Events

ATA launches Leadership Academy

September 11, 2023

Advanced Textiles Association (ATA) has launched the ATA Leadership Academy, an initiative set to reshape leadership excellence within the textile industry. This comprehensive leadership development program is designed to offer advanced training to professionals across all levels, with training options for ATA member companies of all sizes. The ATA Leadership Academy exemplifies the Association’s commitment …

Business

The future landscape of the workforce

September 1, 2023

Organizations need to be thinking about tomorrow and, more specifically, how the future of work, the workforce and the workplace will be dramatically different from what we know today. And more important, from what it has been in the past.  Warp-speed changes ahead Let’s start by thinking about today and taking a pulse of the …

Resources

Advanced Textiles Expo Exhibitor Product Preview

September 1, 2023

Your first look at the new products and value-added services waiting for you on the show floor at Advanced Textiles Expo 2023 in Orlando, Fla., Nov 1–3. Celebrate textile innovation at Advanced Textiles Expo, where hundreds of exhibitors will bring you the latest products and information from the entire supply chain, from fibers and fabrics …

Features

Playground shade sails protect patients

September 1, 2023

Could there be a more feel-good project than one that gives a little bit of joy to children being treated (or having completed treatment) for cancer? “We have been working with the Children’s Cancer Center [in Tampa, Fla.] for many years to make repairs to a very old shade sail that was stretching and pulling …

Features

Multistory tents

September 1, 2023

Shawn Smith is sitting in a tent on the 17th green at TPC Sawgrass, a celebrated golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. It’s a typical sunny morning in the middle of February, and Smith, who is responsible for product development and quality control for Shaffer Sports & Events, one of the leading sports event …

Projects

Cellulose film could lower buildings’ energy use

September 1, 2023

Keeping buildings cool typically means releasing greenhouse gases. Researchers from the University of Cambridge in England recently unveiled a bio-based cellulose film that gets cooler when exposed to sunlight and does not require an external power source. And it comes in colors, without using dyes. Silvia Vignolini, Ph.D., found that cellulose nanocrystals could create colorful …

Features

New fabric roof improves energy efficiency

September 1, 2023

Sports arenas, especially college sports arenas, have a challenging mandate to keep up with new technologies and active public usage. Case in point is Syracuse University’s sports dome that, since its debut in 1980, was heavily used by the university to accommodate football, women’s and men’s basketball, and lacrosse. Shortly before the COVID pandemic hit …

Features Members only content

Sustaining a legacy that extends to the 19th century

August 1, 2023

Lycée Michelet is located in an old but storied suburb of Paris on a piece of land it first occupied in 1871. Vanves is a first-ring suburb at the southwest corner of Paris. The school (Lycée) is at the center of Vanes and within blocks of the Paris Convention Center and little more than a …

News

In memoriam: Christine “Tina” Ann Miller

August 1, 2023

Christine “Tina” Ann Miller, 82, of Tuscarawas Township, Ohio, passed away on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. She was born on December 10, 1940 in Massillon, Ohio to the late Louis and Emma (Urbas) Novak. Miller and her husband, Al, formed Miller Weldmaster Corp., where she served as company treasurer and secretary for 25 years until …

Features Members only content

PFAS Regulations prompt innovation

August 1, 2023

As the momentum to eliminate per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds (PFAS) picks up speed, growing numbers of product manufacturers and suppliers are exploring how to make their lines comply with the ever-tightening regulations and restrictions affecting C6 PFAS (long-chain C8 chemistries are already widely banned). Included among these are providers of durable water repellent (DWR) …

Case Studies Members only content

Your ship has come in

November 1, 2022

Along-awaited waterfront ferry terminal is up and running on Seaplane Lagoon, Alameda, Calif. Against a backdrop of the decommissioned USS Hornet aircraft carrier and the Alameda Naval Air Museum, the Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal provides regular weekday commuter services from Alameda, Oakland and other areas east and across the Bay from San Francisco. While helping …

Case Studies

Time, time again

October 1, 2022

Shigeru Ban’s corporate campus in Biel/Bienne for the Swiss watch company Swatch Omega Group is a study in contrast. Expanding on a motif the international architect first developed for the Centre Pompidou-Metz, France, Ban created a massive load-bearing timber diagrid shell that encloses and forms the main building. As with the Metz project, the Swatch …

Case Studies

The Feeling: We’re in Kansas now!

