Furniture "protective films" date back to the 1970s. According to Ma Hongjun, General Manager of Xinye Solid Wood Furniture Factory, material scarcity in the 1970s and 1980s made acquiring furniture a significant undertaking for families. Protective coverings-initially most commonly a sheet of glass placed over a tabletop-emerged during this period. Over time, the scope of protection expanded to include items like coffee tables and TV cabinets, while the materials evolved from glass to options such as tablecloths and PVC plastics.
Modern furniture protective films originated around 2008, when technicians specializing in invisible car wraps (paint protection films) applied PVC-based wrap materials to furniture, creating the earliest versions of dedicated furniture films. Practitioners later experimented with PET films to reduce costs but abandoned them due to numerous after-sales issues, shifting instead to TPH (for high-end furniture) and PVC (for standard furniture). Subsequently, new materials such as PET hard films and PHT soft films appeared on the market.
The market currently suffers from issues such as the passing off of inferior products as superior ones and confusing terminology-for instance, labeling PET as "silicone film," PVC as "diamond film," or TPH as "crystal film"-indicating that the industry is still in its early stages of development.