The Future of Spunlace Nonwovens

By John Nelson, Editor, Smithers

Global consumption of spunlace nonwovens continues to grow. The latest exclusive data from Smithers – The Future of Spunlace Nonwovens to 2028 [https://www.smithers.com/en-gb/services/market-reports/nonwovens/the-future-of-spunlace-nonwovens-to-2028]—show that in 2023 world consumption will reach 1.85 million tonnes, worth $10.35 billion.

As with many nonwoven segments, spunlace resisted any downward trend in consumer purchases during the pandemic years. Volume consumption has increased at a +7.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2018, while value surged at an +8.1% CAGR. Smithers forecasts demand will accelerate further over the next five years, with a +10.1% CAGR pushing value to $16.73 billion in 2028. Across the same period consumption of spunlace nonwovens will increase to 2.79 million tonnes.

Wipes – Sustainability, Performance and Competition

Wipes are central to the ongoing success of spunlace. In the contemporary market these account for 64.8% of all spunlace variants produced. Spunlace will continue to grow its share in the overall wipes market in both consumer and industrial applications. For consumer wipes, spunlace produces a wipe with desired softness, strength and absorbency. For industrial wipes, spunlace combines strength, abrasion resistance and absorbency.

Of the eight spunlace processes covered by its analysis, Smithers shows that the fastest rate of increase will be in newer CP (carded/wetlaid pulp) and CAC (carded/airlaid pulp/carded) variants. This reflects the tremendous potential these have to produce plastic-free nonwovens; simultaneously avoiding legislative pressure on non-flushable wipes and meeting personal care brand owners’ demand for planet friendly material sets.

There are competing substrates used in wipes, but these face their own market challenges. Airlaid nonwovens are used in North America for baby wipes and dry industrial wipes; but airlaid production is subject to severe capacity limitations and this also faces strong demand from competing applications in hygiene components.

Coform is also used in both North America and Asia, but is heavily dependent on polypropylene. R&D into more sustainable coform constructions is a priority, although it will be several years before a plastic-free option is even close to development. Double recrepe (DRC) suffers from capacity limitation as well, and is only an option for dry wipes.

Within spunlace the main impetus will be to make plastics-free wipes cheaper, including the evolution of better dispersing flushable substrates. Other priorities include achieving better compatibility with quats, imparting higher solvent resistance, and boosting both wet and dry bulk.

Wipe Segments

Smithers analysis of the spunlace sector tracks demand across 12 different wipe formats. Of these, the most significant in 2023 are: baby wipes 48.7% of all spunlace wipes consumption; industrial wipes 21.6%, homecare wipes 17.3%, and personal care wipes 12.3%.

Baby Wipes

For baby wipes spunlace consumption is projected to grow relatively slowly over the period 2023–2028. This is almost entirely attributable to the slower growth of the overall baby wipes market. Still the size of this market means it will account for an additional 40,000 tonnes of nonwoven demand each year through to 2028, the majority of which will be spunlace variants.

Although plastics-free baby wipes are now available commercially, sustainability is a less significant market driver in this segment, although some consumers are switching from disposable wipes to launderable textile cloth. Many parents already dispose of baby wipes in their toilets. Work on flushable baby wipes continues, but there is concern that if these gain market penetration, it may generate confusion and lead to more non-flushable wipes entering sewage systems.

Personal Care Wipes

Personal care wipes represent a more dynamic segment. It includes both toddler and adult moist toilet tissues, which are benefitting most from the drive to flushable nonwovens. Medical treatment, feminine hygiene, cosmetic and facial wipes are forecast to have strong growth, but still below the market mean for this category. In contrast, demographics will push demand for bathing and adult incontinence wipes higher over the next five years.

Wetlaid spunlace (WLS) is the market leader in these products with only Kimberly-Clark’s ion-triggered airlaid a viable alternative. In 2023, there is still some concern and resistance to flushable wipes by regulatory agencies and the wastewater industry, with multiple standards from different groups for defining wipe flushability. It is expected that at some point between 2023 and 2028 these diverse groups will reach agreement on an acceptable definition of a flushable nonwoven. When this happens, the personal care wipes market may see even higher growth rates.

Homecare Wipes

Homecare wipes benefitted most in the first phases of the Covid-19 pandemic, when surface disinfecting was officially endorsed as a method to prevent virus spread. Sales of these wipes leapt by up to 80% from 2019 to 2020; with some government support to open new lines. In practice sales of other wipe segments boosted too, as consumers substituted to these, as stocks of dedicated disinfecting wipes quickly became exhausted.

The main active ingredient in disinfecting wipes are quaternary ammonium compounds (quats), which are effective at destroying coronaviruses on hard surfaces. A major problem for these is that quats react when combined with cellulosic fibers reducing their effectiveness against microbes. Consequently there is a preference for spunbond polypropylene in SP spunlace constructions; but several major brand owners are developing plastics-free options, including quat-resistant fibers, which are anticipated to be available by 2028.

Industrial Wipes

Industrial or institutional wipes are products sold business-to-business, and although some applications are similar to those served by consumer wipes, these are typically used in commercial operations. Applications include automobile body degreasing, printing press cleaning, cooking grill cleaning, clean room wipes, polishing, skin preparation, antibacterial and patient preparation.

Sales of such wipes had largely recovered from the Covid lockdowns by 2022, but the outlook has since been harmed by the economic downturn in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The fundamental drivers for general-purpose industrial wipes are cost and performance – time saving is important only where it impacts cost. Specialty wipes—mainly clean room wipes and automotive/metal surface preparation wipes—meanwhile prioritize high strength, low or no linting, and solvent resistance.

In industrial applications there is interest in transitioning towards plastic-free wipes – in food service in particular – with wider adoption of CAC or hydroentangled airlaids (HEAs). Although as in home disinfecting wipes quat compatibility remains an issue to be overcome.

The market and technology outlook for 12 different wipes markets, and 11 other applications for spunlace nonwovens is examined and quantified in the Smithers report – The Future of Spunlace Nonwovens to 2028. Its comprehensive dataset of over 130 tables and figures gives authoritative historic, contemporary and forecast data on raw material use, spunlace variants, applications, geographic markets and installed production capacities are combined; providing an unparalleled level of detail into the lucrative and fast evolving sector.

The Future of Spunlace Nonwovens to 2028 is available to purchase now from Smithers. [https://www.smithers.com/en-gb/services/market-reports/nonwovens/the-future-of-spunlace-nonwovens-to-2028]
Data on spunlace nonwovens consumption by end use in 2023, shows the importance of different wipe segments to future growth.