TEXTILES.ORG
Expanding into new markets (without losing your shirt)
January 1st, 2024
Employees at AR Tech working on multilayered insulative fabric assemblies for a space launch vehicle. Image: AR Tech In today’s volatile economic climate—with higher interest rates and difficulty hiring workers—the decision on how, when or even whether a company should expand into a new market can be incredibly challenging. However, within this industry, where most […]
Textile industry leaders discuss 2023 market challenges
April 1st, 2023
Automation and new equipment is allowing companies to manufacture with fewer employees. Photo: Sewbo The Advanced Textiles Association (ATA) board chair, Amy Bircher, and the ATA first vice chair, Roy Chism, responded to questions about the industry in 2022 and where it may be going in 2023. Amy Bircher, CEO and founder,MMI Textiles Inc. Chairman, […]
IFAI board chair Amy Bircher hosts “Ask Me Anything” on IFAI Connect
February 1st, 2022
Amy Bircher tackled questions on labor shortages, supply chain issues and other industry challenges. New IFAI Board Chair Amy Bircher was recently featured in the January issue of Specialty Fabrics Review, but she also participated in an “Ask Me Anything” session on the IFAI CONNECT forum. She fielded questions on a number of topics ranging […]
Ask Me Anything with IFAI chair Amy Bircher January 31
January 13th, 2022
The Industrial Fabrics Association International will be hosting an "Ask Me Anything" with new IFAI board chair Amy Bircher. The event will take place from 2 to 3pm EST, Monday, January 31, in CONNECT by IFAI's Open Forum. Bircher will be answering member questions about the future of IFAI and challenges currently facing the industry. […]
Growth path
January 1st, 2022
Photography by Mark Skalny / www.markskalnyphotography.com Like many textile entrepreneurs, Amy Bircher got her start in the industry in a family business—even as she blazed her own path. “I got into the textile industry because my family owned a dyeing and finishing facility of wide fabric, broad-woven fabrics in the Carolinas,” Bircher says. In 1980, […]
Equipment that makes a difference
July 1st, 2021
An Autometrix cutting table like this one has made work more efficient at National Bias Fabric Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, and helped the company move into new markets. Photo: Autometrix. Countless decisions go into the daily operation of a business, some big, some small, but all part of determining how successful a company is going […]
WVU Davis College unveils Amy A. Bircher Textiles Laboratory
April 19th, 2021
Amy Bircher (center), Beth Shorrock (left) and Darrell Donahue cut the ribbon on the new Amy A. Bircher Textiles Laboratory at West Virginia University. Photo: Brian Persinger/WVU Photography. A gift to the West Virginia University Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design will provide fashion, dress and merchandising students with enhanced educational opportunities in […]
MMI Textiles to expand operations with new production facility
December 15th, 2020
MMI Textiles Inc., a global diversified supplier of industrial and custom fabrics and textile components based in Westlake, Ohio, will open a 30,000-square-foot production facility in North Carolina to begin producing select narrow fabrics during the first quarter of 2021. The new facility in Lenoir, N.C., will focus on manufacturing and printing narrow fabrics, including […]
The specialty textiles market copes with COVID-19
October 1st, 2020
While some industry suppliers and end product manufacturers have found ways to remain afloat, the economic effects of the pandemic have proven devastating to many, and the future can only be described as uncertain. by Pamela Mills-Senn The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall economy, and on the specialty textiles industry specifically, is […]
Boots on the ground
September 1st, 2019
Since IFAI’s editorial department moved back to the third floor a month or two ago, I’ve had a pile of pennies sitting on my work surface, just waiting for a co-worker (or a visitor, or even an intruder) to ask about it, so I could smile modestly and say “It’s to remind me that change […]