Nonwoven fabrics power a huge share of the cleaning products you buy — but the difference between them matters a lot more than most buyers realize. Choose the wrong fabric and your product will shed lint, pill after two wipes, absorb too little, or fail a customer’s quality test at the dock.
This guide compares the four nonwoven technologies Kocean runs on its own lines every day, with the actual numbers buyers ask about: weight in grams per square meter (GSM), fiber composition, and the process that decides the fabric’s character. Read it once and you’ll be able to write a spec sheet a factory can actually quote.
What “nonwoven” actually means
A nonwoven is a sheet of fabric made directly from loose fibers — without spinning yarn and without weaving or knitting. Fibers are laid into a web and then bonded by one (or a combination) of three mechanisms:
- Mechanical — fibers are entangled by water jets (spunlace) or barbed needles (needle-punch).
- Thermal — a polymer web is fused by heat and pressure (spunbond, meltblown).
- Chemical — a binder resin glues the fibers (less common in cleaning grades, used in some waddings).
That’s why nonwovens are fast to produce, cheap per meter, and endlessly tunable: change the fiber, the weight, or the bond, and you get a different fabric. The four technologies below differ mainly in how the fibers are bonded, and that single choice determines strength, softness, absorbency, cost, and where the fabric belongs in your product line.
Quick mental model: spunlace = soft cloth, spunbond = strong film-like sheet, meltblown = filter web, needle-punched = thick felt.
Spunlace (hydroentangled) — the soft, absorbent all-rounder
A carded web of staple fibers is passed under high-pressure water jets (typically 40–250 bar) that entangle the fibers together. No binder, no heat, no adhesive — just mechanical locking. The result feels like cloth because, structurally, it almost is.
| Spec | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Basis weight | 30–120 gsm (wipes 35–60, cloths 50–90, industrial 90–120) |
| Fiber | Viscose (rayon) / polyester (PET) blends — 50/50, 70/30, or 100% viscose; also 100% PET, cotton, or PP |
| Fiber fineness | 1.2–1.6 dtex (viscose), 1.5–3.0 dtex (PET) |
| Jet pressure | 40–250 bar, multiple entangling manifolds |
| Absorbency | Excellent — viscose holds roughly its own weight in water; blends feel dry-to-the-touch yet wipe wet |
| Best for | Wet wipes, dry cleaning cloths, facial/makeup pads, medical disposables, food-service wipes |
Decision rule: if your product touches a surface to clean it — wipes, cloths, pads — spunlace is your default. It’s the fabric your customers will describe as “feels like cloth.” For a disposable wipe, start at 35–50 gsm, 50/50 viscose/PET; for a reusable-style cleaning cloth, move to 60–90 gsm.
Spunbond — the strong, economical workhorse
Polymer granules (almost always PP, sometimes PET) are melted, extruded through a spinneret into continuous filaments, drawn, and bonded by heat and calender pressure into a uniform sheet. This makes the strongest, cheapest nonwoven per square meter.
| Spec | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Basis weight | 10–150 gsm (commonly 15–80 for converted goods) |
| Polymer | PP (hydrophobic) or PET; PP is 20–40% cheaper |
| Filament size | 1.5–3.0 denier (fine), up to 6 denier for stiff grades |
| Line speed | Very high — PP lines can exceed 500 m/min |
| Absorbency | Low (PP repels water) — a hydrophilic finish can be added if needed |
| Best for | Bags, covers, sleeves, disposable aprons, diaper backsheet, geotextile, protective packaging |
Decision rule: if the product needs to hold together more than absorb — bags, sleeves, covers, dust bags — spunbond wins on cost and strength. Note PP is hydrophobic: if you need it to wick, ask for a hydrophilic treatment (it adds a small cost but changes behavior completely).
Meltblown — the fine filter
Meltblown extrudes molten polymer through a die with very fine capillaries while hot air (250–400 °C) blows the strands into ultra-fine fibers — typically 0.5–5 microns in diameter. The result is a dense, micro-porous web that traps particles by interception and, when electrically charged, by electrostatic attraction.
| Spec | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Basis weight | 10–100 gsm (filter media usually 15–60) |
| Fiber diameter | 0.5–5 µm (sub-micron common) |
| Polymer | PP (MFI 300–1200), occasionally PET or PA |
| Capture range | ~0.1–10 µm particles; the core layer in N95/FFP2 respirators |
| Strength | Low — almost always needs a support layer |
| Best for | Filter media, masks, oil-absorbent pads, barrier layers, wipes for fine dust |
Decision rule: if the job is filtering or blocking particles, meltblown is the only choice. It’s almost never used alone — it sits as a core layer inside a stronger composite (spunbond–meltblown–spunbond, the “SMS” structure you’ll see on medical gowns). For an oil-absorbent pad, meltblown PP is ideal because it’s both oleophilic and hydrophobic.
