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IFAI Expo 2019 and Advanced Textiles Conference opens registration
May 6th, 2019
Registration for IFAI Expo 2019 and the Advanced Textiles (AT) Conference is now open. This year’s event will be Oct. 1–4 in Orlando, Fla., with the AT Conference running all day Oct. 1. Several speakers have been scheduled with more to be announced soon. Topics to be addressed include medical textiles, innovation, fabric advancements, safety and […]
Better together
March 10th, 2017
Collaborative efforts support growth in the smart textiles industry. The more high tech an industry is, the greater the range of expertise it may need. Advanced textiles, particularly smart materials, are a prime example of this. Textiles often undergo a variety of processes requiring specialized skills and equipment, so collaboration is essential to the industry. […]
The technology incubator
December 9th, 2016
IFAI Expo showcases the best of advanced textiles developments. Walking the Advanced Textiles section of IFAI Expo in Charlotte this fall was a bit like touring a food market where an array of ingredients is on display, waiting for a chef to choose, combine them and create a dish whose value is above and beyond that […]
Enter the 2016 International Achievement Awards
April 1st, 2016
The 69th Annual International Achievement Awards are open for entries. Industrial fabric companies from around the world are encouraged to compete in new categories that showcase innovation, technical skill and design excellence. The competition has changed a bit this year with a “Best in Category” award in each of the seven major. The major categories […]
Student Design Challenge open for 2016 applications
March 4th, 2016
The Advanced Textile Products Student Design Challenge is an annual contest established to encourage college and university students of design, textiles engineering, and allied curricula to solve safety and protection problems using technical textiles and narrow fabrics in functional designs. Students will create an original design and prototype for a safety product that will protect […]
IFAI seeks proposals for its Advanced Textiles Conference
February 19th, 2016
The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) has extended the deadline for presentation proposals for IFAI’s Expo, scheduled for Oct. 18-21, 2016, in Charlotte, N.C. The Advanced Textiles Conference, which opens Oct. 18, will feature multiple, full-day education tracks, a keynote lunch and a networking reception. Additionally, there will be educational opportunities on the Expo show […]
3D printing and the future of textile products
November 6th, 2015
“We have met a point of diminishing returns [in advanced textiles], especially for millenials, Michael Chalmer Dunn says. “They don’t care if clothing is warmer, lighter, etc.—we’ve gone as far as we need to. Enter … wearable technology.” Dunn, a manufacturing and management consultant, spoke on the topic, “The future of 3D printed textiles: disruptive […]
Customized testing of advanced textiles products
October 9th, 2015
Advanced textiles are available to consumers with an impressive and ever-increasing array of performance attributes. Examples include wicking, compression, heat-reflecting and energy-harvesting properties. While standard tests exist to confirm and demonstrate the nature and magnitude of some properties, they may not capture the performance features that distinguish a product from its competition. Additionally, the standard […]
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 […]
The chain link
October 6th, 2015
Attending IFAI Expo, as well as serving as a moderator in the Advanced Textiles Program, Cheryl Gomes, project manager for the Core Research Facility at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, is working on a consortium under the label Fibers and Textiles Revolution. The goal is to create a sustainable supply chain in the textile industry […]