The new Space race

July 12, 2021  |  My Take

by Janet Preus The U.S. has been seriously engaged in space exploration since 1958 with the founding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA as we all know it. That act of Congress followed the 1957 launching of the satellite Sputnik by the Soviet Union.  And the space rac…
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Essentially hidden

June 14, 2021  |  My Take

by Janet Preus Several years ago, IFAI Expo co-located with the composites show, JEC. The IFAI board chair took me around the JEC show floor, introduced me to some of the company representatives there and explained a bit more about why these two shows were a fit.  “All composites have textiles in…
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Take care—of your hands

May 10, 2021  |  My Take

by Janet Preus An elderly woman I knew long ago once worked at a place she just called “Hands.” I know the workers didn’t make much money, but I think they were mostly elderly, female and enjoyed the socializing as much as anything. It was all “hand work,” and I’ve thought now and then a…
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Acronyms and quotation marks

April 12, 2021  |  My Take

by Janet Preus Not that many years ago, the phrase “flexible hybrid electronics” didn’t exist. One can say this about a variety of textile-related phrases. Some might argue that FHEs, as they’re abbreviated, are not really a textile product at all, and technically they may be right in many c…
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Be encouraged

March 22, 2021  |  My Take

by Janet Preus I grew up learning all about the Industrial Revolution, which (I was taught at the time) began in England and spread from there across Europe and beyond to the shores of America. Today that seems like an amazingly simplistic version of our manufacturing history, but that’s the way I…
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It’s what you don’t see

February 8, 2021  |  My Take

by Janet Preus When you slam a car door (which you’re not supposed to do, but we all do it now and then), you may notice how loud the door slam is, or is not. If it’s quiet, it’s because there are high quality acoustic textile materials carefully placed to absorb the sound and keep … <d…
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New Year’s magic

January 11, 2021  |  My Take

by Janet Preus There were four of us sitting by a bonfire in front of our cabin late on New Year’s Day. It was miraculously warm for early January in Minnesota. On another recent New Year’s, we entertained ourselves by running outside and throwing a cup of boiling water in the air for the fun &h…
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Yes, you have to wear your mittens

December 7, 2020  |  My Take

I grew up in a part of Minnesota that can have snow on the ground from late October into May. Temperatures have been known to hit minus-30° F. Or colder. When we played outside, we got a lot of exercise just moving at all in our snowsuits, scarves, hats, puffy mittens and snow boots. Playing outsi…
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Unprecedented

November 9, 2020  |  My Take

by Janet Preus We’ve heard that word a lot in the last few months. Unprecedented. More than I would like to, in fact, and now we can add IFAI’s Expo 2020 to the “unprecedented” category. For one thing, it’s continuing over two weeks, so I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of ok with &…
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DIY comes to e-textiles

October 12, 2020  |  My Take

by Janet Preus I’ve written about e-textiles numerous times over the past few years. There’s a reason for that. At first it was my own fascination with a technology which could transform a host of textile products. (I may still have my heated socks that required wires running up my leg, attached…
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