The Popularity of 'Agro Textiles’ Continues in the Textile Industry

The history of textiles and garment can be traced back to when pre-historic humans learned how to use wool, animal skins, or plant fibers to make simple clothing. Nowadays, thanks to advanced technologies, special textiles for specific applications have been developed not only for use in the textile and garment industry, but also for various applications which extend to cover the agricultural industry.

As the applications for textile continue to diversify, so too is the growing need for functional textiles that can serve other purposes beside embellishment. Agro textiles have become a branch of the textile industry with an intended use for agricultural purposes such as gardening, fisheries, forestry, and horticulture. Some examples include covers for weed prevention, fishing nets, energy saving covers for greenhouses, bags for plants transport, mesh fabrics for agricultural produce, ribbon and tying tapes for fruits, bags for growing mushroom, ventilation netting for fences and tarpaulins, just to name a few.

During the years 2015-2019, functional textiles were forecast to have the highest growth rate in the market as they were associated with many industries and were used in every process from upstream, midstream to downstream. At present, functional textiles are used to manufacture many products. The textiles used in the agricultural industry constitute a medium-sized market that keeps growing and was valued at 8.204 billion baht.

Most of the textiles used in the agricultural industry have a wide range of properties and applications. For examples, they are weather resistant, microorganisms resistant, can protect the plants from insects and the sun’s rays, as well as can be used in aquaculture and livestock protection. At the moment, the innovative green textiles which are made with environmentally friendly processes have been introduced as they can reduce the toxic emissions and are more sustainable for the textile industry. It also aligns with the eco-friendly trend which focuses on using less energy and reducing production waste such as the plasma technology that can decorate the fabrics without using water and chemicals, the use of silk glue in chemical cotton dressing, including the introduction of other technologies that are increasingly popular in the textile industry.

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