October 2009

  • Published On: October 7, 2009

    [DOWCO® Inc], Manitowoc, Wis., U.S.A. Fastrax™ sport and adventure luggage offers motorcycle riders loads of storage on the road including easy access to mp3 players, highway maps and hydration packs. The tank, tail and saddle bags have magnets and straps to be used with plastic or metal gas tanks, and feature DOWCO’s exclusive color matching [...]

  • Published On: October 7, 2009

    North American commercial operations for Durasol Awnings Inc. are being consolidated into a one-story modern facility in Middlebury, Vt., with lots of room for expansion. Durasol, a manufacturer of outdoor, manual and motorized awnings, freestanding solar awnings and other products, may also add a new division from its parent company, BAT S.p.A. of Italy, to [...]

  • Published On: October 7, 2009

    Cut down on noise at work or home with the EZ Hang acoustic soundproofing blanket, a portable and easily mounted 40 square feet of recycled all-natural textiles that can reduce sound by 10 decibels. LookChina Inc., Cramerton, N.C., markets reclaimed natural fiber products in a number of styles. EZ Hang’s outside loops allow blankets to [...]

  • Published On: October 7, 2009

    A group of 27 companies in 13 countries is on a mission to research, develop and manufacture sensor-embedded textiles for use in geotechnical and masonry applications. The European Union partially funds POLYTECT (Polyfunctional Technical Textiles against Natural Hazards) to find technical textiles made with carbon and glass fibers to stabilize structures damaged by earthquakes, landslides [...]

  • Published On: October 7, 2009

    Nature offers myriad ways of protecting living things from moisture, dryness or cold temperatures. A U.K.-based start-up company, MMT Textiles Ltd., London, England, hopes to offer the same advantages in performance clothing. MMT modeled its new, patented fiber technology after pine cones—common forest shape-shifters that respond to climate conditions by opening or closing. When conventional [...]

  • Published On: October 7, 2009

    When Valley National Bank chose a busy intersection of Manalapan Township, N.J., for its new branch, it envisaged an attention-grabbing building—and equally arresting landscaping. Dramatic grade changes on the property required high, good-looking retaining walls. To reinforce soils behind the 12-foot segmented wall, the construction team chose geotextiles from Strata Systems Inc., Cumming, Ga., a [...]

  • Published On: October 7, 2009

    A daring Frenchman named Louis Blériot became the first to fly across the English Channel 100 years ago. The coated fabric on his plane’s wings, fuselage and collapsible floats (Blériot couldn’t swim) was manufactured by German-based Continental AG, a specialist in rubber and plastics technology. When the Musée des Arts & Métiers in Paris restored [...]

  • Published On: October 7, 2009

    Each year, House Beautiful magazine brings home entertaining to life with its “Kitchen of the Year” at Rockefeller Center, New York, N.Y. The magazine’s monthly columnist, Ina Garten (known as the Barefoot Contessa), inspired the 2009 Kitchen of the Year, with both 1,000 square feet of culinary space and another 1,000 square feet of outdoor [...]

  • Published On: October 7, 2009

    With its roots in theater, and later film, fabric and lighting techniques lend versatility to a wide variety of fabric applications. More recently, light emitting diode (LED) lighting, developed as an architectural fixture, has been adopted by the entertainment industry and is quickly spreading to exhibits, advertising and other markets. The fabric and lighting exhibit [...]

  • Published On: October 7, 2009

    [Yardstick Enterprise Co. Ltd.] Taipei, Taiwan Airbags save lives on the road and a Taiwanese inventor, who has embedded an airbag in a wristwatch, hopes they will do the same in the water. Water sports enthusiast Tseng Tze-Kui came up with the idea of the inflatable bag in a watch as a lightweight alternative to [...]