Textile products are basic necessities in everybody's day-to-day life and as such, the textile industry benefits from the global population explosion. At the same time the industry is undergoing a tremendous revolution in terms of product usage, its composition, and methods of productions. More specifically, some of the reasons for increased demand in textile product include:

• World population growth. Present world population is 6.3 billion, and with a growth rate of 1.2% per annum, it is expected to cross 6.8 billion by the year 2010.
• Improvement in income levels of the population.
• Increase in per capita consumption of textiles. Per capita consumption in advanced countries is 25 Kg/year, whereas in developing countries it is just 4 Kg/year.

The advent of synthetic fibers has reduced the world's dependence on natural fibers. In the race to replace natural fibers, polyester leads. Its tremendous growth has been spurred by its evolution as a product. Due to extensive research, today's polyester is a completely different product than the polyester of the 60's and 70's. World polyester production has grown from 5 million tons in 1980 to 20.65 million tons in 2002 with the forecast of 33 million tons by the year 2010. Today it is used in an increasing number of new applications reflecting its blendability with other fibers. It feels like silk, behaves like cotton and is more adaptable to consumer needs.