Partnerships in smart textile products
November 11th, 2020
The second week of IFAI’s Virtual Expo 2020 advanced textiles educational sessions began with a presentation that illustrated the importance of collaboration. “Smart textiles for healthcare and wellbeing: a collaborative approach” had three presenters speaking from different perspectives, but with one, unified message about reaching across geographical distance and areas of expertise to create successful […]
Guidance offered in commercial insurance market
November 10th, 2020
Wildfires, hurricanes, a pandemic and civil unrest have wreaked plenty of chaos on the commercial insurance market in 2020. Steve Christenson, with Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, offered guidance to business owners Nov. 9 at IFAI Virtual Expo 2020. “The business insurance market has been going through several changes this year,” says Christenson, with U.S. […]
IFAI Virtual Expo 2020 Announces Show Stopper Winners
November 9th, 2020
IFAI Virtual Expo announced the Show Stopper winners for the year, including the most popular products in the virtual exhibit halls. The ninth annual Show Stopper competition was designed to showcase the best of the best in the industry, from fabrics, equipment and chemicals to hardware and accessories. Designed to recognize the most popular new […]
Industrial Fabrics Foundation (IFF) Announces the 2020 IFF Innovation Award Winners
November 9th, 2020
The Industrial Fabrics Foundation (IFF) recently announced the winners of the 2020 IFF Innovation Award. The IFF Innovation Award encourages companies around the globe to weave tomorrow’s ideas into the fabrics of today. The first-place winner was awarded to Propel LLC for their project “Propel LLC Smart Integrated Shirt”. Propel’s U.S. Navy funded smart shirt […]
How to make your business attractive to a buyer
November 6th, 2020
Thinking about selling your business—either to an outside party or the next generation? Then it’s time to start considering how your equipment and processes fit into your succession plan. Jonathan Palmer, the second-generation owner and CEO of equipment supplier Autometrix, and Autometrix director of global sales Truy Pham, led an educational session at IFAI Virtual […]
Research and development partnerships work one-on-one
November 6th, 2020
The process of working with a research and development center was discussed in Dr. Thomas Stegmaier’s presentation, “Testing and Standards Integral to Timely Product Development.” Dr. Stegmaier is with DITF [Deutsche Institute Fur Textil Und Faserforschung Denkendorf], a large, textile research center located in Germany. It partners individually with industry participants to develop new technologies […]
Responsive textiles with infrared technology
November 5th, 2020
In a presentation titled, “Amplifying Human Energy to Drive Performance and Recovery,” Hologenix LLC co-founder and CEO Seth Casden described the company’s Celliant® technology and explained how responsive textiles using infrared energy can increase tissue oxygen levels, which can improve athletic performance and recovery, sleep quality and general health and wellness. All sentient beings emit […]
A primer on Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
November 5th, 2020
An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) offers lots of attractive benefits: studies have shown that ESOPs improve productivity, increase sales and improve return on assets, plus they offer great tax advantages. But more than any of these attributes, an ESOP offers the owner of a company peace of mind and an enduring legacy. “Many times, […]
Understanding intelligent textiles
November 4th, 2020
The Advanced Textiles Conference of IFAI’s Virtual Expo 2020 continued Nov. 4 with a detailed presentation by Justine Decaens on “Smart Textiles: From Lab Prototypes to Commercial Products.” Decaens is R&D director with CTT Group, a testing laboratory and R&D facility specialized in technical textiles, headquartered in Quebec, Canada. Decaens first offered to define “smart […]
Policy challenges and opportunities for U.S. textile manufacturing
November 3rd, 2020
The U.S. textile industry worked “swiftly and impressively” to pivot to produce personal protective equipment (PPE) this spring, leveraging existing manufacturing know-how and equipment and making new investments to shift production, according to Sara Beatty, president of White Haven Trade Advisors. “However, clearly the U.S. would have been in a much better position had we […]