The 3Rs live on

August 11, 2025  |  My Take

The phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” came into popular use in the early 1970s and gave us a simple framework to move towards more responsible use of resources. I could write pages (I’ll bet many of you could, too) describing the many ways we can practice the “3 R’s” as individuals, in our…
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Can you define “polymer?”

July 14, 2025  |  My Take

You all know what polymers are, more or less, and some of you know way more, but what if you were asked to help someone, who doesn’t know, understand it?
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It’s still silver. For now. 

June 23, 2025  |  My Take

That would be the short version of where we’re at with antimicrobials, but it needs, of course, a more detailed response to what is actually a complex question: What’s happening with antimicrobial treatments and textiles? Today’s market includes more than what we think of as an “antimicrobia…
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Getting to know AI

May 8, 2025  |  My Take

I needed to write this blog post about AI in the textile industry, since it’s the subject of our features this month, but I’m a complete neophyte, plain and simple. I know some basics about this topic, but little else, so I did the logical thing and asked Chat GPT a few questions about the texti…
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Finding fibers and fabrics in unlikely places

April 24, 2025  |  My Take

Ever since I first got involved with the textile industry, I’ve puzzled over composites. As a Specialty Fabrics Review editor, we typically covered flexible composites, but not rigid composites. It was our perception that few of our members and readers were involved in this market area. It was als…
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Simple—or not

March 10, 2025  |  My Take

Among songwriters in Nashville, they used to say, “Keep it simple, stupid.” Writing a really good country song may appear to be simple, but sometimes the simpler the idea, the more difficult it is to say something fresh and new, and solving that is … well, simply in the details.
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This can’t happen soon enough

February 24, 2025  |  My Take

This month we have been focusing our features on medical applications, specifically, developments in biomedical textile research. Our previous feature article (“Challenges and rewards”) discussed some success stories from the standpoint of the businesses pivotal in the process of achieving that …
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We are all in this together

January 27, 2025  |  My Take

In the years since I started editing a magazine about textiles, I’ve seen a steady increase in the number of stories crossing my desk that have to do with sustainability issues. From reducing waste, to recycling, to using products without potentially dangerous chemicals, to designing more sustaina…
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