From Sunset Industry to a Renaissance: The Ongoing Metamorphosis of the Textile Industry in Taiwan

Do you know that soccer superstars such as Brazil's Neymar, England's Wayne Rooney and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo are representing Taiwan around the globe? All three wear jerseys of Taiwanese functional textiles, made mostly from PET resin produced through intensive, high-end manufacturing technology. The fabrics are lighter and more comfortable than ordinary cotton. Aside from sports jerseys prized by world-class sports stars, more than 50 percent of firefighter clothing used worldwide and 80 percent of yoga clothes in the U.S. are made of Taiwanese functional fabrics. This booming industry dominates 70 percent of the world's functional-textile market.

In the 1980s, Taiwan's textile manufacturing became a sunset industry as rising labor costs, the appreciating New Taiwan Dollar and competition from China forced companies to move overseas or fold. However, the recent trend to synthesize fashion and function has changed all that. Thanks to strong R & D capabilities, Taiwan's textile industry produces clothes that are both practical and stylish, instead of just passively fulfilling overseas orders for low-profit contract manufacturing.

The high-tech functional textiles produced in Taiwan come in many varieties, such as fabrics that are reflective, nonslip, puncture-resistant, anti-electromagnetic-radiation and those made from recycled PET bottles. For today's textile industry in Taiwan, adding innovative functions to fabrics is not a question of if but when.

夕陽工業大復興：台灣紡織業的美麗蛻變

你知道巴西的涅馬爾、英格蘭的韋恩．魯尼和葡萄牙的 C．羅納度等足球巨星，正代表台灣在世界各地征戰嗎？這三位球員穿的都是由台灣機能布料所製的球衣，原料主要是以密集、高端的製成技術所做成的 PET 樹脂。這類布料比一般棉質布料更輕盈且更舒適。除了深受世界級體育明星重視的運動衣，全世界有超過五成的消防衣和美國八成的瑜珈服，都是由台灣的機能布製成。這個迅速發展的產業支配了全球七成的機能性布料市場。
在 1980 年代，台灣的紡織製造業成了夕陽工業，原因在於勞力成本上漲、新台幣升值以及來自中國的競爭，迫使企業移往海外甚或倒閉。然而，近年來結合時尚與機能的趨勢改變了這一切。幸虧有強大的研發能力，台灣的紡織業能生產既實用且時髦的衣服，不再以低獲利的代工製造被動地完成海外訂單。
台灣製造的高科技機能布料種類多元，包含反光、止滑、耐穿刺、防電磁輻射等布料，還有回收寶特瓶製成的纖維布。對今日的台灣紡織產業而言，增添創新功能於布料中，不過是早晚的問題而已。