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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Overcoming Murphy’s Law yields pain-relieving yarns for socks

November 6th, 2020

“Lather, rinse, repeat. Lather, rinse, repeat,” became the mantra of Matt Komes, CEO at VOLT, when his company took on the challenge of making CBD-infused socks for pain relief. Komes presented the VOLT product development process Oct. 5 at IFAI Virtual Expo 2020. VOLT, a division of Supreme Corp., has expertise in military and medical […]

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Is hemp fiber the new sustainable knit for footwear?

November 5th, 2020

Zoe Newman, a graduate student from North Carolina State University’s Wilson College of Textiles, shared her research on the impact of introducing hemp fiber into more sustainable knit footwear during IFAI Virtual Expo 2020. Newman explained that sustainable materials are lacking in the textile industry, especially for footwear, and integrating natural fibers into the market […]

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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 […]

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A primer on Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)

November 4th, 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, […]

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The supply chain: changes and predictions

November 3rd, 2020

Dr. King Mukherjee, founder of Global Impex USA, led an afternoon session on supply chain management and global sourcing during IFAI Virtual Expo 2020. The session explored how the international business supply chain has changed in the past few years, how the domestic and international market will change in the future, and how the current […]

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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 […]

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Virtual Expo 2020 advanced textiles education begins

November 3rd, 2020

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 […]

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