General economic information on industrial textiles in Scandinavia is presented. Areas in which Nordic companies are particularly successful include: automotive and agricultural textiles, sportswear, building textiles, medical textiles, protective garments and safety textiles. Those sectors in which Nordic countries are particularly successful are airbag fabrics, geotextiles, sun protection fabrics, papermakers' felts, camouflage screens and fabric-reinforced composites. The impact of labour costs on manufacturing is discussed. Product development is noted.