Editor’s Note: John Foster is Executive Vice President of Foster Needle Co. Inc., Manitowoc, Wis. This article was published originally in INDA’s Needlepunch Short Course Book of Papers. Copyright held by INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry; 1001 Winstead Dr., Suite 460; Cary, N.C. 27513; phone (919) 677-0060; fax (919) 677-0211.

It can be said with little argument that needlepunching is the oldest method of producing a nonwoven product. Defining the exact history of needlepunching is difficult, however, because until very recently the industry has been fairly unorganized and fragmented. Also, it took many years for needlepunching to become a popular method for interlocking fibers.

Most accounts trace the roots of the needlepunch industry back to England, while others trace it to Germany. The most likely theory is that the first needlepunching, in its crudest form, occurred in Germany around 1860. The first commercially built needle loom was made in 1866 by Garnet Bywater. It is possible that these first needle looms were used in England in either the Lancashire or Dundee townships. Pressed wool production began in this area as well, and it is generally assumed that this is where needlepunched products were made first in fairly high quantity.

The Modern Needle Loom
The first needle loom produced in the United States was made by the James Hunter Machine Co. in 1948. The Hunter Co., based in North Adams, Mass., continued to develop its needle looms through the 1940s and 1950s. Then, in 1957, James Hunter produced the first high-speed needle loom, the "Hunter Model 8," which is still used today. This was the first needle loom completely counter-balanced with eccentrics running opposed to each other and mounted in pairs. It was also the first to operate at 800 strokes per minute.

Further developments in needle loom design were carried out in the 1960s and 1970s by both Oskar Dilo of Germany and Fehrer of Austria. Over the last 15 years these two companies have led the way with the most notable and successful needle loom developments.

   
Early Needlepunch Fabrics
The needled products of decades ago were made from natural fibers, the most popular being animal hair, jute, coir, cotton, wool and sisal. Given this rather crude raw material source, the products manufactured during these years were also rather crude and simple - mostly padding and waddings for the mattress and furniture industries and carpet underlay pads for the home furnishings industry.

The earliest application of a needlepunched fabric for the garment industry came toward the end of World War II, when the supply of virgin fibers was very limited. As a result of this fiber shortage, an entrepreneurial needlepuncher in Massachusetts had an idea to produce needlepunched fabrics for the garment industry. He gathered tailors’ clippings from the local area and shredded them into fibers, needled the fiber we now know as "shoddy" into paddings, then cut and sewed these pads into coats sold to the U.S. government for American POW camp prisoners.

Typical of the early years of needlepunching is an operation in Milwaukee. In the 1950s this plant needlepunched animal hairs into carpet underlay pads. Numerous factories needle-punched animal hair padding and waddings in the 1950s and 1960s, most of them located near the major U.S. animal stockyards such as Chicago and Milwaukee. During the war years these mills also would pick up the hair of American GIs and use this hair along with that of animals! As the supply of synthetic fibers became more available, needlepunching animal hairs became less popular.

While the needlepunching industry of today no longer resembles that of the past, the American industry still has an "image" problem, stemming from a lack of information among buyers on the advantages of needlepunched nonwovens in a variety of products and applications (Table 1).

   
A Fragmented Industry
Undoubtedly, the international needlepunching industry is very fragmented. There is little written about the industry in nonwovens textbooks, and the only conference in the world dedicated solely to the needlepunching industry is conducted by INDA in the United States every two years. This fragmentation differs greatly from other, more cohesive nonwoven manufacturing processes such as spunbonds, meltblown, spunlace, thermal-bondeds and calender-bondeds.

Why has the U.S. needlepunch industry been living its life in a black hole? There are two reasons. First, the needlepunched products that make up this industry are very diverse, as Table 1 shows. These products are manufactured in market segments varying from space shuttle tiles to automotive interiors to blood filters to carpet underlay pads. The U.S. industry is made up of 10 to 15 unique and often diametrically opposed industries, which makes it difficult to keep all needlepunchers concentrated and organized.

Second, though the actual number of needlepunchers in the United States is fairly large - more than 270 companies perform needlepunching functions - the majority of U.S. companies that needlepunch are fairly small, family-run operations. Everyone has heard of Foss, Amoco, Phillips and Lydall, but few have heard of the smaller companies that make up the vast majority of needlepunchers around the world.

In spite of these two handicaps, most companies involved with needlepunching report many advantages in an industry where there are such broad and diverse markets. The marketing and sales possibilities are boundless.

  
Major Market Categories
Needlepunched fabrics tend to fall into 12 general categories: geotextiles, automotive, filtration, medical, apparel, papermaker felt, marine, industrial, sport, home furnishings, aerospace and, of course, the dreaded "other" category. Because the needlepunching industry is so diverse and multifaceted, there are many niche market possibilities for which needlepunched products can be produced.

