On July 21, local time, Trump earnestly persuaded the American people to wear masks and maintain social distance at an epidemic briefing held at the White House. Masks once again became hot news.
If you say what is the hottest textile product on the market in 2020, I believe everyone will say masks. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, masks have attracted too much attention from everyone, and at the same time, they have also changed some of everyone’s inherent impressions of textiles.
In everyone’s common consciousness, textiles are some daily necessities such as clothes and socks. In fact, in the textile industry, in addition to traditional clothing and home textiles, there is another type of special textiles. This type of textiles focuses on functionality and is widely used in medical and health, environmental protection, transportation, aerospace, New energy and many other fields.
Masks are like this, and the military fabrics and flame-retardant fabrics we are going to introduce next are also two very representative ones. kind.
Military fabrics integrate weaving, printing and dyeing, and finishing technologies
Compared with traditional textiles, more attention is paid to the appearance of fabrics In terms of external performance such as shape and feel, military products have higher requirements on the function of fabrics. It can be said that they are the culmination of a series of technologies such as weaving, printing and dyeing, and finishing. They have great impact on the technology accumulation, development capabilities and quality of fabric companies. Control is a test.
Due to the high technical threshold, military fabrics have always performed well in the market, and their profit levels are higher than ordinary fabrics. Affected by the epidemic this year, although the number of orders for military fabrics has decreased by about 20-30% compared with previous years, the overall performance still has a great advantage over conventional fabrics, and profits have not been greatly affected.
But on the other hand, due to the rapid transformation and upgrading of Shengze’s textile industry in recent years, the market for military fabrics has also undergone some changes compared with the past. In addition to some special fabrics with particularly high technical content, some more conventional fabrics Military fabrics have begun to gradually become “popular”.
The person in charge of a fabric company that started out as military fabrics said: “Now the textile industry is progressing very fast in terms of weaving and finishing technology. When a new technology or product comes out, it may not be long before it is launched. Therefore, the technical advantages of military fabrics are not as obvious as before, competition has become fierce, and profits are not as high as before. Therefore, the company is also embarking on diversified development, while ensuring the share of the original military fabrics. At the same time, we strive to develop various other new functional fabrics and do not put all our eggs in one basket.”
It can be said that with the advancement of technology, more and more More and more textile companies have the ability to produce military fabrics. Since the production profits of military fabrics have certain advantages over traditional textiles, competition will inevitably become fierce. Profits have declined compared with previous years. At present, The profit margin can be maintained at 20%-30%.
In terms of transaction methods, unlike conventional fabrics, which are purchased in stock or place orders, the military fabrics currently supplied to the army are almost all conducted in the form of bidding, and the company requires relevant qualifications. Therefore, The threshold is still not low.
As one of the largest fabric producing areas in the country, Shengze’s special military textile production capacity is currently around 5 million meters per year, while the production capacity of conventional military fabrics is as high as around 50 million meters. However, compared with Compared with Shengze area’s annual textile production capacity of more than 25 billion meters, it is still a drop in the ocean.
However, although the volume is small compared with conventional fabrics, the production and development of military fabrics can effectively promote the technological progress of textile enterprises and improve the development capabilities of textiles. It is a concentrated expression of the technical level of regional textile enterprises.
Flame-retardant fabric
Production needs to go through “99-81 difficulties”
Flame-retardant Fabrics are also a “technology-intensive” industry in the fabric industry and are widely used in automobiles, aircraft and even high-speed rail. In recent years, with the continuous development of my country’s rail transit industry, flame-retardant fabrics have also become a “must-have” for high-tech enterprises, and the ability to produce these fabrics is also a reflection of the company’s technical strength.
For example, if you want to produce a piece of DTY elastic Oxford high-strength flame-retardant insulation cloth suitable for aviation, high-speed rail and other rail transit fields, the company needs to strictly control the raw materials from the beginning. In addition to the ordinary flame-retardant effect, The fabric also undergoes rigorous testing on combustion smoke concentration toxicity, heat release, volatile organic compounds and other aspects, and the environmental protection standards meet national or international standards. Therefore, from the development to the production of such a fabric, it can be said that it has to “go through ninety-nine and eighty-one difficulties.”
It can be seen that such high-performance industrial flame-retardant fabrics need to be produced Enterprises check every step from raw materials to finished fabrics, and no mistakes can be made in any link. They have extremely high requirements for the company’s technology, quality control and industrial chain integrity. The profit margin of this type of flame-retardant fabrics fluctuates greatly depending on the product. Generally, It can exceed 30%, and the annual output of this type of fabric in Shengze is about 3 million meters.
Even affected by the epidemic this year, the overall sales of industrial flame-retardant fabrics have not been greatly affected. , the order situation of enterprises can basically maintain around 80% of previous years. It can be said that demand is very stable and profits are basically unaffected.
In addition, there are also There is another type of flame-retardant fabric, which is mainly used to produce flame-retardant curtain fabrics, flame-retardant tent fabrics, flame-retardant luggage fabrics, etc. It is a type of conventional functional fabric. The coating finishing technology used is the same as industrial flame-retardant fabrics. Although the fabrics are similar, the production requirements are relatively much lower. At this stage, most finishing companies have similar technologies. At this stage, the profits are basically maintained at around 10%-15%, which is basically the same as the profits of traditional fabrics. The industry in Shengze area The scale is close to 100 million meters.
In this year’s epidemic environment, this type of conventional flame-retardant fabrics has been relatively greatly affected. This year’s orders have generally dropped by more than 30%.
Editor’s Note
In today’s global epidemic situation, compared with conventional fabrics, military fabrics and flame-retardant fabrics are “technical” in the textile industry. The performance of “intensive products” is relatively better. Due to the high technical threshold, the decline in orders and profits is relatively not obvious.
On the other hand, due to the technology in the textile industry, especially in the field of finishing With the rapid progress, more and more companies in the market have also acquired the ability to produce such fabrics through technology accumulation. Driven by high profits, competition in related fields has gradually become fiercer, and the market is becoming more and more ” Let a hundred flowers bloom.” </p
