Textilindustrie

Textile Industry: In Austria, this started with the processing of flax, hemp, wool and silk. Initially, manufacturers employed homeworkers, but the influential inventions of the mechanical spinning machine and the mechanical loom in the late 18^th and the early 19^th centuries gave rise to large-scale industrial production. During the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the production of textiles centred upon three conveniently situated sites in the Sudeten lands, the Vienna Basin and the Rhine Valley. The end of the monarchy and the resulting new political situation required profound changes in the textile industry, which had largely been effected by 1938. During the 1939-1945 war, the Austrian textile industry mainly served as a supplier of military outfits. After May 1945, industrial progress was hampered by the demarcation lines and later by the disappearance of the markets in the emerging Communist countries. Financial support from the ERP Fund enabled investments in the sector, which led to a considerable increase in production. The textile industry was characterised by a comparatively stable development up to the 1970s, when profound structural changes took place: although the level of production remained largely the same, employment in the textile sector dropped by more than 50 %. The number of textile-producing companies slumped from 718 (1972) to 359 (1993), but production output remained stable over that period. Production value was ATS 26.9 billion in 1994, which accounted for 4 % of total industrial production. With 24,000 people employed, the textile industry ranks 9^th among 22 branches of industry in Austria and is the country´s third most important employer of women. It ranks 6^th among the producers of consumer goods. A total of ATS 26.6 billion worth of textile products are exported, with imports of approximately the same order.

The textile industry processes all sorts of natural and synthetic raw material to yarn and subsequently to piece goods (for ready-made clothing), knitwear, hosiery, embroidery, drapery, etc. Technical fibres are assuming growing importance in all fields. The textile-processing industry is a particularly capital-intensive, independent branch within the textile industry. The fabric-printing industry has succeeded in expanding its export capacity despite keen competition on the market.

The province of Vorarlberg, home to 349 companies, is the centre of the Austrian textile industry. Approx. 9000 people employed realised a production value of ATS 9.5 billion in 1994. With 5115 people employed and a production value of ATS 6 billion, the second position is held by Lower Austria and its traditional centre of textile production, the Waldviertel Region (flax processing, glove and hosiery production, upholstery and narrow fabrics). 3140 employees in the textile industry in Upper Austria realised a production value of ATS 3.1 billion in 1994. Tirol (2179 people employed, production value ATS 2.7 billion) is well-known for the production of fine wool fabric, loden cloth and materials for traditional Austrian costumes. Styria has 1900 people employed in the textile sector, the remaining provinces employing a total of 1800 people in the textile industry.

Unfavourable competitive conditions on the market have only been partly offset by Austria´s membership of the European Union. The Austrian textile industry today is characterised by great innovative spirit and subject to particularly strict environmental measures.