From the word itself, it means a textile for geo (earth). It is not an ordinary textile that is used for clothing and dresses but it is a textile designed for  geotechnical engineering applications. Geotextile is one of the geosynthetic materials that can be used in various engineering applications namely slope stability reinforcement, drainage, filter, road embankment reinforcement, erosion control protection, separation, landfills and many others. Geotextile can be woven or non-woven that is made from various processes (mechanical bond, chemical bond, heat-bonded). The most common raw materials used for geotextile are Polyester, Polypropylene, and Polyethylene. Polyester geotextile is normally used as tensile reinforcement because of its high creep resistance and high tensile strength. However, this type of geotextile is susceptible to hydration process in concrete and lesser resistant to chemicals in comparison to the other types.

       The two in contrast physical properties of the geotextile that are very difficult to attain by the manufacturers are the permeability and porosity. Permeability is the ability of a material for a water to flow along or across the plain of the textile while porosity is the property of the geotextile that should be kept to a minimum so as to control the passage of fine particles while allowing the flow of water when the geotextile is primarily used as filter.

       With geotextile, it offers an alternative economical solution to engineering problems but mostly people are not well informed of the technology.