Technical Textile Retrospective

Abstract: Innovative technologies and products, high-performance materials and multi functional fibres are nowadays emerging and are known as technical textiles. This phenomenon, which is quite new in our vocabulary, but the technique and heritage of using textile as functional applications is rather old. The purpose of this thesis is to track the technical textile industries and product segment in Swedish history since the beginning of the industrial revolution and hereby contribute to a broader insight in the Swedish technical textile history. Five different technical textiles segments have been described with a company example after each. A case study methodology is chosen to deepen the analysis of two companies that acted in this particular segment of technical textiles. The companies Jonsereds Fabriker AB and Göteborgs Remfabriks AB were selected. By applying the business model canvas is this thesis trying to illustrate why the companies experienced difficulties to keep up the technical textile production during the 1970s and finally had to close down. By applying a modern business model to historical companies is this thesis furthermore proposing to additional research in the emerging technical textile field.