Watch Out for the Opportunities of 'Innovative Textile in the Automotive Industry'

It is a common knowledge that the textile and garment industries are some of the key drivers for Thailand’s economy. With the advancement in innovation, textiles have now expanded to other industries, especially the automotive industry that has a potential to grow steadily. At the moment, functional textile for the automotive industry is used in vehicles such as cars, ships, trains, airplanes or even spaceships.

The samples of products in this category include seat belt, car peripherals, car parts cover, as well as car accessories like hooks for seat belt covers, elastic band for car seats, and seat belts for pets. These products need to comply with the public safety regulations such as wear resistance, water resistance, and cold and heat resistance.

With the advancement of technology, textile innovation in the automotive industry has become modernized, which can be seen from innovations in raw materials, production machinery, weaving, dyeing, and packaging. For example, the production of aramid fiber which is a high-performance synthetic fiber. It is 5 times stronger than steel fibers and is also resistant to heat and chemical corrosion. Most importantly, this fiber is lightweight, so it is being used in various products including parts in the automotive and aerospace industry (Mobitech) like break pads, vehicle tires, chassis for race cars, bicycles and parts in airplanes, among others.

According to the 2017 investment report on the textile industry, the world's largest producer of cellulose fibers from Austria had invested in Thailand because of its geographical location that facilitates logistics to the rest of ASEAN, and has attractive investment package for foreign direct investors as well as proper intellectual property protection laws.

Thailand also has raw materials in abundance and has many consulting organizations such as the Thailand Textile Institute, the Thai Man-Made Fiber Industries Association, the Textile Testing Centre, and many other organizations which makes Thailand a potential hub for high-performance fiber production that can serve both local and international markets.

Nowadays, every business needs to be eco-friendly. Hence, the textile industry has developed Eco-Innovative Textiles by using technologies to develop recyclable raw materials or use recycled materials in the production lines. For mobitech industry, recycled materials are also used for the interior decorations. The example is the world-famous Jaguar Land Rover which uses Econyl to make floor mats in their cars, and other recycled plastics to make other accessories.