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Felt is one of the oldest fabrics known to humans. From the ancient times to present date its usage has completely changed. However, something is the same ' as for the ancient man as for the today's man felt is worth because of its superior qualities. Which countries do satisfy our consumption? This article introduces largest felt producers by country, based on statistics from the International Trade Center (ITC, in category ' Felt, not impregnated, coated, covered or laminated, of wool or fine animal hair, n.e.s. (excl. needleloom felt and stitch-bonded fibre fabrics).
Origin of Felt
Archeologists discovered evidence about felt-making on wall paintings before the Christ. Ancient men quickly found fabric´s great properties and used it for making warm clothes, saddles, and strong tents.
One of the oldest evidence of felt manufacture and usage was found in Siberia (today's part of the North Asia) in the frozen tombs of nomadic horsemen. Greek and Roman soldiers protected themselves by felt socks, tunics and boots. Felt's popularity spread to the northern countries of Scandinavia as well. Today's industrial felt is produced and exported on a global scale. Germany leads production and exports in Europe, while significant felt suppliers can be found in Asia and the United States of America.
Important Felt Producers
Germany is leading producer and net exporter of wool felt. Its exports amounted to 20,8 mil. EUR in , three times more exports than Italy, the second largest exporter. Exporting power of Germany has stabilized in a four year period, evident on its share of exports: 37,3% in , 31,2% in , 30,9% in , 31,3% in , and 31,7% in .
Based on the data from Trade map of The International Trade Center (ITC), China exported 1,182 tons of felt last year ' the largest quantity of all states. Given its position on a global trade it is not surprising as China is the largest exporter and the second largest importer in the World. Germany was second largest exporter of industrial felt with 1,128 tons.
The United States of America (USA) increased the export volume by more than 120% (507 tons) in in comparison to (226 tons). Exports of other felt producers remained below 500 ton level in , including India, Mexico and Spain. Exports of the USA in equaled to 3,2 mil. EUR, recording a continual growth for past four years.
India continues to increase its felt output and its market share as it is the fourth largest felt exporter. Its share of global profits was 6,2% in and has continued to increase in past ten years.
As already mentioned, other countries such as Mexico, Japan, Italy and Spain are important felt exporters as well, however they are smaller compared to China and Germany. As evident from the historical data, leading states continue to be the same nations and their positions has not changed very much.
Felt can be made from Wool, Viscose, Polyester, Polypropylene, Recycled PET, Kevlar, Nylon or Cotton.
MYTH'. Felt is used as a Noun that describes a fabric but is also derived from a Verb that describes a process. FELTING.
Only wool (mainly from sheep) can be felted.
To FELT is the description of a process of steaming, shrinking and mechanical action to naturally interlock fibres to produce a mat or pad of wool textile.
Other fibres can be blended with wool to change the final characteristics of the textile as long as the product can be 'Felted'.
Any other process that produces a fabric using any of the above fibres (including wool) by any means other than Felting, Weaving or Stitching is classed as a non-woven.All Felts are the same
MYTH'.. All felts are in some way different based upon factors such as
MYTH'
The company is the world’s best industrial polyester felt supplier supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.
Synthetic non-woven fabrics have their place in industry. They make excellent filtration mediums; they can be dyed to brilliant colour ranges. They can exhibit excellent thermal and acoustic insulation, and in some cases can be a lower cost alternative to a wool felt at a similar thickness.
However'.
They cannot hold and transfer oils and liquids as efficiently as wool felt.
They do not cut as cleanly as a wool felt as they tend to fray or split.
Many rely on oil and petrochemicals for their manufacture
They tend to melt at elevated temperatures and the resultant molten mass can ignite
They can be difficult to recycle
TRUE' in some respects.
But'.How many fabrics can you buy in the world that can come as thick as 1' (2.5cms). Not many I would imagine, unless you want to buy wool felt; and some wool felt can be made up to 4' thick (10cms).
On average a square metre of wool felt at 2.5cms thick will contain approximately 2 Australian sheep fleeces (a fleece in Australia weighs approx. 4.5 kilos). That's an awful lot of wool to process and felt together just to manufacture 1 square metre of felt.
It can take weeks to blend, process and dry a piece of wool felt effectively and so the ultimate cost is directly related to the wool cost and the manufacturing time.
But in other ways it's a
MYTH
The majority of wool felt used in the world is manufactured in a thickness range between 1mm and 5mm. At these gauges wool felt is an extremely cost effective product given is particular benefits and diverse characteristics between different hardness's.
1mm felt is manufactured on highly efficient machines that manufacture continuous rolls of product at high speed. Because of it relatively low thickness these felts can be dried very quickly and finished within days.
Even at 5mm thick the manufacturing process is so much quicker than at elevated thickness's and the cost at this level is reflected in the demand.
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