The transportation industry is undergoing massive disruption, driven primarily by the climate change imperative: electric and hybrid automobiles; e-vans to deliver our online purchases; mandates for fuel economy, emissions and noise reduction; material sustainability; and pandemic-related concerns with health and safety.

Awnings, tents, shade sails, marine upholstery, protective gear, furniture: regardless of the end product, the fabric needs to perform in harsh conditions while looking good, keeping the planet green and fitting into a client’s budget. For our two-part annual showcase, we asked contributors to send us information about their latest high-performance textiles. We’ve organized the information into performance categories, and Part 1 is included in this issue. In the May issue, Part 2 of the showcase will cover water repellence; sustainability; flame retardance and fire resistance; printability; health, safety and protective; and activewear applications.

In the summer of 2020, Scott Sutherland was elated with record-shattering sales, but he was also in a situation he had never imagined: out of aluminum, out of fabric, out of nearly every component used to make tents.

In January 2020, Archana Sharma, CEO of AKAS Tex LLC, a Bensalem, Pa., textile manufacturer/creator and designer of high-performance fabrics, says her company began receiving emails from Singapore, Australia, Japan and other eastern hemisphere countries inquiring about face masks and antimicrobial fabrics.

More than a year after the declaration of a global pandemic, it’s no surprise that a majority of companies in the industrial fabrics industry were negatively affected by the events of 2020. But the struggles were uneven, with some companies pivoting to new markets and others experiencing a positive effect.

COVID-19 made an abrupt entrance in 2020, catching almost everyone off guard. It quickly became clear that waiting it out wasn’t an option for most businesses. Many pivoted, looked for opportunities and took calculated risks to keep their employees working and the bottom line healthy during what has proved to be a challenging, unpredictable and, in some cases, rewarding time.

The year 2020 was not a particularly good period to assess the health of the U.S. textile manufacturing industry—or, for that matter, many other types of industries. But industry participants report that the optimism manufacturers felt at the beginning of the year was still there at the end, despite the havoc wreaked by the pandemic.

Shade is on everyone’s mind, according to Margueritte Ramos, owner and sales manager of ShadeFLA. The Miami, Fla.-based company designs and installs shade products ranging from awnings and canopies to retractable roofs and tension sails. Lately, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing.

The client brought this 36-foot Spectre Cat to B’s Kustom Kreations of Jefferson City, Mo., because he was looking for custom upholstery work from a reputable shop, and B’s fit the bill, says owner Bryan Lute. “We specialize in custom automotive upholstery so we love opportunities to work on boats and show the boat industry what we can do.”

COVID-19 has upended a way of life that we may have taken for granted. With the economy suffering as a result, and with the need to create growth and employment, the manufacturing sector has its work cut out for it. Effective use of resources, reviving the manufacturing sector and enabling self-sufficiency in advanced textile products are priority action items for the industrial fabrics sector in the U.S.

A few years shy of its 100th birthday, the Macon City Auditorium in Macon, Ga., is getting a makeover, starting with a new roofing membrane system. The Classical-style structure, surrounded on three sides with limestone Doric columns, is on the National Register of Historic Places and has hosted the likes of the Allman Brothers and Oprah Winfrey. But recently, deterioration of the building has made it harder to book marquee acts.

The market for fabric graphics continues to evolve, with new challenges presented by everything from COVID-19 to the changing workplace. Innovative companies, though, can find opportunities as they work to position themselves for the post-pandemic rebound.

In May of 2020, the construction and installation of the memorial for General and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was finally finished. It was a process that took more than 15 years of internecine delays and objections put forth by pro- and anti-memorial groups and the descendants of Eisenhower himself.