Worth the weight: an invention designed to help one child transformed into a company primed to help everyone

June 1, 2019  |  Markets

By Holly Eamon Whether they’re being touted by a celebrity, promoted by major retailers or recommended by a friend, weighted blankets are the latest must-have household item. But as their transformative capabilities are increasingly introduced to and embraced by medical patients and professionals,…
Wholesale Shade introduces Shade Sail University

May 10, 2019  |  Awnings & Canopies, News

Wholesale Shade, a premier shade sail fabricator, has developed a comprehensive guide for the shade sail industry. Covering design, selling, installation and more, this guide is a must-have for anyone looking to get into the shade business or to train new employees. It includes standard industry for…
The protective textiles market

May 1, 2019  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

Advanced textiles sector participants can benefit from strong growth predictions.  by Seshadri Ramkumar The protective textiles sector is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4 percent, according to a recent report by Leeds, U.K.-based WTiN Intelligence Service. Earlier estimates by other market s…
Advice for understanding IP law

April 23, 2019  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

Advice for innovators from innovators. by Janet Preus Editor’s note: Select entrepreneurs were asked to answer questions about intellectual property (IP) law and their experiences with it. Those interviewed are at various stages in their careers. Questions asked: What do you wish you had known ear…
Sustainable sourcing

April 1, 2019  |  Markets

Following her recent podcast Sustainable Textile Sourcing for Performance Textiles in Munich, I caught up with Anne-Marie van Hoof, owner and creative director at 4-Options Studio in The Netherlands, to get her take on what she sees as driving sustainability within the industry now and into the futu…
Providing comfortable high-tech clothing

April 1, 2019  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

Comfort for the human body needs to be comprehensive. This complicates the technologies that are available to reach the ultimate goal of providing physiological, environmental and psychological comfort. A definition of technology that matches consumer expectations of clothing is a “feeling of reli…
Advancing sustainability in textiles

March 1, 2019  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

Textiles are part of a larger drive to protect and preserve resources for the future. Sustainability may be understood as a way to judiciously consume resources while leaving or even enhancing the availability of resources for future generations. The term “sustainability” has developed a powerfu…
Making it easy: the benefits of keder

March 1, 2019  |  Markets

Hidden within aluminum extrusions, shaping both simple tents and extravagant clearspans, lies the years-old invention that continues to help advance the success and technology of the tent industry today: keder, a bead or core that attaches to a fabric panel and then slides into a corresponding track…
Fabricators and boat owners have a world of choices in windows

February 1, 2019  |  Markets

When it comes to choosing their windows, most boat owners don’t want to make it too complicated—they want a quality product that will last at a reasonable price. As fabricators know, however, it’s not quite that simple. In fact, according to Zach Grant, marketing manager at Sailrite®, a distr…
Advances in smart medical textiles

February 1, 2019  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

A series of novel developments in medical textiles see smart textiles coupled with smart design to deliver benefits to both patients and medical professionals. With the medical textile market predicted to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 4.23 percent during the period 2018–2022, the…