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The latest round of global non-woven investment is in response to the growing demand for medical protective fabrics for gowns and drapes during the Covid-19 crisis. According to a recently released study by Research Dive, the response to COVID-19 will result in an annual growth rate of 10% between now and 2026. This growth will be driven by current demand, but also by the government's stockpiling of these materials for future health crises.

Last week, Switzerland's Jacob Holm was the latest company to announce an increase in personal protective equipment (PPE) materials, which makes Sontara fabrics and other nonwovens used in medical and wet wipes. The company will implement a company-wide investment program that will expand its production capacity by 0.5 billion square meters per year. The project, called Project Boost, started last month and will be completed in the third quarter of 2022.

CEO Martin Mikkelsen said: "Project Boost project promotion is our global partners to increase production capacity, provide more sustainable substrate selection and other needs, and continue to maintain the position of non-woven innovation leader."

Last month, the company reported a 65% increase in production of its Sotnara medical fabrics during the coronavirus pandemic, and the company posted record production at two of its five plants in April.

"This situation is unprecedented. However, for Jacob Holm, the only way forward is to rely on what we know and make the most of our experience to help curb the spread of COVID-19 and have a positive impact on the health and well-being of our society," Mikkelsen said."

Jacob Holm, in its efforts to fight Covic-19, has also partnered with sports brand Under Armour to produce face masks and isolation suits.

Other non-woven manufacturers are also investing to meet the demand for medical clothing materials, including construction specialist Johns Manville, who announced in May that he had turned his Spartanburg, South Carolina plant to produce disposable medical clothing, and Hollingsworth & Vose, which has shifted its focus from traditional medical, automotive and filtration markets to making a material for non-surgical clothing.

"H & V is already producing key materials used to combat Covid-19, including filter media for N95 respirators, filter media for respirators and materials used in surgical masks. It makes sense for us to see how we can meet the needs of frontline health care workers," said Jeff Crane, head of H & V ".

The spunbond material Manville by Johns is made of polyester and is designed for the production of Class 3 medical clothing. Souvik Nandi, Technical Director of Nonwovens for Johns Manville Engineering Products, said: "Compared with materials used in Class 1 and Class 2 medical clothing, this fabric provides superior liquid barrier properties, while also providing comfort and stitching strength."

John Vasuta, president of Johns Manville's engineered products business, said: "This investment is to meet the urgent need for medical clothing in North America and Europe." Our team is rapidly developing solutions and manufacturing a new coated polyester spunbond fabric.

DuPont, a veteran manufacturer of medical clothing materials, significantly increased production of Tyvek earlier this year to help curb the spread of the Covid-19 and protect health care workers. The "TyvekTogether" plan includes expanded capacity in Richmond, Virginia, protecting more first-line responders by having others join us, and will provide 6 million additional non-surgical isolation suits per month.

John Richard, vice president and general manager of DuPont Security Solutions, said: "We urgently need protective clothing, and we believe that working with other companies to convert existing cutting and sewing production capabilities to protective clothing manufacturing is the fastest way to protect more people. Our dedicated employees around the world are working 24 hours a day to provide more Tyvek materials and patterns to more organizations, and to protect those who protect us."

In addition to increasing capacity, the TyvekTogether plan also introduced a new dedicated Tyvek fabric to increase the production of COVID-19 responsive garments to 15 million pieces per month.

Tyvek style 1222A has similar barrier properties to the core DuPont TM Tyvek 400 apparel products. It optimizes the use of materials by adjusting the drape and feel of the fabric, and is provided to existing and new customers in a good package. For customers who are not familiar with the construction of medical clothing, DuPont provides cutting and stitching functions to increase garment production as soon as possible.

David Dominisch, director of global operations, said: "We are providing design, pattern and support so that small sewing shops and processors can join in as quickly as possible to help make these garments. We are trying to get as many partners as possible to meet local demand and this initiative is underway."