Textil Olius

C/ Orient, 78 – 84, 2ª planta, local 16 – 17
08172 – Sant Cugat del Vallès – Barcelona – Spain
+34 935 831 704
ventas@textilolius.com
international@textilolius.com
textilolius.com

The roots of Textil Olius date back to 1841 when its founder, Joan Soler Roca, established a company in Spain dedicated to manufacturing carding slivers. A family business, it was later succeeded by his son Rafael, and then by Rafael’s son, Ricardo. In 1946, Ricardo’s sons, Rafael and Pere, founded Fieltros y Tejidos Industriales (FYTISA), a company specializing in the production of wool felt, known as the original nonwoven material. Over time, FYTISA expanded both its production footprint and product range, and in the 1960s, it began producing a variety of synthetic nonwovens. In 1979, the wool felt production was spun off from FYTISA to create a new company, Textil Olius, located in Olius, a small village 100 km north of Barcelona.

One of the company’s guiding principles has been specialization. In the 1940s, while wool was a dominant fiber, industrial felting was still relatively unknown compared to more traditional textile processes like spinning and weaving. Recognizing an opportunity for differentiation, Rafael and Pere Soler invested in felting equipment and gradually built a robust nonwovens business centered around the diverse applications of wool felt. Their focus on quality, industrial expertise, and a long-term vision allowed them to assemble a skilled team and establish a world-class industrial operation. Today, Textil Olius is led by the sixth generation of the Soler family, who continue to be guided by the same founding principles.

Textil Olius controls the manufacturing process end to end, from fiber opening and mixing to carding, web forming, fiber consolidating, dyeing and finishing.

The company’s primary nonwovens technology is wet-pressed felting, which leverages the extraordinary natural properties of wool fiber. Wool differs from synthetic and other natural fibers in that it has small scales at a microscopic level. “With our technology, we take advantage of this property, and we apply moisture, heat and friction to activate such scales and use them to create a natural bond between fibers,” says Ricard Artigas Soler, CEO, Textil Olius. “This allows us to manufacture felts of thicknesses up to 30mm in a very wide range of densities.”

Textil Olius also has needlepunching capabilities for low and mid-density felts and dyeing and finishing equipment to dye and apply specific finishes.

The company currently operates across three categories. The first encompasses industrial goods, serving a diverse range of sectors including automotive, metallurgical, bakery and glass, among others. The second category focuses on consumer goods, with applications ranging from fashion and footwear to toys, crafts, furniture and packaging. The third is centered on interior design and acoustics.

Textil Olius has grown steadily in all three categories in the last few years thanks to both market share gains and expansion into new sectors. “Such expansion has been driven by the ability to produce sustainable nonwovens with great functionality,” Artigas Soler says.

Textil Olius products combine the extraordinary natural properties of wool (fire resistance, elasticity, biodegradability, etc.) with the characteristics of nonwovens, thus delivering great functionality for a range of applications. Nevertheless, the company invests in R&D to complement the properties of its materials with the additional benefits of other biobased fibers and finishes. This effort has already proved itself, allowing the company to enter new markets in recent years, he says.

Recently, the company has invested in Industrial Internet of Things technology to gather very granular and precise data on its production efficiency and energy and water consumption. This data will then be leveraged to improve its operations and to have deeper conversations with customers regarding the company’s sustainability and production footprint.

Artigas Soler describes the nonwovens industry as highly competitive, with increasing demands for substantial investments in equipment to sustain operational efficiency. At the same time, he sees significant growth opportunities driven by the versatility of nonwovens, their ability to be combined with other materials, and ongoing innovations in fibers and finishes. “For companies with an established position in the market and deep technical know-how, these are exciting times to bring new products to life that are aligned with the market’s drive for sustainable technically performing products,” he concludes.