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 [...]
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 [...]
An afternoon session by Jing Liang, founder and president of Medical PPE Consulting LLC, walked participants through the regulatory process and testing for medical personnel protective equipment (PPE) In her session, “Understanding Testing Requirements of Medical PPE,” she noted the variety of PPE, which include gloves, shoe covers, goggles, gowns and masks. Her discussion centered on [...]
Even bottled water is marketed as “smart” these days, notes Andre Comitre, COO of Artisan Window Fashions, but that claim does not make it true. Similarly, “smart homes” are easy to tout, but the reality of fully-integrated systems is still in the process of being realized. Comitre, an architect by training, presented Oct. 3 at [...]
Wholesale Shade’s Robin DuBroy, director of training programs, and Gregg Burrows, sales manager, presented a session at IFAI Virtual Expo 2020 about shade sail design and installation. Using numerous case studies of various designs and difficulty levels, the speakers discussed each project in terms of client goals, site challenges and an evaluation of results. Shade [...]
The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) opened the advanced textiles education sessions of Virtual Expo 2020 with a presentation by Dr. Sasha Stolyarov, CEO, Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA). His presentation, “The Development of Advanced Functional Fibers and Fabrics” outlined the progress made in AFFOA’s mission to “rekindle the domestic textiles industry” with its coordinated [...]
As concern over the Coronavirus (COVID-19) grows, I want all IFAI members to know we are closely monitoring developments and following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). We will follow their recommendations to keep our employees, their families and our members healthy and safe. With this in [...]
David Dean, director of research and development at Glen Raven/Sunbrella, led the campfire session, “Fire Retardancy in Shade Structures: Requirements and Solutions” during Expo 2019 in Orlando, Fla., According to Dean, in the U.S. there are currently no federally-mandated fire retardancy (FR) regulations for shade structures. The few regulations that have been passed include those [...]
Gary Westlund, of Awning Tracker, knows what he’s talking about when he says, “Overhead is a real cost. Unless you properly account for overhead on job bids, you are just guessing.” Westlund gave a straight-talk presentation on Oct. 3 at Expo 2019, telling attendees he owned and operated his own awning business for 25 years, [...]
Four puppies are hoping to find their lifetime human companions on the show floor of IFAI Expo 2019. Amid the latest fabrics, equipment, technology and services for the specialty fabrics industry, Lorenzo, Lilo, Lolo, and Lulo stole hearts, and, according to some dog lovers—the show—at IFAI Expo 2019 in Orlando, Fla. For this Expo, the [...]
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