Composite textiles are advanced materials made by carefully combining two or more different components. In most cases, they consist of two parts: a matrix of material and reinforcement material involving fibers like carbon, glass, aramid, or basalt. Whereas aramid or basalt reinforcement adds strength and stiffness to the material, shape and other beneficial characteristics come from the matrix material.

The materials that go into the production of composite textiles may be natural as well as synthesized fibers that are designed to meet certain mechanical requirements. Modern technologies that cater to the requirements of textile composites include resin transfer molding, vacuum infusion process, and even the filament winding and lamination processes.

Composite textiles are widely used as materials for aerospace applications, automobiles, defense equipment, sportswear, boats, and industrial parts where the strength-to-weight ratio, hardness, heat or corrosion resistance, and other properties are highly important.

On the basis of structure or composition, the types of composite textiles could be classified as:
fiber-reinforced composites
laminated composites
hybrid composites
The different textile composites could be used for ‘structural’ purposes like laminated textiles, ‘protection’ like fiber-reinforced textiles, or ‘hybrid’ purposes involving a combination of fibers like hybrid composites. Overall, composite textiles show the example of the advancement of material science and the transformation of textile engineering to meet the industrial demand.