Needle-punched — the durable, industrial felt
Barbed needles (hundreds to thousands per board, punching at 500–4000 strokes/cm²) mechanically interlock a thick web of staple fibers into a dense felt. Thick, tough, dimensionally stable, and happy under friction.
| Spec | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Basis weight | 80–2000 gsm (floor pads 300–800, industrial wipers 150–400) |
| Fiber | PET, PP, viscose, jute, even glass or aramid for extreme duty |
| Needle density | 500–4000 punches/cm² |
| Finish options | Calendering, impregnation, coating, or laminating for extra stiffness |
| Absorbency | Good — holds liquid within its structure |
| Best for | Industrial wipers, floor pads, automotive interiors, polishing discs, geotextile, abrasive backings |
Decision rule: if the product faces heavy friction or needs to stay thick and stable — floor pads, industrial wipes, polishing discs, machine covers — needle-punched felt is the workhorse. It’s also the most recycling-friendly option, since it readily uses recycled PET (rPET) staple.
Side-by-side comparison
| Property | Spunlace | Spunbond | Meltblown | Needle-punched |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical GSM | 30–120 | 10–150 | 10–100 | 80–2000 |
| Common fiber | Viscose/PET | PP / PET | PP | PET / PP / blends |
| Softness | ★★★★★ | ★★☆ | ★★★★ | ★★★ |
| Strength | ★★★☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Absorbency | ★★★★★ | ★★ | ★★★★ (filtration) | ★★★☆ |
| Relative cost¹ | $$ | $ | $$$ | $$$ |
| Typical use | Wipes, cloths | Covers, bags | Filtration | Industrial pads |
¹ Cost is per square meter at a comparable function, not per kilogram. Meltblown looks expensive largely because of the energy in the process, not the resin.
Which nonwoven belongs in your cleaning product?
Mapping the fabric to a concrete product line makes the choice obvious:
- Wet wipes / facial wipes → spunlace, 35–50 gsm, 50/50 viscose/PET (soft, high wet strength, low lint).
- Reusable-style cleaning cloth → spunlace, 60–90 gsm, or a spunlace/spunbond laminate for scrubbing power on one side.
- Heavy-duty industrial wiper → needle-punched 200–400 gsm PET, often with a scrubbery texture.
- Floor cleaning pad / dust mop refill → needle-punched felt with a calendered or abrasive face.
- Dust bag / protective cover / apron → PP spunbond, 20–50 gsm, hydrophilic if it must wick.
- Filter pad or respirator layer → meltblown core (PP, 20–40 gsm) inside an SMS or spunbond-supported composite.
- Oil-spill / kitchen oil pad → meltblown PP — oleophilic and lint-free.
A spec sheet you can actually send to a factory
Most misquotes happen because the brief is vague (“a good wiping cloth, around 60 grams”). Here is the minimum a supplier needs to quote accurately — copy it and fill in your target:
Product: [e.g. all-purpose cleaning wipe] Technology: [spunlace / spunbond / meltblown / needle-punched / composite] Target basis weight: [__] gsm (tolerance ±[__]%) Fiber composition: [e.g. 70% viscose / 30% PET] Color: [white / custom Pantone __] Width / roll size: [__] cm × [__] m Finish: [plain / embossed pattern __ / hydrophilic / print __] Absorbency target: [__] g water per g fabric (optional) Lint requirement: [Helmke level __ / none visible after 5 wipes] Packaging: [folded, labeled, PE bag of __ pcs] Monthly volume: [__] rolls / [__] pcs Target FOB price: [__] / unit (if you have one)
Send that to a manufacturer who runs multiple lines, and you’ll get a real quote plus a sample — not a guess. (This is the exact brief Kocean’s team works from every day.)
FAQ
Q: Can a spunlace wipe be biodegradable? A: Yes — a 100% viscose (or cotton) spunlace is compostable. Blends with PET are not, though they can be made partially bio-based with PLA. If “flushable” or “compostable” is a claim you need, say so up front; it changes the fiber choice.
Q: Why does my PP spunbond bag repel water? A: PP is naturally hydrophobic. If you need it to absorb or wick, specify a hydrophilic finish — it’s a standard, low-cost treatment.
Q: Which is cheapest? A: Spunbond (PP) per square meter. But compare by function: a 40 gsm spunlace wipe and a 40 gsm spunbond sheet are not interchangeable, so “cheapest” only matters within one application.
Q: Can I combine technologies? A: Almost always yes, and you should. Common composites: SMS (spunbond–meltblown–spunbond) for filtration/barrier, spunlace + spunbond for a soft-top / scrubby-back wipe, needle-punch + scrim for a stable floor pad. Composites are where most real products live.
The honest advice for buyers
Don’t pick a fabric from a spec sheet alone. Most finished products are composites — a meltblown core inside spunbond for a respirator, or a spunlace top laminated to a spunbond backing for a heavy-duty wipe. Force a single-fabric answer and you’ll either overpay or underperform.
Send your sample or target product to a manufacturer who runs multiple lines, and let them recommend — then prove it with a sample you can actually wipe with. That’s the conversation we have every day at Kocean, and we’re happy to have it with you.
Have a product in development? Send us the application, target weight and budget using the spec sheet above — we’ll recommend the fabric and ship a sample.