The news headlines were alarming. Just before Christmas 2003, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that a case of deadly mad cow disease had been reported in Washington state. Halfway across the country, animal disease scientists working in Ames, Iowa, faced a double whammy. Not only were they needing to fast-track research related to mad cow disease, but the “bubble” where they were working collapsed during a snowstorm.

Of all the adages that could be applied to the past year, “Necessity is the mother of invention” may be the most appropriate for the fabrication business. Fabricators, and the equipment manufacturers that supply them, learned more about pivoting than they probably ever wanted to know. The conventional wisdom of thinking strategically about equipment purchases over a longer term and paying attention to ROI often took a backseat to decisions that were made simply to keep the doors open. Business choices were made because they had to be made, not (always) because they were desired.

Wallpaper has been around for centuries—since the 16th century to be exact. In its earliest iterations, wallpaper was printed on paper in monochrome black ink, and color soon followed with the introduction of polychrome block printing. Eventually, in the late 1960s/early 1970s, vinyl wallpaper took the industry by storm because it was cheap, easy to print on and cleanable—and it dominated the market for decades.

Fueled by consumer demand, textile treatments are evolving to provide an ever-growing array of performance benefits. This development has also driven the need to pay close attention to regulations and environmental considerations. COVID-19 has, not surprisingly, escalated interest in antimicrobial treatments, but it has also increased interest in other performance attributes.

At age 19, Karl Deardorff bought a sewing machine from Leo Robbins, his first sailing instructor. “I wanted to be able to fix and alter my own sails,” he says. The machine went with Deardorff to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where he was also on the sailing team.

James Wines is known as a provocative artist who creates building-sized installations that some would say are more architecture than art. Indeed, he wrote a book about the fusion of these two artistic expressions called De-architecture, where he insisted that “buildings don’t need a defensive rationale to explain their existence,” but that if art wants to claim the attention of any public space, it should be raised to the same regard, and it should engage fully.

Standing out from the crowd has become more important than ever for businesses of all stripes, and many turn to vibrant, riveting digital graphics to get their messages across.

The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) is the largest textile research center in Europe, with roots that go back 100 years to the first German Research Institute for the Textile Industry, established in Reutlingen in 1921. As the institute expanded to additional locations in Stuttgart and Denkendorf, it merged in 1979 to become DITF as we now know it.

What started as a photo contest in 1946 among canvas goods manufacturers has become a prestigious international awards competition honoring excellence in awnings and canopies, shade sails, marine fabrication, geosynthetic projects, tent rental and manufacturing, tensile structures, fabric graphics, unique fabric art and fabric environments, and more. The International Achievement Awards (IAAs), sponsored by Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI), have been commending the best finished projects the industry has to offer for 75 years.

For the new terminal complex at the Salt Lake City International Airport, a specially commissioned public art installation involved architectural fabric. The visually stunning fabric sculpture “The Canyon” by public artist Gordon Huether was accomplished by a dedicated team of fabric engineers and fabricators who interpreted the artist’s vision. The scope of the project is examined in “The Art of Fabric Architecture” in the May 2021 issue of Specialty Fabrics Review.

Recent reports illuminate key factors that will influence the automotive textiles segment in the future. Most notably, the automotive lightweight material market is expected to reach $247 billion by 2026, according to Global Market Insights Inc.

Most of us still can’t (realistically) answer the siren song of working in pajamas. However, we’re certainly becoming au fait with the comfortable, functional clothing that can help us power through long, testing days at an essential workplace or hours of Zoom meetings for those working from home.

When a client requested a cover for the entry of a workshop/studio, Schafbock Design Workshop of Gujarat, India, took on several challenges, according to Schafbock’s Shehzad Irani. These included the timeline, which was just 45 days from concept design to installation, and the site, a fully functioning hand-printed garment design workshop in a residential area. In addition, the team was challenged with new design processes for the form-find as well as design-engineering and manufacturing of the structure.