By Jim Borneman, Editor In Chief
The textile climate seems to be changing for the better. This year, for the first time in several years, Textile World will present the Textile World Innovation Award. As those of you who received the award know, the dedication of an issue of TW to highlight innovation within the honored company is a time-consuming but rewarding process — and the presentation luncheon is a terrific industry gathering. There are several qualified candidates this year, and an announcement will follow soon.
This year also, TW will launch the Textile World Innovation Forum 2014 as a two-day, high-level conference offering industry professionals unique insights into diverse areas of textile manufacturing such as fiber, spinning, knitting, weaving, nonwovens, dyeing, printing, finishing, apparel manufacturing, and special interest areas. This will be a single-track conference focused on the latest innovations across the textile-manufacturing spectrum and will culminate with the Innovation Award presentation and luncheon.
A career in textiles often starts with a broad textile education — for this textile engineer, the course exposure was directed to many facets of the industry. However, for many, the exposure narrows as a career progresses — a natural process as one becomes a sector-focused expert. The challenge often lies in staying up-to-date in areas in which your career is not particularly focused. Changes in these indirect areas often have a direct impact on an area of focus. An innovation in fiber can impact a dyer. An innovation in spinning technology can impact a finisher or apparel designer, and so on.
The idea of the Textile World Innovation Forum is to help high-level industry professionals who are short on time get a high-value dose of the latest and greatest developments across the full textile spectrum — the process technologies, the trends and short doses of hot topics. The inaugural conference will be held Sept. 15 and 16, 2014, at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta and will conclude with the presentation of the Textile World Innovation Award 2014 to a leading textile company in recognition of its outstanding efforts and accomplishments in product invention and innovation. TW‘s editors would like to thank the honored company in advance for providing time, access and support to tell the innovator’s story.
The Forum will have a cost associated with it, but please consider attending and/or using this opportunity for training of high-level staff in a pre-ITMA year, and celebrate innovation with industry leaders. TW’s editors are focused on enlisting neutral industry experts, academics and consultants to lead the proceedings so that the information will be balanced and inclusive across each industry segment. As more information becomes available, it will be posted on TextileWorld.com, published in the pages of Textile World magazine and highlighted in the weekly Textile World e-newsletter.
The climate has shifted positively for U.S. textiles, with surprising levels of investment being announced. Exploring innovation provides a great opportunity to prepare for growth and maximize the benefits of the latest in applied textile technology.
March/April 2014
