Specialty Fabrics Review October 2019 - 6

BRIEFINGS

FORETHOUGHT

Ultima fabricae

A
Galynn Nordstrom
senior editor

few weeks ago, many members of IFAI's board of directors and
division managers converged here in Roseville for severals days of
meetings and presentations. I always enjoy these visits, as it gives
me the opportunity to ask questions about when we'll have awnings
that can communicate, change color on demand, wrap themselves around
intruders while calling the police, and then be made into a nourishing
broth when ready to be replaced.
The answers I receive are varied, and it's true that some of them seem to
fall into the "Who told you you could land here?" category; but in general,
it's a time when I get to indulge my (probably science-fiction inspired)
theories concerning why textiles, if they can solve some of society's
problems, can't just go ahead and solve all of them.
One very pressing problem in Minnesota, for example, is known as a
"pothole": a crater formed in an asphalt roadway, usually overnight so it'll
be fresh for the morning rush hour, of a size and menace calculated to make
some of us wonder whether the auto repair industry is somehow involved.
During that recent visit, Fred Chuck, PE, vice president of business
development for HUESKER Inc., made a presentation to us about his
company's product developments, some of which included geosynthetics
designed to strengthen asphalt roadways and help to prevent potholes. It
didn't occur to me until afterwards, however, to wonder whether instead of
or in addition to using a layer of fabric, we couldn't also improve the asphalt
itself-perhaps by grinding up old bowling shirts (seemingly the most

PERSPECTIVE

Growth habits
Tom Auer, president of Bearse USA in Chicago, Ill., believes
in creating relationships and brand partnerships with his
customers, often focusing on a subcontractor role with
companies wanting a product that says "Made in the USA" on
the label-particularly, military and law enforcement agencies
that are required to purchase products that comply with the
Berry Amendment. To meet that demand, Auer makes sure
that his current employees have all the resources they need to be successful, and
is working both locally and nationally to re-establish a strong sewing industry
in the United States: "I'm trying to utilize my IFAI membership and the Makers
Division to get out the word that sewing is back."
If you'd like to nominate a fellow IFAI manufacturer member for coverage in
a future "Perspective" article, please contact Galynn Nordstrom, senior editor,
at gdnordstrom@ifai.com.

6 REVIEW OCTOBER 2019

Culture eats strategy
for breakfast.
~Peter Drucker

indestructible material ever made
by man) and mixing them in.
If MnDOT and Goodwill could
just get together on this ...
In the article "An equipment evolution"
on page 28, we examine the increasing
demands of customers upon product
manufacturers, and the corresponding
demands of manufacturers, in turn,
on their suppliers. All along the supply
chain, vertical partnerships are forming
to provide the kinds of performance
fabrics needed to meet (or create) market
demand-like those discussed in "Power
grab" on page 36 in this issue.
And behind the demands of consumers,
there's also the increased awareness, all
along that supply chain, that ecology
now plays an equal role with economy
("The state of sustainability," page 44).
What's really changing the textile
world, however, is what could be called
"intersectional partnerships"-not only in
different parts of the industry but between
different industries, as is happening now as
developments in textiles and in electronics
create standard interfaces and technologies.
Not all performance fabrics are
e-textiles, as I mentioned last month. In
the December issue, we'll also focus on
the expanding arena of biopolymers and
biotextiles, and how they're replacing (or
combining with) the synthetics that took
over from natural fabrics after WWII,
to create whole new areas of growth.
Today, the textiles.
Tomorrow, the potholes.
Specialty Fabrics Review October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Specialty Fabrics Review October 2019
