Home > Nonwoven Fabric > Woven vs. Nonwoven Geotextile Fabric: What's the Difference?

Woven vs. Nonwoven Geotextile Fabric: What's the Difference?

Jul. 14, 2025

Woven vs. Nonwoven Geotextile Fabric: What's the Difference?

You’ve likely seen geotextile fabric while you’ve been out and about, or maybe you’ve even used it at some point on your property. The permeable material can be nonwoven or woven, each type getting used for a variety of applications. For example, nonwoven geotextile fabric is used for things like retaining walls and sandbags, while woven geotextile fabric is ideal for driveway construction and erosion control projects. However, uses for woven and nonwoven fabric can vary depending on various project scopes. Both are typically known for perks such as offering soil stability and drainage.

Goto Glory Tang New Material to know more.

What Is Woven Geotextile Fabric?

Essentially, woven geotextile is made by weaving individual yarns on a loom to create a uniform length. Different materials such as slit films, fibrillated yarn, and monofilaments can be used, but the weaving technique is constant regardless of the material used.

This ensures that the woven geotextile fabric is strong, making it an excellent choice for applications like road constructions, beneath driveways, residential streets, and highways. Woven geotextiles are not as permeable with a few exceptions, so they are not the best choice for drainage projects. Instead, they are excellent for long-term separation and reinforcement applications, and they resist corrosion.

What Is Nonwoven Geotextile Fabric?

Nonwoven geotextiles are manufactured by binding short and long fibers together through needle punching or other alternative methods. Usually, heat treatment is applied to ensure the geotextile’s strength is improved.

Nonwoven geotextiles are usually made using synthetic materials such as polyester or polypropylene and they are permeable. They are best used in projects that require protection, filtration, separation, and drainage. However, they are not as strong as woven geotextiles.

Major Differences Between Woven and Nonwoven Geotextiles

Woven and nonwoven geotextiles have significant differences, especially in their applications and how they are manufactured. The kind of project you are working on will determine the geotextile fabrics that will best suit you. Listed below are the major difference between woven and nonwoven geotextiles:

Woven geotextiles are an excellent choice for reinforcement and stabilization applications, while nonwoven geotextiles are great for filtration, separation, and drainage applications.
Woven geotextiles have a high load capacity and tensile strength and are often used in road construction, while nonwoven geotextiles are usually measured by weight.
Woven geotextiles with a few exceptions are semi impermeable, and their flow-through rate is low, while nonwoven geotextiles are permeable, and their flow-through rate is high.
Both woven and nonwoven geotextiles can be made from polyester or polypropylene yarns or fibers.

Applications for Nonwoven Geotextiles

Nonwoven geotextiles are the best solution when you need permeability and soil separation. They are also the perfect solution if you are working on a project that requires drainage. While it may not be as strong as a woven geotextile, it is an excellent choice for specific projects. Therefore, when working on a project, you should know what geotextile will suit the project.

Listed below are some applications of nonwoven geotextile:

Beneath rock riprap revetment
Wrapping French drains
Used with alternative sub-surface drainage solutions
For projects that require soil separation and permeability

Applications for Woven Geotextiles

There are several applications where woven geotextiles can be applied. As stated, you should ensure that you are using suitable material for your project. When you correctly specify and install woven geotextiles, they extend your project's life, reduce the long-term maintenance costs, and deliver improved performance. Listed below are some applications for woven geotextiles:

Highways
Residential streets
Parking lots
Beneath driveways

How Are Geotextiles Used Today?

There are multiple ways that geotextiles can be used today. For instance, you can find them in breakwaters, drains, harbor works, railways, and roads. Discussed below are how geotextiles are used today.

Drainage

A geotextile material can aid in collecting gas or water and transporting them along its plane, which offers a seamless transmission.

Moisture Barrier

Geotextiles can be used to block water by applying an asphaltic suspension. This makes the fabric impermeable and best for construction projects like pavement rehabilitation.

Filtration

Geotextiles can be used in filtration to allow water to go through the covered layer. Geotextiles are used to let water through but prevent other fine particles and soils from going through. You can place a filter behind the geotextile.

Reinforcement

Geotextiles can be used in reinforcement as a source of strength. They can be used in land reclamation, controlling water erosion, retaining walls, and steep slopes.

Stabilization

Geotextiles are often applied on top of a highly compressible material in stabilization. Usually, soft soil is the material. The geotextile lets water seep from the soil to the draining material, and therefore, merges the basement layer, strengthens it, making it a trustworthy base.

Separation

A geotextile is placed between two layers of different materials. This could be an old and new pavement, new construction and soil, or two soil types.

