Textile Makers in Taiwan Create a High-Tech Niche

The following is an excerpt from an article in:


The New York Times
Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Textile Makers in Taiwan Create a High-Tech Niche

By LIN YANG

TAIPEI — Jason Chen knows what it feels like for globalization to threaten his family business.

In 1992, he went to mainland China to find inexpensive raw materials for his garment and blanket business in Taiwan, following his competitors in the textile industry as they rushed to the mainland for free land, inexpensive labor and loose environmental regulations.

But when a shipment of cloth he bought proved defective, his client rejected his garments, and he lost about $100,000. It was enough to push him to take matters into his own hands, and he founded Singtex Industrial to focus on developing higher-value, waterproof synthetic cloth.

“When you go cheap, you have no good quality control,” he said. “Many of us went to China for a new, sweet beginning but tasted only bitterness in the end.”

Singtex’s story parallels the transformation of the textile industry in Taiwan over the last two decades. Once the main pillar of Taiwan’s economic development, textiles have given way to high-technology gadgets and components. Fabric mills and garment factories moved offshore during the last 20 years to focus on lower costs and higher volumes.

Yet the industry has re-emerged over the past 15 years, with companies spinning out a plethora of high-technology fabrics that are being snapped up by European and North American brands. Those materials are used in products like ski jackets, sports jerseys, outdoor furniture and firefighters’ protective gear.

“These fabrics have special production, coating and lamination processes, and we want to keep those patents here,” said Robert Jou, a director at the state-funded Taiwan Textile Research Institute.

Data from the Taiwan Stock Exchange for 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available, show the average net margin at textile companies was 12.7 percent, compared with 7.6 percent for companies producing electronic products like semiconductors, computers and communication components.

Singtex owns 34 patents, including one for S.Cafe, a polyester cloth with coffee grounds mixed into it. The coffee grounds, recycled from local 7-Eleven convenience stores and Starbucks cafes, absorb odors, giving the fabric added value for athletic clothing. Singtex counts the Timberland and Hugo Boss brands as its customers, and has even landed a deal to supply fabric for the Liverpool soccer club’s uniforms.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.