Abstract
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
- The U.S. market for smart textiles was worth an estimated $70.9 million in
2006. This figure is expected to reach $78.6 million in 2007 and $391.7
million in 2012, at a CAGR of 37.9% between 2007 and 2012.
- Consumer products accounted for the bulk (98%) of U.S. smart textiles
sales in 2006. However, the projected rapid growth of military, biomedical,
and vehicle safety and comfort applications for smart textiles is expected to
have a major impact on both the size and structure of the market.
- Sales of conductive fabric products are expected to more than double each
year between 2007 and 2012.
INTRODUCTION
Smart textiles are able to sense electrical, thermal, chemical, magnetic, or
other stimuli from the environment and adapt or respond to them, using
functionalities integrated into the textile structure. They do not have a
fixed set of characteristics, but are an active element that works with its
own control and response mechanism.
The subject of this report represents a relatively new type of textile
technology. It will have a potentially broad, as yet unforeseeable impact on
the market for protective clothing, medical textiles, and other textile
products and applications.
The U.S. military historically has been the leader in developing smart textile
technologies and applications in such areas as body armor, artificial muscles,
biochemical hazard protection, physiological status monitoring, location, and
embedded communications and computing. Many of these same technologies also
have potential civilian and commercial applications. Indeed, the commercial
sector has been ahead of the military in commercializing smart textile
technologies.
SCOPE OF STUDY
This report contains:
- Descriptions of various types of current and potential smart textile
technologies
- The current market status of smart textile technologies, trends, and
forecasts of growth over the next 5 years for the U.S. market, along with an
assessment of their global context
- A discussion of factors that will influence long-term market development
- An examination of applications and end users with the greatest commercial
potential through 2012
- A comprehensive patent analysis, plus company profiles of leading players.
METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION SOURCES
The specific methodologies and assumptions used to develop the market
projections are provided as detailed market estimates and projections. This
section includes some general observations concerning:
- This report' s approach to estimating the market for developmental
technologies whose commercial potential generally has not been demonstrated.
- Estimating the market for smart textile applications rather than smart
textiles per se.
ESTIMATING THE MARKET FOR DEVELOPMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES
Projecting the market for emerging technologies such as most smart textile
applications whose commercial potential has not yet been proven, is a
challenging task. This report uses a multiphase approach to identify
applications with the greatest commercial potential and quantify the market
for them, as described below.
In the first phase of the analysis, BCC Research identified a "long list" of
smart textile technologies (including technologies that still are under
development) and mapped them against potential applications, such as
information technology/electronics, biotechnology, and health care. In the
second phase, those technologies that appear to have little likelihood of
making it into commercial production in the next 5 years were eliminated,
through a literature review and statements from industry sources. The result
of phase two was a "short list" of technologies and applications with the
greatest near to mid-term commercial potential.
The third phase focused on quantifying the potential market for each
short-listed smart textile technology application and identifying the main
prerequisites for commercial success. Various methodologies and data sources
were used to develop the projections, including trend line projections,
input-output analysis, and estimates of future demand from industry sources.
ESTIMATING THE MARKET FOR SMART TEXTILE APPLICATIONS
Due to the difficulty of quantifying the inputs of smart textiles required to
produce such a wide range of products, many of which still are in a
developmental stage, these market projections generally reflect the
anticipated value of smart textile applications rather than the smart textile
component per se. For example, projections for biomedical "smart shirts" are
based on the market value of the shirt rather than the cost of the smart
textile material used to fabricate it.
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