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Navigating military textile development
March 1st, 2023
Alaska Army National Guardsmen patrol a training area at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Dec. 3, 2022. The patrol was part of an air assault exercise to evaluate the soldier’s proficiency in an arctic environment. Photo: Army Sgt. Seth LaCount Bestwork Industries for the Blind Inc. is a Cherry Hill, N.J., not-for-profit employment program that provides […]
Designing (for) women
February 1st, 2023
Aurora Specialty Textiles Group (ASTG) quality technicians are shown checking the quality of Aurora’s Expressions Canvas products. The company’s core strength is the application of coatings and finishings to woven, knitted and nonwoven fabrics, typically cotton and polyester-cotton blends. Photo: Aurora Specialty Textiles Group Inc. The specialty fabrics industry has historically been overwhelmingly male, and […]
Fabric structures that withstand extreme environments
October 1st, 2022
Creativity is required when it comes to designing shades that can withstand Hawaii’s extreme trade winds. A solution devised by Tropical J’s is using motorized wire-guide shades, shown here installed at a residence, rather than tracked or keder shades, which can blow out of the tracks in high wind. Photo: Tropical J’s Inc. Visitors to […]
Cleaning & repairing fabric products
September 1st, 2022
Creative Textile Solutions was asked to design a new fabric cover to dress up this building’s storefront. The company provided a replacement retractable awning cover using Sattler acrylic fabric. Photo: Creative Textile Solutions Now that inventories are back to earning their keep, attention has turned to making them presentable and putting them back in good […]
Hardware prevails through travails
June 1st, 2022
A vast array of fasteners is on display in Lowy Enterprises’ showroom. The company stayed open during COVID as an essential business, sourcing components for masks and related medical items and supporting many ancillary areas at that time as well. Photo: Lowy Enterprises Inc. COVID-19 battered economies and companies worldwide, with few industries spared its […]
Decoding standards, regulation and certification
November 1st, 2021
American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists’ testing methods are key components of industry certifications and labels. Photo: AATCC. With sustainability increasingly on consumers’ minds, textile end product manufacturers (EPMs) are tasked with ensuring that the eco-friendly claims they make about their products and production processes are valid. This can prove challenging, as can staying […]
Relocating your business
October 1st, 2021
Poised to move to a much larger, 125,000-square-foot space by the end of 2021, American Tent is currently operating out of relatively tight quarters, with some employees, such as this staffer shown sewing, working in a production area of about 12,000 square feet. The move to a nearby renovated and vacant mall will vastly improve […]
Covering climate change
July 1st, 2021
The MakMax TensoSport Sports Canopy is designed to provide protection to large-court sporting facilities, such as tennis or basketball (shown here). The canopies are fabricated with high-translucency architectural-grade PVC fabric with PVDF coating, or with high-translucency, long-life PTFE woven fiberglass with fluropolymer coating. Photo: MakMax Australia Pty. Ltd; photographer: Grant Kennedy, We Shoot Buildings. Broiling […]
The balancing act of textile treatments
June 1st, 2021
The pandemic changed consumer lifestyles, with people working, exercising and eating at home. Those new habits translate into higher demand for stain resistance and other performance features in home textiles. Photo: © Alexey Rumyantsev, Dreamstime.com Fueled by consumer demand, textile treatments are evolving to provide an ever-growing array of performance benefits. This development has also […]
Bringing digital printing in-house
May 1st, 2021
This 30-foot-tall SecondSkin graphic high-tension system from Brandit Graphics is built around two sides of a tent at the 2020 CES in Las Vegas. The modern and waterproof SecondSkin system is designed to achieve flat graphics for outdoor structures, providing a smooth surface for exceptional branding. Photo: Brandit Graphics and Structure Wraps. Standing out from […]