Editor's blog

  • ForeThought: The fiscal years

    May 1, 2013 | Galynn Nordstrom
    During the "great recession,” the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) was impelled toward many of the same priorities as any other business: the need to do more with less. Read more...

  • ForeThought: Social manufacturing

    April 1, 2013 | Galynn Nordstrom
    The StarTribune reports that Minnesota has regained all but 1,000 of the 156,000 jobs that vanished during the recession, and the remaining deficit consists of jobs in the government. Read more...

  • ForeThought: Human capital gains

    March 1, 2013 | Galynn Nordstrom
    Every February, I visit the Despair Inc. website to order some candy hearts: the “Dumped Bittersweets” collection. Read more...

  • ForeThought: A working education

    February 1, 2013 | Galynn Nordstrom
    Aside from the economy (as much as anything is), there are still issues that, if not unique to the specialty fabrics industry, are so important to our readers that they come up repeatedly whenever we ask for comments about our editorial calendar for the year. Read more...

  • ForeThought: My favorite Martians …

    January 1, 2013 | Galynn Nordstrom
    As I sit here (on Dec. 19) waiting to find out if those pesky Mayans were correct after all, I’m reading through a press release from Glen Raven Inc. about the Marine Design Challenge they recently sponsored. Read more...

  • ForeThought: ro’lIj HI’ang!*

    December 1, 2012 | Galynn Nordstrom
    In his first term, President Obama identified three key strategies to build lasting prosperity: innovation, investment, and education. Read more...

  • ForeThought: Future history

    November 1, 2012 | Galynn Nordstrom
    When I started working at IFAI in 1999 and first introduced myself to readers in the September Expo Preview issue of the magazine, I summarized me this way: “I’m a rabid science fiction fan and a relentless aficionado of robust red wines, and I have no children, no pets, six slowly petrifying house plants, and only a fading hope that I will ever actually meet David Duchovny.” Read more...

  • ForeThought: Food for thought

    October 1, 2012 | Mary Hennessy
    The year 1912 was a very good year. Using the yardstick of the number of cultural icons that have weathered the test of time, there would probably be few years that could measure up. Read more...

  • ForeThought: The perfect storm?

    September 1, 2012 | Galynn Nordstrom
    During this horribly hot and humid summer we’ve been enduring, I have noticed frequently that the meteorologists’ forecasts seem to have been wrong more often than they’ve been right—and also wrong more than they’ve usually been wrong, if you follow me. Read more...

  • ForeThought: A tradition of service—and success

    August 1, 2012 | Susan Niemi
    While on vacation in Denver in mid-July, visiting the Brown Palace Hotel was high on my list of things to do. Read more...