Nonwovens Association).
The cities where the production of technical textiles is high are Denizli, İstanbul, Bursa, Gaziantep, Kocaeli and Tekirdağ. Technical textile firms manufacture spun lace, special felts, filters, products for automobile and packaging industries, military uniforms and equipments, medical products, bullet-proof or heat-resistant clothes, easy to care and non-iron fabrics and clothes, nanotechnology fabrics and clothes, multifunctional fabrics, protective products for bacteria and mosquito.
The technical textile sub-groups manufactured in Turkey at the most include automotive textiles, textiles used in cleaning, cosmetics, hygiene sectors and packaging textiles. The main export products of Turkey in the field of technical textiles include big bangs, cord fabrics, technical fabrics, spun lace, safety belts and airbags. Turkey exports the technical textiles that it manufactures to China, Russia, India and France, Italy, England in the European Union as well as Germany which ranks first along with South Korea in the Asia.
Importance must be attached to R&D
Technical textiles which were previously used in covering and adorning people have recently been used in many fields from agriculture to construction, from transport to defence and medicine with multifunctional and high performance. In the ensuing years, it is expected that fields of use of technical textiles and their importance in the human life will increase.
Nowadays, the primary target of the textile sector is to manufacture high quality, original and special products of high added value and to introduce them into the market. To achieve this, R&D studies aimed at developing innovative, competitive and smart technical textiles of high added value should be attached importance.
Turkish textile and apparel sector constitutes 11 % of the registered employment, about 10 % of the registered GDP and % 38 of the export volume of our country. Despite this important role in the economy of the country, the Turkish textile and apparel sector unfortunately has a share of % 1.5 in the total expense amount of R&D. Considering that the rate allocated to R&D studies from the GDP, inadequacy of the R&D studies made in the field of technical textiles is obvious.
