The global protective clothing market generated $8.7 billion in 2019, and is estimated to garner $12.0 billion by 2027, witnessing a CAGR of 6.0% from 2020 to 2027. Protective clothing is essential in many applications for gaining protection from hazardous and life-threatening situations. This type of clothing helps workers from different industries in protecting themselves while performing risky tasks. On the basis of requirement, protective wear can be heat repellent, mechanical resistant, cold resistant, chemical resistant, and others.

Rise in demand for easy-to-breath and durable flame-resistant clothing from different end-use industries and surge in standards of medical hygiene in the healthcare sector fuel the growth of the global protective clothing market. However, expensive nature of protective clothing restrains the market growth. Furthermore, surge in demand for protective clothing for protection of healthcare workers is projected to present new opportunities for market players in the coming years.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, manufacturing activities of protective clothing halted partially or completely due to lockdown measures implemented across various countries. Moreover, disruptions in supply chain and shortage of raw materials presented various challenges in conducting manufacturing with optimum capacity. The ban on import-export in some countries resulted in supply chain disruptions and supply-demand gap. As the restrictions are lifted, the supply chain is estimated to be restored.

The demand from end-use industries such as construction, oil & gas, manufacturing, and others reduced considerably due to stoppage of day-to-day operations during the lockdown. However, the demand is expected to grow steadily during the post-lockdown as daily operations would continue with optimum capacity. However, the demand from the healthcare sector increased to protect healthcare professionals, workers, and other staff from contamination of Covid-19 while serving the infected patients. There has been an upsurge in demand from the pharmaceutical sector with increase in investment in R&D activities for development of Covid-19 vaccine.

The protective clothing market can be classified based on application, material type, end-use industry, and region. Based on material type, the market is further divided into aramid & blends, polybenzimidaloe (PBI), polyolefin & blends, laminated polyesters, cotton fibers, and others. Based on application, the market is sub-segmented into thermal, chemical, mechanical, biological/radiation, and others. Based on end-use industry, the market is analyzed for oil & gas, pharmaceuticals/medical, construction &manufacturing, firefighting, military &defense, and others. Based on region, the market is divided based on North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

Based on type, the aramid & blends segment held more than one-fourth of the total market share in 2019, and is projected to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period. This is due to its wide usage for better mechanical properties in comparison to steel or glass fiber of the same weight along with excellent resistance to heat and flame. However, ploybenzimidaloe segment is expected to witness the highest CAGR of 7.0% from 2020 to 2027.

Based on application, the thermal segment accounted for the highest share in terms of revenue of the global protective clothing market in 2019, and is estimated to maintain its lead throughout the forecast period. However, the biological/radiation segment is projected to portray the highest CAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period.

Based on end-use industry, the pharmaceutical/medical segment is expected to witness the largest CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period. However, the construction & manufacturing segment contributed to the largest market share, contributing to more than one-fourth of the total market share in 2019, and is estimated to continue its lead position during the forecast period. This is due to considerable growth of the construction activities worldwide.

Geographically, North America contributed to the largest share, accounting for nearly one-third of the global market for protective clothing in 2019, and is projected to continue its dominance by 2027. This is attributed to establishment of various industrial and manufacturing industries in the region and surge in awareness regarding workers safety. However, Asia-Pacific is projected to register the highest CAGR of 6.7% from 2020 to 2027.

Leading market players operating in the global protective clothing market include DuPont, Ballyclare Limited, Lakeland Industries, Inc., Koninklijke Ten Cate NV, 3M Company, VF Corporation, Teijin Limited, W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., Cetriko S.L., and Glen Raven Inc. These players adopted various strategies such as product launch, acquisition, expansion, collaboration, partnership, and agreement to maintain competitive nature and gain more market share than before.

For instance, Lakeland industries launched an apparel line called Linemen. This product line provides excellent high-performance fire resistance (FR) characteristics, ease in breathing, improved moisture- wicking technology, effectiveness in multi-weight fabrics for optimal layering, and others. The launch is aimed for enhancing the product laying system for electrical utility linemen. In another instance, Dupont implemented an investment strategy with investment in TyvekTogether program for surging production of its Tyvek and Tychem garment line. The TyvekTogether program will improve the company's production volume from 9 million garments per month to 15 million garments per month. This would help in raising the market size of the company across the globe.

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