The textile industry has traditionally been one of the largest industries of the United States (US) economy. Escalating production prices and the threat of increased competition, especially from the Asia Pacific region, has meant that foreign producers have gained a greater share of the United States market (Datamonitor, 2004). Additionally, the global elimination of quotas at the end of 2004 has led to greater competition (Technopak, 2007). In today’s competitive global textile and apparel marketplace, industries in developed countries are challenged to provide differentiated products that provide alternatives to low-margin undifferentiated, commodity products.
It has been suggested that companies focus on products that offer a competitive advantage over commodity products (Standard & Poor’s, 2003). Researchers suggest the US textile industry should turn to highly value-added, niche segments in orderto survive in the competitive global market (Oh & Suh, 2003). One way of doing this is to focus on specialized, or niche, products (Parrish, 2004).
A niche market opportunity specific to the textile and apparel industry lies in the application of performance textile products and services. The performance textile sector provides new avenues forUS companies who have experienced little growth due to intensified competition in apparel and household textile markets. All indications are that the applications and markets for technical textilesin the United States and abroad will continue to evolve and grow (Kaufman, 2007).
Performance textiles are textile materials and products manufactured primarily for their technical and performance properties in addition to their aesthetic or decorative characteristics (definition adapted from various sources, including ‘technical textiles” definition from Horrocks & Anand, 2000). Performance textiles provide long term potential for many domestic companies (Chang, Kilduff 2002). In any developed countries technical textiles now account for an average of 40% of both production and consumption according to Michael Janecke of Messe Frankfurt, the organizer of the Techtextile tradeshows (Shisoo, 2007).