For more Non Woven Geotextile Fabricinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

Woven geotextiles are more durable than nonwoven geotextiles. However, when standing water or pooling is a problem, nonwoven geotextiles are an excellent solution. It is worth mentioning that other than being a perfect drainage solution, nonwoven fabrics also offer great strength and durability, so they can still be used in a range of applications. If you are looking for woven and nonwoven geotextiles for your landscaping or construction project, be sure to browse our extensive catalog of geotextile fabrics. We offer a range of roll sizes so that you get as much fabric as you need, when you need it.

The Importance of Selecting and Using the Correct Geotextile Fabric

With geotextile fabrics being used so commonly on today’s active jobsites, it is hard to believe that this technology did not even exist just eight decades ago. This technology is commonly used to separate soil layers, and has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry.

While the market for geotextiles did not even exist just 70 years ago, by in had turned into a $4.1 billion market worldwide. And it continues to grow at a rapid rate. It is projected that this number will grow at a compounding annual growth rate (CAGR) or 12.1 percent through the year .

The extremely rapid growth of the geotextile market has been fueled by the effectiveness of the products. The use of this technology has evolved into an accepted best management practice, required by government agencies, specified by design consultants, and used routinely by contractors, cities and towns and property owners.

Geotextile fabrics, properly specified and installed, provide significant value. The common and most obvious benefit for all geotextile use is soil separation. By separating soil layers, the fabrics prevent them from mixing.

Prior to the evolution of geotextile technology, the construction industry struggled with mixing soil layers during the site construction process. In road building, for example, processed gravel applied to the surface would often sink into softer subsoils. An old adage in the road building industry goes something like this, “When you spread 50 pounds of stone over 50 pounds of mud you end up with 100 pounds of mud!” The heavier stone will simply disappear into the softer subsurface material. When geotextile fabrics are properly installed over the subsurface material, such mixing and contamination are effectively eliminated.

To achieve the desired results, choosing the most appropriate and site specific geotextile fabric is essential. By far the two most commonly used types are commonly known as woven and non-woven. Woven geotextiles are comprised of woven slit film polypropylene materials. Because they combine high strength and low permeability, they are very effective at bridging over wet or inferior soil layers. Non-woven geotextiles combine the strength of woven fabrics with high permeability, making them a better choice when applications require both separation and filtration. Non-woven fabrics are comprised of needle punched polypropylene, allowing separation and filtration to occur simultaneously.

Beyond woven and non-woven, two other important geotextile product groups are important to the ground stabilization toolbox. They are woven monofilament and spun bound geotextiles. Woven monofilaments combine the strength of woven with the permeability of non-woven fabrics. Conversely, spun bound fabrics combine the toughness of woven geotextiles with the permeability of non-woven products.

Woven Geotextiles

Typical applications for woven geotextile fabrics are beneath driveways, parking lots, residential streets and highways. The products have proven to be particularly effective in bridging over either wet, weaker, or less desirable subgrade materials. In such cases the low permeability of the fabric provides long-term separation and stabilization simultaneously.

When properly specified and installed, woven geotextiles deliver improved performance, reduced long-term maintenance costs, and extended project life.

Non-Woven Geotextiles

Non-woven geotextiles are chosen when both soil separation and permeability are required. These products are often used to wrap French drains or in conjunction with other sub-surface drainage solutions. Non-wovens are also typically used beneath rock riprap revetment, where both separation and drainage are critical.

As an example, if a new gravel driveway is being constructed over dry or well drained subsoils, it will be desirable for moisture to pass through the fabric in both directions. This set of conditions allows absorption into the subsurface during and after rain events, and conversely facilitates evaporation between wet periods.

Woven Monofilament Geotextiles

Woven monofilament geotextiles are used in specialized applications where a strong combination of high strength and strong filtration are required. While typical woven geotextiles employ highly impermeable slit tape construction, woven monofilaments are made up of individual filaments that are woven together in a screen-like fashion.

The products feature various opening sizes to match up with soil characteristics to combine high strength with strong flow characteristics. Because of these unique characteristics, woven monofilaments are often specified for placement beneath articulated concrete mat systems. They are also often specified beneath the surface of high flow drainage channels where high strength and strong drainage are also both of high importance.

Spun Bound Geotextiles

Spun bound geotextiles are often used when high strength, durability and permeability are all important considerations. During manufacturing the product is spun, rolled and heated to produce a very tough yet permeable products.

Often specified where high strength and long product life is essential, spun bound geotextiles are used often in landscaping and recreational applications, septic system construction, and in subsurface drainage.

Are you interested in learning more about Building Non Woven Fabric? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

Design and Technical Assistance

Essential Guide to Choosing the Right Hemp Grow Mats

Packaging Non Woven Fabric Trends and Innovations for 2025

Comments

Guest Posts

If you are interested in sending in a Guest Blogger Submission,welcome to write for us!

Your Name: (required)

Your Email: (required)

Subject:

Your Message: (required)