September 1, 2022

Overland Park, Kan., is the second largest city in its state, as well as within the Kansas City metro area. The city’s website claims it is “America’s largest inhabited park,” and it feels like it if you stand in any open field and look northeast toward downtown Kansas City where the green-glass iconic towers of …

Case Studies

Sails that sign: Enter here!

August 1, 2022

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indigenous community in Scottsdale, Ariz., has a dedicated space that is surrounded by a high-end commercial plaza on its land. Located at the crossroads of two major roads, the shopping complex is composed of numerous brick-faced masses that have tribal art affixed to the curved walls. One corner of the complex …

Case Studies Members only content

Right of passage

July 1, 2022

Vicinity Centres at Chadstone, located in Melbourne, Australia, is considered by some as the Fashion Capital of Down Under. Chadstone’s high-end fashion shopping precinct includes retail, commercial and leisure zones and recently was grafted to a new five-star hotel, the Hotel Chadstone Melbourne MGallery by Sofitel, via a fabric tensile canopy dubbed “The Link.” “The …

Case Studies

Opening up The Shell

June 1, 2022

Fans of the San Diego Symphony have been singing praises for the new outdoor performance venue featuring The Rady Shell, inaugurated August 6, 2021, with a full-orchestra concert and a packed audience. As any musician will tell you, acoustics at outdoor performances are often a disappointing aural experience due to wind, intrusive noises and other …

Case Studies

Fabric structures reduce environmental impact

May 1, 2022

More than ever before, architects are being called upon to dramatically improve the performance of their buildings, and fabric can help with this mandate. The key to implementing this is to reduce the embodied carbon in buildings.  It’s a given that 40 percent of global resources goes to the built environment, so our construction industry …

Case Studies

Upholstered pods offer spot for creative immersion

January 1, 2022

With commissioned work coming to a halt last year because of the pandemic, artist Liam Hopkins set out to design his own project—a venue that would inspire and evolve. The result is Lazerian Space, a combination art gallery and cafe on King Street in Manchester, England.  Inside the space, guests lounge and nosh within one …

Case Studies

Paris debuts a ‘grand’ temporary venue

December 1, 2021

While the Grand Palais, Paris’ historic exhibition hall and museum complex, is closed for a multi-year restoration project, a membrane-wrapped temporary venue installed on the Champ de Mars in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower is taking its place. Designed by architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte of Wilmotte & Associates, the temporary structure dubbed “Grand Palais Ephémère” …

Case Studies

Michigan dining outdoors, under cover

October 1, 2021

In the autumn of 2020, while Michigan was experiencing a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, the governor and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services put in place a three-week ban on indoor dining in restaurants. To keep their doors open, many Detroit restaurants turned to tents, heaters and other ways to extend their …

Expo News

IFAI Expo 2022 call for presentations

December 20, 2021

The Industrial Fabrics Association International is now accepting proposals for presentations at IFAI Expo 2022. IFAI Expo will take place Oct. 12-14, 2022, at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, N.C., with education Oct. 11-14. IFAI is accepting proposals for 50-minute classroom sessions in several categories: Advanced Textiles Shade & Weather Protection Specialty Fabrics Marine …

Events

Messe Stuttgart’s Sun Shading Expo North America moves co-location debut with IFAI Expo to 2022

July 7, 2021

Messe Stuttgart announced that its new U.S.-based show Sun Shading Expo North America will not be held in 2021 as a separate trade show but will instead contribute its expertise in internal and external sun shading systems at IFAI Expo 2021 in the form of expert talks, open discussions and more. IFAI Expo 2021 will still take place …

Expo News

Registration is open for IFAI Expo 2021

May 10, 2021

Registration is open for IFAI Expo 2021. IFAI Expo celebrates the 100th anniversary of the show this November, and you won’t want to miss it! After a long hiatus of in-person events, this year’s show is the perfect place to reconnect with your industry. Register now to get the Early Bird rate! Early Bird rates end …

Expo News

Get stand-out awnings with digital printing

December 1, 2020

With today’s digital printing options, there’s no reason for an awning client to be limited to colors and patterns in a book or traditional customization methods, according to Andrew Medley, regional sales manager for Trivantage. “Digital printing offers unlimited capabilities, and it is a solution to providing the customer exactly what they want—personalized messaging, the …

