Protective clothing offers the wearer reliable protection against health risks and environmental effects related to their job which cannot be avoided in their line of work. In Western Europe, protective clothing and gloves amount to about 59.8% of the total market for personal protection equipment (PPE), an increase of 57.5% as compared to the year 2000. Protective clothing is thus the biggest individual business segment for PPE and will further increase in the future. Statistically, end consumers spend almost twice as much for protective clothing than for head protection, gloves or footgear.

Depending on the field of activity, clothing can protect the wearer from a broad variety of different working conditions such as intense heat and flames, cold and wet, all types of mechanical and physical stresses, from cuts to spray from molten metal and sparks through to electricity and electrostatic charges, chemical substances and gases and poor weather and lighting conditions. And in many instances, protective clothing requires combined material and functional properties in order to fulfil its intended purpose. Clothing for the rescue services, for example, must guarantee good visibility in traffic in all lighting and weather conditions, offer protection against mechanical and climatic influences (wet, wind, cold) and be constructed in such a way that should it become contaminated with pathogenic agents, the clothing can be treated using a validated disinfection process.