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Describe the value chain map for nonwoven apparel in the US, including key players in each segment
Hello! Thanks for your request to describe the value chain map for non-woven apparel in the US. The short answer is that non-woven textiles, especially man-made fabrics like nylon, have greatly impacted apparel since they were introduced. Non-woven textiles are used in protective clothing, such as bullet-proof vests, Hazmat suits, firefighting suits, in fashionable clothing, as lining to reinforce fabric, and to provide benefits like moisture-wicking. The value chain map for non-woven apparel in the US is described below.
INTRODUCTION
The value chain map functions for non-woven apparel in the US are Input Supply, Processing, Production, Assembly and Wholesaling. Identifying key players in apparel only in each segment proved to be difficult as there are a vast amount of companies that participate in multiple functions of the process. It is clear which companies have dominant presence in producing and selling final produced products, but it is not easy to differentiate where they are obtaining their input supply and in some cases it seems that they may own all of the functions.
VALUE CHAIN
INPUT SUPPLY
Non-woven fabrics can be made from virtually any type of fiber, only limited by the intended use or needs of the final product. Both natural and man-made fibers are used. The most common natural fibers used to produce non-woven textiles are cotton and wool. There are seven industry segments related to harvesting raw cotton for use in textiles. These seven segments are jointly represented by the National Cotton Council of America. This organization is the key to accessing cotton suppliers in the US. Synthetic polymers, polyamide 6 and polyamide 6.6 are the most common man-made materials also known as perlon and nylon. The Perlon Company produces the largest amount of perlon and Freudenberg Performance Materials produces the most nylon.
PROCESSING/PRODUCTION/ASSEMBLY
As you can interpret by its name, non-woven fabrics are not made by weaving fibers together. Instead, non-woven fabrics are made by entangling fibers together either mechanically or by using chemicals or heat to bind the fibers into a sheet. There are various methods used to entangle the fibers depending on the source material, but wet laid non-woven fabrics account for the largest portion of the non-woven fabric industry. The wet laid process is similar to how paper is produced. Fibers and raw materials are made into a pulp-like substance by adding water. The water is then removed and then the remaining material is dried. This process is completed using machinery. Fibers can also be chemically bonded using an adhesive to hold fibers together or thermally fusing the fibers to each other or other substances that melt. Once the fabric is produced, there are additional finishing processes that can be used to add benefits to the final product and before the fabric is cut and sent to the customer. For example, the fabric can be treated with a chemical that to make it flame retardant. The fabric can then move to final assembly where it is cut, sewn, accessorized, and packaged/labeled for use or it can be shipped to a customer to be final assembled.
KEY INDUSTRY PLAYERS
The final step in the value chain is for finished products to be sold to industry partners and/or retailers for distribution. As I mentioned above, there are clear industry leaders in the non-woven apparel market, but it is difficult to define key industry players in each function of the value chain because of the vast amount of companies and the fact that overall key players participate in various functions of the chain and in several markets. The apparel market includes several segments, fashion, protective safety, medical, and restaurant. The top 3 market players in the US sell apparel designed for protective safety, medical use, restaurant and for general fashion clothing. Each are summarized below.
Berry Plastics is produces non-woven specialty products for the medical industry. Their Protect: OR coating is used to produce barrier films on operating room scrubs. The parent company Berry Global is located in Evansville, Indiana, with net sales of $6.5 billion in 2016.
DuPont was the first producer of Nylon and though the company sold that business, they are still the market leader in non-woven apparel for protective safety with Kevlar as their biggest brand. They are also working on medical safety products, like an Ebola protection suit. DuPont Safety & Protection accounts for about 11% of its parent's sales, an estimated $2.75 billion in 2016.
Freudenberg Performance Materials specializes in non-woven interlinings for various apparel applications including, fashion, workwear and protective clothing. They employ 3800 employees in 14 countries and sales reached almost 1 billion Euro in 2015. They work with customers to create customized products to fit any specific need.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, top players in the non-woven textile industry include DuPont, Freudenberg, and Berry Plastics. The value chain is made up of Input Supply, Processing, Production, Assembly and Wholesaling.
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