Editorial Archives

A historical perspective to a historic pandemic

July 1, 2020 | Editorial

What is the biggest professional challenge you’ve overcome? This is one of the standard questions Review asks the subjects of the Perspective cover article. While some responses are unique to an interviewee’s specific circumstances, the most common answer involves seeing a business through the e…

First impressions: Crisis, and hope

June 1, 2020 | Editorial

I wrote my first editorial for InTents magazine just over ten years ago. The cover of that issue featured a structure installed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics by Karl’s Event Rental (now Arena Americas). Also in that issue, the tent industry was responding to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti…

The work of protecting humans just got more important

May 1, 2020 | Editorial

Suddenly, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has become a hot commodity and an often- heard phrase on the lips of government officials, members of the media and the general public. But IFAI member companies and the textile industry at large have always known that the p…

A happy and productive workforce

April 1, 2020 | Editorial

The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don’t feel valued, neither will your customers. –Sybil F. Stershic Back in my salad days at Lakewood Publications, when I was in my mid-30s I was working with a lot of people in their mid-20s, who liked to as…

Renewable energy: what’s your business plan?

March 1, 2020 | Editorial

By Galynn Nordstrom Doing some recent reading on entrepreneurship, I came across an article in Forbes magazine, in which the author, Dr. Steven Berglas, gives some tips to budding businesspeople, beginning with: 1. Marry a June Bride (or Be One). He explains that the concept of, or preference for, a…

Making more than money

February 1, 2020 | Editorial

January always brings two things forcibly to mind: first, the NFL playoffs, and second, an almost viral need to find lists of reasons to make business or economic predictions for the coming year. (This is the February issue, I know, but it’s January 14 as I write this.) The Minnesota Vikings … w…

100 years of IFAI Expo

January 1, 2020 | Editorial

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were Temperance organizations in nearly every state. In 1919, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol, was ratified and went into effect on Jan. 16, 1920, beginning the era known as Prohibition. Alm…

Future history

December 1, 2019 | Editorial

On Sept. 12, 1912, 14 manufacturers of canvas and awnings from the central part of the U.S. met at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver to form a new trade association: the National Tent & Awning Manufacturers Association. By 1915, membership had grown sufficiently that the group decided to form a c…

IFAI Expo: 99 and counting…

November 1, 2019 | Editorial

As we wrap up our 99th IFAI Expo with the show coverage on page 43 (and the cover story on page 22, and The Greater Good on page 68), I’m getting ready to jump backwards in history through decades of the Review, as I did before IFAI’s 100th anniversary in 2012 and Review’s 100th anniversary &h…

The ultimate fabric; the ultimate customer

October 1, 2019 | Editorial

A few weeks ago, many members of IFAI’s board of directors and division managers converged here in Roseville for severals days of meetings and presentations. I always enjoy these visits, as it gives me the opportunity to ask questions about when we’ll have awnings that can communicate, chan…

Category: Editorial