EFI, Foster City, Calif., is acquiring the remaining interest in Raster Printers it does not currently own. Raster Printers, San Jose, Calif., offers a line of environmentally friendly, UV, wide format printers, currently marketed under the brand name Daytona, and targeted to midrange customers in the display graphics market. Following the close of the transaction, [...]

Steve Warner, ATA president, and Grant Clausen, president of the Outdoor Fabric Products Association of New Zealand (OFPANZ), announce that OFPANZ will merge its organization with ATA. Its membership is comprised of the leading companies in New Zealand involved in the manufacturer of end-products that use specialty fabrics, including lightweight structures, and agricultural, transportation and [...]

Scott Campbell, chairman of the Advanced Textiles Association and owner of Rainier Industries in Tukwila, Wash., discusses issues facing the textile industry in its movement toward sustainable practices. How much can textile suppliers and manufacturers realistically embrace sustainable practices in this economy? Defining “green” is a challenge because there are no standards. Everyone can make [...]

By Jan Schieffer As the official publication of the Fabric Graphics Association (FGA), Fabric Graphics partners with the association to serve the fabric and graphics industries as a source for information and inspiration. Adam Hewson, co-founder of www.marketclub.club.com, said, “What is good for America in the long run are smart businesses that embrace change.” This [...]

Entertainment and sports offer opportunities for those on top of their game. By Barb Ernster Tapping the entertainment and sports market for printed fabric projects is less about who you know and more about having a can-do attitude that delivers quality product on time. Backdrops, stage drapery, large banners and building wraps for film, theater [...]

The newest technical fabrics can withstand all kinds of threats, from infectious agents to human sweat. From the editors of TUT (Technical Usage Textiles) magazine in Paris. Textile finish keeps users smelling and feeling fresh No stinky athletic gear here: HeiQ Materials AG, Swiss producer of silver composite additives and high-performance sustainable textile finishes, has [...]

Eastman Machine Co., a 120-year-old manufacturer specializing in cutting equipment, has announced the appointment of GlobAbility Ltd. of Headington, Oxford, U.K., to represent its line of automated cutting systems, material handling equipment and design software. GlobAbility Ltd. is an international consulting and program management group specializing in the development and implementation of investment, diversification and [...]

Gehring Textiles Inc., Garden City, N.Y., a manufacturer of warp and circular knit fabrics, recently purchased Tweave Inc., a weaver of four-way stretch fabrics. American-made Gehring knits are popular among aviation, aerospace, military, security, fire protection and athletic industries, and Tweave stretch fabric has great potential within those markets. “We see a huge potential in [...]

The Celanese Corporation’s integrated chemical complex in Nanjing, China, will be the site of a new liquid crystal polymer (LCP) production facility. Ticona, Celanese’s engineered polymers business in Florence, Ky., will build the production facility in 2009 to reach new markets with Vectra® highly crystalline, melt-oriented thermoplastics that deliver high temperature performance and chemical resistance [...]

Latin America’s largest maker of nonwoven plastic materials will build its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Statesville, N.C., investing $115 million and creating 90 jobs during the next three years. Providencia USA Inc. and its Brazilian parent company received encouragement to expand operations into the U.S. in the form of a $56,000 grant from the [...]