Cloth tapes are an adhesive tape with a cloth backing; they come in many different colours, widths, lengths and adhesive strengths. General purpose cloth tapes can be marked with pens and are generally coated with a rubber adhesive. The durable and flexible cloth tapes can be pressure-sensitive, which means that they are designed to adhere with pressure, not with an adhesive.

Types of backing materials

There are many backing materials available on cloth tapes:

• Fabric/cloth such as cotton is used to improve the tensile strength, heat resistance and electrical resistance. Woven fibres are stronger than non-woven.
• Glass/Fiberglass are reinforced with glass or fibreglass particles. This enhances the heat resistance.
• Plastic/Polymer is protected by a liner in the form of a tape, film or laminate.
• PET/Polyester have a high resistance to solvents and age well.

Uses for Cloth Tapes

Some people like to use coloured cloth tapes as masking tapes around the home, workshop, construction sites or in the garden. Other uses include to seal walls in the construction industry, for basic rigging tasks, for bookbinding and sewing and many other uses.