Abstract: The invention concerns a composition for a friction material e.g. for a brake pad, of the type containing a fibrous reinforcement, a binder and various additives.The composition contains a thermoset binder including a phenol-formaldehyde resin and making up 20 to 60% by volume of the material. Besides the resin the binder can also include a heat and chemical resistant rubber, but the phenol-formaldehyde resin makes up at least 10% by volume of the composition.The composition includes a fibre-based reinforcement which makes up 10 to 35% by volume of the material and consists of a mixture of steel fibres or glass fibres with one or more other non-asbestos inorganic reinforcing materials e.g. steel fibre and mica, or steel fibre and milled glass.The friction material contains no asbestos, but has properties comparable with asbestos-based materials.