Partners in success

June 29, 2016  |  Features

Specialty fabricators don’t have to go it alone. Equipment and automation manufacturers are working hard, developing technologies that sharpen the competitive edge. Founded in 1908, Minnesota Knitting Mills (MKM) started out supplying nearby colleges with letter award sweaters, says Patrick Hi…
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Fabric engineering

June 29, 2016  |  Features, Perspective

Ben Fox expands design capabilities for fabric structures, focusing on innovation and education to solve customer problems. “Our company’s roots are unique in that we started out as a construction service and kind of worked our way backward into manufacturing,” says Ben Fox, owner, preside…
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A succession solution

June 29, 2016  |  Business, Management

How to determine if an employee stock ownership plan is right for your company. An exit plan is generally not at the forefront of a company owner’s mind, especially at the height of career success, but it’s no less important than any other business strategy. When the time comes to step down, a c…
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Flying tent works up top or down low

June 29, 2016  |  Projects

Explorers who go everywhere in nature have to travel light and react quickly. A start-up company, Startraveller Equipment GmbH, Carinthia, Austria, developed the perfect companion for wanderers in the wild—the flying tent, an all-in-one tent that works as a ground tent, a floating tent hung on tre…
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Smart fabrics, smart move

June 29, 2016  |  Business, Marketing

From research to manufacturing reality through the AFFOA Institute. The AFFOA initiative provides an exciting opportunity to enhance the functionality of the fabrics that all of us interact with every day,” says Dr. Julianna Abel, University of Minnesota mechanical engineering assistant professor.…
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Benefit sharing

June 29, 2016  |  Editorial

Every year at this time, we start pulling together our editorial calendars, compiling a list of important products, key markets and vital industry issues. This year’s “issues” roster for the Review includes (but is not limited to): multifunctionality in high-performance fabrics; sustainability…
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Upcycling oceans of debris

June 29, 2016  |  Projects

Javier Goyeneche, president of Ecoalf Recycled Fabrics S.L., headquartered in Madrid, Spain, established his recycled clothing company in 2010. Ecoalf jackets and backpacks made from recycled wastes appear in upscale shops, such as Harrods in London and Bloomingdale’s in New York. Now Goyeneche an…
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Streamlining standards

June 29, 2016  |  Features

Compromise and collaboration are key to revising standards that improve textile product safety. The road to revised standards can be bumpy, fraught with lively discussions and detailed (some might say “picky”) decisions. The standards, some enforceable and some voluntary, guide material and prod…
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Mirrors of reflection

June 29, 2016  |  Projects

Milan Design week allows designers and innovators in materials to wow the cognoscenti with creativity, and 3M™, the inventors of films, adhesives, tapes and thousands of other products for homes and businesses, went to Italy with a reflective idea. In partnership with Stefano Boeri Architetti, 3M …
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Going up?

June 29, 2016  |  Features

Creating a function—and personable—space for increasingly demanding customers is taking the tent-rental industry in some new directions. Poodle skirts and love beads, glam rock and disco, mood rings and pet rocks. There’s no denying that some trends end up being fads that fade. Occasionally, a…
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