The make, type and age of needlepunching equipment required to produce each and every type of needled product differ greatly. In geotextiles, for example, a needlepunching line can run from $200,000 to as much as $3 million. In this business it seems old equipment never makes it to the junk yard, because the demand for older and slower needlepunching equipment is high in almost all markets around the world.

Of course, some needlepunched products require investment in new, high-speed equipment, while other products can be made successfully on older equipment. Those sectors where used equipment is more common include marine, industrial and home furnishings markets.

The two most competitive markets in North America are geotextiles and automotive. In 1993, 340 million square yards of geotextiles (nonwovens were 250 million square yards of this total) were produced in the United States. Those North American companies involved today with needlepunched automotive fabrics are experiencing some of the best business conditions in many years, with plants operating six and seven days per week. Not counting the paperfelt companies, these two markets include 90 percent of North America’s largest needlepunching companies.

Of the numerous needlepunching markets around the world, the three largest producers are North America, Europe and Asia. Almost all countries of the world have some level of ongoing needlepunching. Some of the medium-sized markets that continue to grow annually include Mexico, Brazil, South Africa and Australia. Within these markets, the category that is a constant presence is automotive. Without exception, those regions that have automotive manufacturing also have strong needlepunching markets.

  
Markets in North America
North America (the United States and Canada) is the world’s single-largest needlepunching market. The largest concentration of U.S. needlepunchers is in the South. The next largest concentration is in the New England area. The roots of American needle-punching were established in this region, and here you’ll find a number of companies that have been in the business since the 1950s.

The Midwest and West Coast are home to about 20 percent of U.S. needlepunchers. Producers are very spread out in this region, where the most common products are for automotive, filtration and home furnishings end-uses.

Of the 12 major needlepunched product categories, the top five in North America are home furnishings, automotive, geotextiles, filtration and apparel.

  
The European Industry
European and American needlepunch markets are similar in age. Europe is the birthplace of the needle-punching industry, and the United States was among the first regions to capitalize on the technology. If you compare each individual country in Europe to the United States as a whole, no European country compares to the U.S. in either the number of needlepunchers or the amount of material produced. This is not the case when combining Eastern and Western Europe. In all of Europe there are more than 370 companies performing some type of needlepunching function.

Much like the U.S. market, the European needlepunching market is diverse and frag-mented. The Europeans, however, have more organi-zations and trade shows that tend to focus on smaller and more specific end-products.

Another similarity between Europe and the United States is the equipment used to needle-punch fabrics. In both regions, both used and new equipment is in operation, with the age of equipment mainly dependent on the type of products being made. Also, the equipment in Europe and America (both new and used) is similar in layout, design and make.

The European continent is producing more technical needlepunched products than its American neighbors, mainly because there is not a domestic market for many of these technical felts in the United States. A case in point is synthetic leather. High quality synthetic leather is a popular product in Europe and is even more popular in Asian markets.

  
Asian Needlepunching
The needlepunching scene in Asia is different from almost any other. It is difficult to estimate the number of needlepunchers in Asia, but it is safe to say that the number of needlepunching companies in the whole of Asia is much greater than both the U.S. and European markets.

Perhaps the largest needle-punching market in all of Asia is mainland China. The number of needlepunchers in this region is around 90 to 150. Because the country has been closed to the rest of the world for so many years, and because of a lack of hard currency, the vast majority of needle looms, fiber preparatory equipment and even felting needles are made in China.

As China opens its doors and turns toward more of an open-market economy, quality problems will slowly but surely improve. Billions of investment dollars are flowing into China, and many predict that China will become the next paper tiger of this region. The main products manufactured in China are blankets, floor coverings and flat needle-punched felts.

By far the most notable country involved in needlepunching within Asia is Japan. The number of needlepunchers in this market is approximately 130 to 145 companies. The equipment used to produce many of the products in Japan come from various Asian countries, but mainly from Japan and Taiwan. The traditional European loom and equipment producers have a good share of the Japanese market as well.

The main products manu-factured in Japan are automotive, padding and waddings, geotextiles and carpet products. Needle-punched automotive products made in Japan are different than those found in the United States. The Japanese tend to use more polyester; the United States uses more polypropylene. The Japanese also tend to use finer deniers. In automotive applications, the Japanese use many more needlepunched products in far more areas. Most notable are the headliner and carpeted floor areas.

The quality of the needle-punched products manu-factured in Japan is among the best in the world. Most Japanese companies, both large and small, have a research and development department within the organization. A significant level of R&D is done at larger mills, and there are a number of Japanese who are considered true experts in all facets of needlepunching.

Korea and Taiwan are the other two countries in Asia that are large needlepunching markets. These two countries are among the world’s largest producers of synthetic leather and other substrate-coated needlepunched products. This is where most Nike, Reebok and other brands of athletic shoes are produced.