Specialty Fabrics Review interviews Amit Kapoor, president of First Line Technology

Published On: January 1, 1970

The federal government is one of your biggest clients. How does the current political climate affect your business plan?

It’s the uncertainty of how much Department of Defense funding will be available that presents the biggest challenge for us right now. As a small business we’re agile and can make decisions quickly, but if $1 trillion in spending cuts under sequestration occur, we may have to sell to a different market. It just makes it difficult to plan.

What is First Line Technology’s relationship with the international market?

We have been selling to the international market for the past two years, and while it’s largely positive with a fairly strong growth potential, there are challenges. A lot of foreign countries have high duties and taxes and are protective of their own country’s industry. To export from the U.S. you have to be very competitive with pricing, because you need to factor in what they might have to pay in addition to what you’re charging.

Sigrid Tornquist is a freelance author and editor based in St. Paul, Minn. She is also the associate editor of InTents magazine, a publication of the Advanced Textiles Association.