Expo News

Welding technology for your business

December 1, 2020

During IFAI Virtual Expo 2020, Jeff Sponseller, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Miller Weldmaster, led a campfire session titled “How to Select the Correct Welding Technology for Your Business.” “Essentially a good weld means that the fabric will tear before the weld does,” says Sponseller. Many types of different materials can be …

Expo News

Guidance offered in commercial insurance market

December 1, 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. …

Expo News

The inside scoop on shade, lighting and acoustics

December 1, 2020

In the 2020 IFAI Virtual Expo presentation, “The Inside Scoop on Shade, Lighting and Acoustics,” Cynthia Thompson, MFA, president and founder of Transformit in Gorham, Maine, wowed conference participants with a slideshow of her company’s projects that highlight the stunning possibilities of interior fabric architecture. Thompson said many different markets can make use of permanent …

Expo News

How to make your business attractive to a buyer

December 1, 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 …

Expo News

Standard for active illumination developed in Europe

November 16, 2020

In a session at IFAI Virtual Expo 2020, “Smart Textiles Standardization, Active Illumination,” Dr. Jan Beringer, senior scientific expert Hohenstein Group, explained the new standard for active illumination that will soon be implemented in European Union countries.  Organizations worked together to develop the standards. It is notable, he said that both textile and electronics industries …

Expo News

Rapid prototyping = faster market launch

November 16, 2020

A presentation at IFAI Virtual Expo 2020, titled, “Rapid Prototyping and Textile Product Development” urged attendees to use “sticks and glue … whatever method you have to get your idea out there.” The presenter, Dr. Andre West, director of the Zeis Textiles Extension (ZTE), Wilson College of Textiles, NC State University, may not have meant …

Features

Playground shade sails protect patients

September 1, 2023

Could there be a more feel-good project than one that gives a little bit of joy to children being treated (or having completed treatment) for cancer? “We have been working with the Children’s Cancer Center [in Tampa, Fla.] for many years to make repairs to a very old shade sail that was stretching and pulling …

Features

Multistory tents

September 1, 2023

Shawn Smith is sitting in a tent on the 17th green at TPC Sawgrass, a celebrated golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. It’s a typical sunny morning in the middle of February, and Smith, who is responsible for product development and quality control for Shaffer Sports & Events, one of the leading sports event …

Features

New fabric roof improves energy efficiency

September 1, 2023

Sports arenas, especially college sports arenas, have a challenging mandate to keep up with new technologies and active public usage. Case in point is Syracuse University’s sports dome that, since its debut in 1980, was heavily used by the university to accommodate football, women’s and men’s basketball, and lacrosse. Shortly before the COVID pandemic hit …

Features Members only content

Sustaining a legacy that extends to the 19th century

August 1, 2023

Lycée Michelet is located in an old but storied suburb of Paris on a piece of land it first occupied in 1871. Vanves is a first-ring suburb at the southwest corner of Paris. The school (Lycée) is at the center of Vanes and within blocks of the Paris Convention Center and little more than a …

Features Members only content

Scott Neville: Prioritize trust to join legacy companies

August 1, 2023

Fifteen years ago, Scott Neville was a newcomer to the shade industry. In partnership with his father, Ron, he has since acquired three renowned awning companies with more than 300 years of combined industry leadership. And he’s just getting started. An avid challenge-seeker, Neville joined the industry in 2008 in Springfield, Mo. He and his …

Features Members only content

PFAS Regulations prompt innovation

August 1, 2023

As the momentum to eliminate per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds (PFAS) picks up speed, growing numbers of product manufacturers and suppliers are exploring how to make their lines comply with the ever-tightening regulations and restrictions affecting C6 PFAS (long-chain C8 chemistries are already widely banned). Included among these are providers of durable water repellent (DWR) …

Features

Updating an ’80s Brutalist campus landmark

July 1, 2023

The School of Architecture building at the University of Florida, Gainesville, is fully of its era—massive, raw concrete slab walls that frame major outdoor spaces; angled facade planes with deep overhangs that produce stark shadows in contrast to the bright white massing of the all-concrete building, made all the more intense by the north Florida …

Features

Awnings encourage natural light and offer shade protection

July 1, 2023

Natural light can help reduce energy usage in our buildings. This is a lesson known for centuries but seemingly forgotten after the 1940s with postwar technological advances in air conditioning (coupled with the Modernist design movement that declared “ornament is a crime”). These stripped-down building facades spoke volumes about a new era of high-tech materials …

