Wildfires, hurricanes, a pandemic and civil unrest have wreaked plenty of chaos on the commercial insurance market in 2020. Steve Christenson, with Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, offered guidance to business owners Nov. 9 at IFAI Virtual Expo 2020. “The business insurance market has been going through several changes this year,” says Christenson, with U.S. [...]
Photo credit: Transformit In the 2020 IFAI Virtual Expo presentation, “The Inside Scoop on Shade, Lighting and Acoustics,” Cynthia Thompson, MFA, president and founder of Transformit in Gorham, Maine, wowed conference participants with a slideshow of her company’s projects that highlight the stunning possibilities of interior fabric architecture. Thompson said many different markets can make [...]
Thinking about selling your business—either to an outside party or the next generation? Then it’s time to start considering how your equipment and processes fit into your succession plan. Jonathan Palmer, the second-generation owner and CEO of equipment supplier Autometrix, and Autometrix director of global sales Truy Pham, led an educational session at IFAI Virtual [...]
The process of working with a research and development center was discussed in Dr. Thomas Stegmaier’s presentation, “Testing and Standards Integral to Timely Product Development.” Dr. Stegmaier is with DITF [Deutsche Institute Fur Textil Und Faserforschung Denkendorf], a large, textile research center located in Germany. It partners individually with industry participants to develop new technologies [...]
The attacks on 9-11 forever changed how we look at security. The 2008 economic collapse forever changed how we look at finances. And the 2020 pandemic will forever change how we look at hygiene. Amanda Schneider, founder of ThinkLab, the market research division of Interior Design and a SANDOW® brand, told attendees of IFAI Virtual [...]
In a presentation titled, “Amplifying Human Energy to Drive Performance and Recovery,” Hologenix LLC co-founder and CEO Seth Casden described the company’s Celliant® technology and explained how responsive textiles using infrared energy can increase tissue oxygen levels, which can improve athletic performance and recovery, sleep quality and general health and wellness. All sentient beings emit [...]
During IFAI Virtual Expo 2020’s educational presentation “Shade Sail Design: How to Get It Right,” Timothy Akes, a software expert for MPanel Software Solutions, told participants that design is by far the most important, misunderstood and underestimated aspect of delivering a great and long-lasting shade sail project. “The shade sail shape and how you design [...]
A Trivantage-sponsored education session at IFAI Virtual Expo 2020 called “Making the Right Product Decisions” was filled with detailed information about product choices and installation tips to help fabricators successfully create shade projects in commercial, vertical, shade sail, upholstery and marine applications. The session gave participants an in-depth survey of the company’s shade products and [...]
An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) offers lots of attractive benefits: studies have shown that ESOPs improve productivity, increase sales and improve return on assets, plus they offer great tax advantages. But more than any of these attributes, an ESOP offers the owner of a company peace of mind and an enduring legacy. “Many times, [...]
The Advanced Textiles Conference of IFAI’s Virtual Expo 2020 continued Nov. 4 with a detailed presentation by Justine Decaens on “Smart Textiles: From Lab Prototypes to Commercial Products.” Decaens is R&D director with CTT Group, a testing laboratory and R&D facility specialized in technical textiles, headquartered in Quebec, Canada. Decaens first offered to define “smart [...]
TEXTILES.ORG 
