Waterproof Fabric Mills

How Fabric Is Made Waterproof

A waterproof fabric is a system, not a single material. The base cloth - usually woven nylon or polyester for strength at low weight - is given a water barrier in one of three ways. Coatings spread polyurethane, PVC or silicone directly onto the cloth. Laminates bond a pre-made waterproof membrane film to the cloth. Durable water repellent finishes make water bead and roll off the surface, although by themselves they only delay wetting and are normally combined with a coating or membrane underneath for true waterproof performance.

These factories supply both waterproof and water resistant fabrics, and the distinction matters to a buyer. Water resistant cloth sheds light rain and spray for a while; waterproof cloth, properly specified and seam-sealed, keeps water out through sustained rain under pressure - kneeling, sitting, pack straps. Mills quote hydrostatic head figures for that resistance, and a garment is only as waterproof as its seams, which is why rainwear factories tape or weld seams over the same fabric this page's mills supply.

Breathable Waterproof Fabrics

The hard problem in this field is comfort: a barrier that stops rain also stops sweat vapor, and early coated rainwear felt like wearing a plastic bag. Breathable waterproof systems answer it with microporous or hydrophilic membranes whose structure passes water vapor molecules while blocking liquid droplets, and with ventilation design in the garment itself. Outdoor and workwear buyers specify both figures together - waterproof rating and breathability rating - because either one alone describes only half the fabric's behavior on a working wearer.

Care and reproofing keep the system working. Dirt and detergent residue flatten the surface repellency, so water stops beading and the face fabric wets out, feeling cold and heavy even though the membrane beneath still blocks rain. Washing with technical cleaners and renewing the repellent finish restores the beading; the companion Waterproof Systems page in this section, linked from this page, covers those treatments and the waterproofing products applied to finished fabrics and clothing.

Uses Beyond Rainwear

Rain jackets and rainwear sets are the obvious destination - see the rainwear factory directory linked below - but waterproof cloth also makes tents, tarpaulins, awnings, boat and vehicle covers, luggage, medical barrier fabrics, protective workwear and outdoor furniture. Each use weights the specification differently: tents want light weight and packability, covers want ultraviolet resistance, workwear wants abrasion resistance and certified performance, and barrier fabrics want proven resistance to fluids under laboratory test conditions.

Sourcing therefore starts with the end use, the waterproof and breathability ratings required, the base fiber and weight, and the seam method the garment factory will use, because a coating that tapes beautifully may not weld, and a membrane laminate may need specialist seam equipment. Mills should supply test figures from production, not prototypes, and buyers should rain-test a finished garment sample - panels that pass in the roll can still leak at stitch holes, zips and folds once a garment is made from them.

The Mills in This Directory

Four listings follow: Kuanging Industrial Co. Ltd., for which no country is given, Nam Liong Enterprise Co., Ltd of Taiwan, PT. Frans Putratex of Indonesia, and Wujiang Hengyu Textile Dyeing Finishing Co., Ltd. of China. Dyeing and finishing in two of the names is characteristic of this trade: waterproof performance is usually added in finishing, so the factories that coat and laminate are often finishers first and weavers second.

Nam Liong also appears in this directory's reflective fabric listings, a common overlap - the same finishing houses that coat for waterproofing often coat for reflectivity and other technical finishes. A buyer comparing these mills should ask which systems each runs (coating, laminating, or both), which membrane brands they apply, minimum order quantities by construction, and whether they can supply the matching seam tape, since tape and laminate from different sources are a frequent cause of seam failure in finished rainwear.

Fabric Mills and Factories in This Directory

Each name below opens the company's profile in the Fabric Mills by Name directory, and each listing gives the company's country.