Features

A home run for reuse of abandoned ball field

June 1, 2023

In 2017, the city of Bridgeport, Conn., was dealt several strikes against its home-based sports attraction when its minor league baseball team, the Bridgeport Bluefish, packed up and moved away for greater glory. Thankfully, a local developer teamed up with the music event behemoth Live Nation to repurpose the stadium into a new music and …

Features

George Smith grew Mahaffey through market diversification

June 1, 2023

George Smith, vice president of operations for temporary structures for Sunbelt Rentals Inc. (and former president and CEO of Mahaffey USA), never intended to make a career out of the tent business. In the beginning, it was strictly a side gig.  “I was working in garage door sales in Boston when my wife’s father suggested …

IFAI news

In memoriam: Kevin Yonce

May 1, 2023

Former Industrial Fabrics Association International (now ATA) Chairman Kevin Yonce passed away peacefully in the comfort of his home on April 29, 2023. Yonce was born January 24, 1970, in Urbana, Ill. He was a lifelong resident of Champaign-Urbana and a 1988 graduate of Urbana High School. Yonce is survived by his mother, Wanda, brother …

Industry News

Spatial Structure Sub-association hosts 11th National Membrane Structure Technology Exchange Conference

April 18, 2023

The “20th Anniversary Celebration of Membrane Structure Innovation and Development and the 11th National Membrane Structure Technology Exchange Conference” hosted by the Spatial Structure Sub-association of China Steel Construction Association and undertaken by Beijing University of Technology was successfully held this spring in Beijing, China. Nearly 400 delegates from all over the country participated. A …

Industry News

OSHA administers $11.7 million in training grants

June 22, 2022

The U.S. Department of Labor will provide a funding opportunity for $11.7 million in Susan Harwood Training Grants to support the delivery of training and education to help workers and employers identify and prevent workplace safety and health hazards. Administered by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the grants will target disadvantaged, underserved, low-income, and other hard-to-reach, …

Industry News

Oeko-Tex Association releases annual updates

January 10, 2022

Oeko-Tex Association has released its annual updates to test criteria, limit values and requirements. In addition, its new Impact Calculator is now available for STeP by Oeko-Tex customers. The industry-specific tool will provide carbon and water footprint data essential to meeting climate goals. Later in 2022, Oeko-Tex will also introduce a new certification for corporate …

Industry News

Steve Fredrickson joins Rainier Industries

December 21, 2021

Industry veteran Steve Fredrickson is joining Rainier Industries as the National Sales Director for Rainier Shade. Frederickson has more than 25 years of experience in the textile industry, with several different companies. Most recently, he was sales director at Sattler Corp. “I started working with Rainier Industries in 1997; loved my time here and am …

Expo News

IFAI Expo 2022 call for presentations

December 20, 2021

The Industrial Fabrics Association International is now accepting proposals for presentations at IFAI Expo 2022. IFAI Expo will take place Oct. 12-14, 2022, at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, N.C., with education Oct. 11-14. IFAI is accepting proposals for 50-minute classroom sessions in several categories: Advanced Textiles Shade & Weather Protection Specialty Fabrics Marine …

Industry News

Pantone announces Color of the Year for 2022

December 17, 2021

Pantone, the global color authority and provider of professional color language standards and digital solutions for the design community, has introduced a new blue shade, PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri, a dynamic periwinkle blue hue with a vivifying violet red undertone as the Pantone Color of the Year selection for 2022. Blending the faithfulness and constancy …

Industry News

R+T 2022 postponed

December 1, 2021

Messe Stuttgart is postponing R+T, a leading trade fair for roller shutters, doors/gates and sun shading systems, which was scheduled to take place in February 2022. “R+T is the most international event in Stuttgart. Three quarters of the exhibitors at the last edition of the world’s leading trade fair in 2018 came from abroad,” says …

Industry News

Global textile market outlook

October 21, 2021

According to the report “Global Textile Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Raw Material (Wool, Chemical, Silk), by Product (Natural Fibers, Polyester), by Application (Household, Technical), by Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2021-2028” by ResearchAndMarkets.com, the global textile market size is anticipated to reach USD 1412.5 billion by 2028. The market is expected to …

Industry News

Herculite Products promotes two employees to new roles

October 14, 2021

Herculite Products Inc., an innovator and manufacturer of high performance and custom fabrics, has announced that Paul Flaherty and Marco Angelone have received leadership promotions. Flaherty has been promoted to the newly created position of chief strategy officer. In the new role, he will be responsible for the development and implementation of the company’s long …