Entertainment markets offer manufacturers steady gigs

September 1, 2009  |  Fabric Structures, Features, Graphics, Projects

With a wide variety of fabric applications, the entertainment industry offers sweeping opportunities for manufacturers. By Barb Ernster Entertainment and related markets offer sweeping opportunities for fabric products manufacturers to make their mark. The breadth of the industry extends far beyond …
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Custom-fit structure covers pool during renovation

September 1, 2009  |  Projects, Tents

Custom covering for a hotel pool renovation quietly appears overnight. By Chelan David When the highly glamorized world of haute couture beckons, typical pool renovation techniques do not apply. Such was the case last April when EventStar Structures, Medley, Fla., was assigned the task of covering t…
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Cardiac implant features knitted fabric

September 1, 2009  |  Advanced Textiles, Projects

[NMT Medical Inc.] Boston, Mass., U.S.A. NMT Medical’s STARFlex® cardiac septal repair implant was developed for patients with ventricular septal defects (VSD), the most common type of congenital heart defect. The implant provides an alternative to open heart surgery in a minimally invasiv…
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Geotextile tubes help stabilize shorelines

September 1, 2009  |  Geosynthetics, Projects

Geosynthetic technologies have emerged as a major tool in the battle against shoreline erosion, and TenCate Geosynthetics, Almelo, The Netherlands, has given the sturdy textiles a new form. The Geotube® system involves filling very large tubular textile containers with local sand or sludge to ho…
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Curtains help control infection in Wisconsin hospital

September 1, 2009  |  Advanced Textiles, Projects

[InPro Corp.] Muskego, Wisc., U.S.A. Waukesha Memorial Hospital, Waukesha, Wisc., U.S.A., is the first hospital in the U.S. to use Shield™ infection control fabric privacy curtains throughout most of its facility. The hospital was a participant in the “5 Million Lives” campaign, im…
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Air Force aero-medical units to use portable structures

September 1, 2009  |  Advanced Textiles, Projects

[Gentex Corp. Respiratory Systems] Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., U.S.A. Air Force aero-medical units around the world will soon be using the Gentex® Patient Isolation Unit (PIU), a temporary, single-use, portable structure designed to contain and transport a patient and prevent particulate cross-con…
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College utilizes upholstery vinyl to combat MRSA

September 1, 2009  |  Advanced Textiles, Projects

[Sylvester Solutions] Jessup, Pa., U.S.A. [CMI Enterprises] Miami, Fla., U.S.A. Lackawanna College, Scranton, Pa., has declared war on germs, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus/MRSA. The school upholstered their state-of-the-art fitness centers in Dimensions™ upholstery vinyl with …
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Fabric structure allows science museum visitors to experience the human cell

September 1, 2009  |  Fabric Structures, Projects

Science North, a science museum and family attraction in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, wanted visitors to experience the inner workings of a human cell. Its Club Génome exhibit opened in March 2009, a fabric structure and multimedia space where the red glow of blood cells and a hanging nucleus co…
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Light-detecting fibers form flexible cameras

September 1, 2009  |  Advanced Textiles, Projects

Few security cameras provide a 360-degree view, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass., have created and tested light-detecting fibers that, when woven into a web, become a flexible fabric camera. A potential application is camera fabric clothing that ca…
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Dome promotes Vancouver Olympics

August 24, 2009  |  Projects, Tents

It takes more than athletes to create a successful Olympics. By Janice Kleinschmidt A lot has changed since 776 B.C. (the first written record of the Olympics)—and even since 1896 (the first “modern” Olympics). These days, the games entail building permanent structures (i.e., stadi…
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