May 2013

  • Published On: May 6, 2013

    Arlon Graphics has launched a new training website, WrapItRight.com. WrapItRight.com is a compilation of expert methods for working with graphic films through “how-to” videos. The videos cover topics in areas where installers regularly struggle and provide tips to viewers on the appropriate way to perform installations. In a press release from Arlon Graphics, president Ron [...]

  • Published On: May 3, 2013

    The OEKO-TEX® certification system for Sustainable Textile Production (STeP) was officially introduced at the Prime Source Forum in Hong Kong on Mar. 26, 2013. STeP is a certification system for global brands, retail companies and production facilities that want to communicate their achievements in sustainable production in a transparent and credible way. Around 400 top [...]

  • Published On: May 2, 2013

    The man who changed the world of industrial fabric welding with his vision and knowledge—Al Miller, founder of Miller Weldmaster (Navarre, Ohio)—passed away April 26 at his home surrounded by family. Miller leaves behind a legacy of building Miller Weldmaster into a global presence in more than 100 countries since he founded the company in [...]

  • Published On: May 1, 2013

    The bright blue seed of the South American “bastard hogberry” has little nutritional value, but its bright color mimics that of a more nutritious seed, deceiving birds into eating the “ringer.” and spreading its seeds far and wide. Researchers at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., and the University of Exeter, U.K., used the bastard hogberry’s strategy [...]

  • Published On: May 1, 2013

    Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China, turned a cotton fabric into water-collecting material by coating it with a polymer that changes its microstructure when air temperatures change. The spongy fabric absorbs moisture directly from the air when it is foggy, releasing it as water when the material [...]

  • Published On: May 1, 2013

    The global economic crisis and changes in water-sports participation have thrown cold water over businesses that market water sports apparel, according to Textile Intelligence’s Performance Apparel Markets, Issue No. 43. Major companies in water-sports apparel are cutting back on operations and re-evaluating, as they see declines in their valuation. Large corporations and private equity groups [...]

  • Published On: May 1, 2013

    Researchers at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in The Netherlands are paving the way to longer-lived roads with a special type of asphalt containing long steel fibers. Zoab, a highly porous asphalt concrete used commonly in The Netherlands, is used because water can drain through openings in the pavement. The problem is that [...]

  • Published On: May 1, 2013

    The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) currently uses a powdered decontaminant called M-291 to clean up toxins, such as the nerve gas soman, a volatile, corrosive and colorless liquid. Then the Journal of Engineered Fibers & Fabrics published research by Texas Tech University comparing M-291 to Fibertect®, a nonwoven decontamination wipe created at the university [...]

  • Published On: May 1, 2013

    Lotus leaves are covered with structures that repel surface water, which washes off dirt or dust as it runs off. A super-hydrophobic filament yarn developed by TWD Fibres GmbH, Deggendorf, Germany, achieves the same self-cleaning effect without external chemical treatment. DIOLEN®CLEAN is created using a specialized spinning process that integrates the self-cleaning effect into the [...]

  • Published On: May 1, 2013

    The University of Leeds, England, received a £1.75 million grant from the Clothworkers’ Foundation to support innovative research on using nonwoven fabrics in health care applications. Leeds research on nonwovens includes developing new filters to remove impurities from blood to enable safer transfusions, better incontinence and ostomy products, intelligent dressings that can help heal wounds [...]