TEXTILES.ORG
Start to finish
February 15th, 2016
Fabric structure companies with metal shops make material decisions based on multiple factors. Site conditions, local building codes, aspects of design and customer preferences dictate the type of metal used with fabric structures, says Gerald Thompson, CEO of Awnings of Hollywood. His company works with high-strength steel pipe and tubing, aluminum pipe and tubing, and […]
R&D for everyone
January 1st, 2016
Gaston College Textile Technology Center offers its equipment and expertise for hire. Autocoro, MDTA Rotorring, Spectraflash, Statimat. If you don’t have one of these, know how to operate one or even know what it does, don’t feel bad. That’s why there’s a place like Gaston College Textile Technology Center in Belmont, N.C. The facility has […]
Supplying forces
November 1st, 2015
The U.S. relies on the domestic industrial base to meet military needs. In enacting the Defense Production Act of 1950, Congress listed eight findings to support its “statement of policy.” The last one states that “the inability of industries in the United States, especially smaller subcontractors and suppliers, to provide vital parts and components and […]
Sustainability: public engagement
October 15th, 2015
Raising awareness of fabric recycling and re-using keeps the conversation going. With the proliferation of social media, the general public has become accustomed to interacting with companies as well as each other. And companies increasingly appreciate the importance of being part of the larger conversation. Insularity is no longer a protection of corporate advantage. In […]
The foreign exchange
October 9th, 2015
If IFAI decided to give out a Most PowerPoint Slides Award, there’s no doubt the association would bestow it upon Mary Lynn Landgraf, senior international trade specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Textiles and Apparel. Her IFAI Expo Advanced Textiles presentation titled “New Approaches to Selling to the Military” comprised a whopping […]
A MUST do list
October 8th, 2015
It’s not just being close to Washington, D.C., and its plethora of lobbyists that might make the vice president of operations for AdvanTech Inc. of Annapolis, Md., believe in the power of numbers. And if there is power in numbers, there must be power in databases. That explains, in part, why Robert Bona came to […]
Seeing is believing
October 7th, 2015
Everybody wants to get noticed, but it’s more than just an ego thing. It’s a safety issue, as Shari Franklin Smith vividly demonstrated during an interactive IFAI Expo session on “The Science Behind Conspicuous Designs.” The technical service manager for the Personal Safety Division at 3M led attendees through a series of “tests” to disclose […]
One thing leads to another
October 7th, 2015
After the tsunami-triggered Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown in 2011, a Japanese aerospace company that had met representatives from California’s AR Tech during a trade mission to that country asked for help in a better technology to protect the hundreds of miles of cable running through the plant. Amir Massoudi, director of quality and engineering […]
Keeping it tight
October 6th, 2015
Expo attendees could hardly be misled by the lengthy descriptor title “Influence of Inherently Super-Nonwetting Fiber and Fabric Designs Repellency and Resistance to Liquid Penetration." So attendees at Dr. Quoc Troung’s presentation clearly held expertise and specific interest in the finer points of fabric structure. The physical scientist at the U.S. Army Natick Solder Research, […]
Crypton’s superheroes
October 6th, 2015
Though this isn’t Comic Con, Hardy Sullivan called upon comic book-style superheroes in his expo presentation titled “Super Fabric Advancements Combat Arch Villains.” The vice president of research and development for Crypton Inc. described several of his company’s textile products with graphic representations as follows: “Splendor” represented Revl™ anti-graffiti vinyl, launched in March. “It has […]