Gerber Technology has announced the release of webPDM 6.0, the flagship module of the company’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software suite for the organization of data, images, processes and procedures. The browser-based software allows end users to enable rapid global creation, collaboration and production execution for apparel, furniture, accessories and other consumer products. It integrates [...]

Sponsored by the Safety and Protective Products Division and the Narrow Fabrics Division of the Advanced Textiles Association (ATA), the Safety Products Student Design Challenge is an annual event that encourages college and university students of design, textiles, engineering and allied fields to solve safety and protection problems using high-performance textiles and narrow fabrics in [...]

Unifi Inc. has introduced a new fiber made from 100 percent post-consumer PET bottles. The Repreve® line of recycled products now includes 100 percent post-consumer or 100 percent hybrid blend (pre- and post-consumer) filament polyester, recycled filament nylon 6.6, recycled staple polyester, and recycled performance fibers, available with flame retardant, moisture wicking, stretch and color [...]

The American Rental Association (ARA) has asked its members to contact their U.S. representatives and ask them to vote “no” on H.R. 3962, the Affordable Healthcare for America Act. ARA supports health care reform, but states that the provisions of the bill go beyond necessary market reforms and will create a federal entitlement program that [...]

FireKeepers Casino, a hot new gambling destination near Battle Creek, Mich., wanted to turn up the heat on its 107,000-square-foot gaming floor. Managers worked with Eventscape Inc., Toronto, Canada, to install a fabricated landscape featuring 11 glowing column surrounds and 20 suspended lights resembling stalactites. The 12-foot-diameter, 20-foot-high columns conceal heating and ventilation equipment with [...]

Glitz and glamour took the stage on opening night of the 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) in October, where the traditional celebrity red-carpet entrance took place on a green carpet. Teijin Group, a Tokyo, Japan, manufacturer of synthetic fibers, films and plastics, created the more than 5,200-foot ECOPET® recycled polyester fiber carpet from an [...]

The Lightweight Structures Association, Roseville, Minn., a division of the Advanced Textiles Association, changed its name and identity in October and is now the Fabric Structures Association (FSA). The new name more clearly defines the FSA membership, creates a closer tie to the official publication, Fabric Architecture magazine, and does away with the implication that [...]

The Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation is a national group focused on advancing science in America. It recently awarded Dr. Seshadri Ramkumar, associate professor of nonwoven materials at Texas Tech University, with the “Scientist of the Year” award for his development of the Fibertect decontamination wipe. In a head-to-head test with 30 other [...]

The Frost & Sullivan 2009 Best Practices Award for Customer Value Leadership goes to Agion Technologies Inc., Wakefield, Mass., for its work with customers of its silver-based antimicrobial solutions. The award is given each year to a company giving its customers the highest ratio of value to cost. Frost & Sullivan, a business research and [...]

Two companies, both focused on helping manufacturers of personal protection accelerate the process of getting products to military and first responders, have merged into Protect the Force LLC, Washington, D.C. The Government Sales Group’s experience in the first responder market and Protect the Force’s engagement with the military market provides the combined company with a [...]