Whether traveling the countryside in the United States or around the globe, it doesn’t take long to spot a storage building, livestock or poultry shelter, or agriculture storage structure made of a textile. It could be a framed Quonset-hut style building with a textile skin rather than a metal shed in North Dakota. It could be a mobile, umbrella-like tarp that protects cattle from the sun in the Australian Outback. It could be braided-mesh trellis structures that keep birds and pests away from grapes in Bordeaux, France.

Sponsored by the Marine Fabricators Association (MFA), the Fabrication Excellence Awards contest is designed to recognize excellence in marine fabrication. The entries are judged by a panel of certified marine professionals. Awards of Excellence and Outstanding Achievement Awards are given in each category.

As event clients increasingly seek streamlined services under a single provider, dishware and tabletop rentals have evolved from nice-to-have offerings into a strategic extension of the rental business.

The roads of the national highway system are a critical asset, and their performance directly impacts the economy, commerce and social connectivity of the country. 

For businesses of all sizes, expanding into service-based revenue streams can unlock new income, deepen customer loyalty and even spark spinoff companies.

Rapid advances in high‑performance fibers and the growing need for multi‑hazard protection are reshaping the protective textiles market, yet the real test of these innovations lies in the field. A compelling case in point is new research on how ballistic protection interacts with firefighter turnout ensembles—the highly engineered PPE firefighters rely on every day. Looking at technology on its own is no longer sufficient for practical real-world performance of PPE; understanding their combined effects demands a system‑level perspective.