Fedustria Belgium

The current position of the Belgian textile, wood and furniture industry is partly due to a strategy of innovation and diversification. During the past 20 years our industry has undergone an extremely important adaptation process. There is one major constant: the companies increasingly aim to distinguish themselves from the competition by developing and manufacturing other, different products. Today we note that there is major diversity of products in the textile, wood and furniture industry and this will undoubtedly increase further. Each company sought a niche – although this is sometimes a volume product – that is defendable in a global context.

 

In some of these niches, Belgian textile, wood and furniture companies are among the world leaders. For instance, Belgian laminate flooring manufacturers aren’t only pioneers, but also worldwide market players in their segment. Through a combination of technological innovation and design, Belgian manufacturers of mattresses and bed bases have managed to achieve a leading reputation in Europe. Belgium is also among the absolute world top when it comes to design garden furniture, where our companies excel because of their advanced design as well as their innovative choice of materials.

 

Within the growing subsector of technical textiles, a number of companies are specialized in protective textiles. They manufacture materials with specific characteristics which protect people in their work: fire fighter clothes, bullet-proof vests, signalisation clothing for road workers, etc. Currently, artificial grass is one of the hightech products of the Belgian carpet industry. Three Belgian manufacturers are world players in this field. Many national and international football teams play their home matches on Belgian artificial grass.