Talking Textiles

Listen in as our Artificial Intelligence Part 1 podcast guest, Adam Penner of AP Consulting and Technical Services, interviews Dan Hughes, co-founder of Claritee. AI, a seasoned expert in Generative AI, with over a 20-year career helping clients implement emerging technologies. Dan discusses how he got into AI, specifically Generative AI, and why he finds it so beneficial for companies to implemen...

Adam Penner has a background in engineering, but after college he began his career as a CAD designer and developed a passion for automation. After transitioning to work for an automation company, he traveled nationally installing automation equipment and training others on how to use it. He discovered a love for teaching and ventured into consulting, founding AP Consulting and Technical Services....

Listen in as Justine Decaens, Director of Research and Development from CTT Group in Quebec, Canada, discusses how her company supports industrial development. CTT Group's research and development teams help take innovations from development all the way to the testing phase to ensure products meet certain criteria and specifications. Tune in as Justine discusses the products and materials her comp...

Listen in as Natalie Cormier, Owner of Able Canvas in New Brunswick, Canada, discusses how she took on the challenge of becoming the owner in 2011. Cormier loves a challenge, so becoming an owner of a business in an industry she had no knowledge of was something she wanted to take on. She further discusses the challenges of hiring skilled workers in the New Brunswick area. She does her due diligen...

Kyle VanDamme sits down with Keith Purves, Jeff Newkirk, and Johannes Lombard at the Marine Fabricators Conference. The guests share from different backgrounds—from what it was like growing up in the family business to being recruited by a sail maker and coming into the business after a career in the yachting industry. They cover the trades and hiring for character and teaching the skills, to lear...

Listen to part two as we dive deeper into why NC State doctoral student Erin Parker chose to further her education in textiles and wanted to focus on wearable technology for her thesis research. Also, new attendee Todd Pusser discusses how he got into the textile industry and how being CAD certified not only helped him hone his skills on the job, but also how he found a passion for design outside...

Listen in as Kyle VanDamme and Mark Tyrrell interview Jeff Sponseller, Michael Woody, Todd Pusser, and Erin Parker. You will hear the viewpoint of regular attendees Jeff Sponseller and Michael Woody on how Expo has evolved, the connections and friends they have made with other individuals in the industry, the business opportunities they have received, and advice for new attendees. Also, you will h...

On this episode, Michael Boatman discusses how his passion for boat covers grew by learning and working alongside his father in their family business. Ultimately, this passion led him to start his own boat cover business - Boatman Marine Canvas. He also recalls his first experience attending an MFA conference, how he "found his people" and loved everything about the conference. Since becoming an A...

Listen as Kyle VanDamme interviews Justin Jones and Clint Halladay of SewLong to discuss how they both got into the wake boat cover business and the overall culture of the business. Also, they will discuss how their company survived COVID, how they compete with the bigger shops, and how the younger generation has changed the way they view work life balance.

On this episode Tom Auer interviews Mar Ricketts of GuildWorks, Karina Gentry of Boatswain Locker, and Robin DuBroy of Wholesale Shade to discuss how ATA is making the demo area better at the Advanced Textiles Expo with new contributors to help diversify the knowledge and incorporate hands-on education and training. Listen now to learn more of the experiences our guests have had in attending the s...

Host Kyle Van Damme sits down with guest Mike Charlton to have a candid conversation about life choices and the marine canvas business. Mike shares memories of his parent's conversion van business, and how this impacted his creativity. He also touches on finding time for family and ways to work smarter through developing tools and implementing strategic scheduling.

On this episode, Jasmine Cox, Executive Director at Textile Technology Center at Gaston College and Dr. Apurba Banerjee, Senior Manager, Global Sourcing at Glowforge and Adjunct Professor at Mount Mary University take a new approach to Talking Textiles. Listen as Cox and Banerjee share a collaborative conversation on strategies for success for the next generation of textile professionals while sha...

She's got her Peloton; he's got his mountain bike and for the past 15 years they've been making a marine canvas business together. Hear how a husband-and-wife team embarked on the canvas business and makes a conscious effort at work-life balance.  The couple shares on learning from mistakes, incorporating flexibility, expanding to different markets, and networking with the Marine Fabricators Assoc...

Today's Talking Textiles panel discussion brings together the great minds involved with the Manufacturing Solutions Center (MSC), a center designed to support and sustain the textile industry.  MSC's Jeff Neuville, Tanya Wade and Frank Henderson of Henderson Sewing talk to us about the cooperation, collaboration and partnerships created in the new facility. Learn how MSC is helping manufacturers t...

From fashion designer to trend forecaster to opportunity maker, Dr. Andre West does it all. Dr. West speaks to Talking Textiles about his latest venture, the Flex Factory, a rapid prototyping, flexible space for textile manufacturing, housed within the North Carolina State University. Learn how students and entrepreneurs alike are using the innovation and ideation hands-on space to experiment and...

Our inaugural live episode of Talking Textiles is a panel discussion including an all-star cast of past Canadian guests talking about the fabric structures industry. Francophone and Anglophones alike will love the advice on how to get new projects and customers, as well as the quote process and how to respond to different markets.  Hear their thoughts on networking versus advertising and developin...

On today's Talking Textiles we get down to the business of ESOPs, the Employee Stock Ownership Program. Attorney Doug Neville sheds light and answers questions from the legal perspective while Dave Bess, who was strategically involved in an ESOP for his company, discusses the change in mind shift and culture that occurred as a result.

Supply chain delays and challenges are one of the top issues facing the textiles industry today. Listen in on this special panel discussion of Talking Textiles, where we'll talk to industry leaders about the causes of these problems, the outlook for the coming year and how companies can best prepare themselves to deal with shortages and longer production times.

It's time to nerd out on material sciences. This episode of Talking Textiles interviews George Sun, founder of Nextiles, a company merging electronics with textiles to measure range of motion, micromovements and more. We learn how George walked a path from creating shoes to conductive fabrics and hear his advice for job seekers to get involved, connect and just show up. 

Hear from two textile product business owners, their history, challenges, and involvement with the Advanced Textiles Association and the Demo Area at Expo. Jonathan Sweet interviews Tom Auer, Bearse USA, a third-generation business owner and Bob Rosania, CEO Ehmke Manufacturing, a company that was started by a baseball player. Discover what's happening in the ATA Expo Demo area, get their take on...

Jamie Gallagher has over 50 years of experience in the fabric engineering business and the relationships to prove it. Working along the way with his 4 brothers, Jamie explains why a bit of healthy family competition can fuel innovation.  Born into a family with an already successful textile-based business, the brothers were not content to simply work within that company and instead each struck off...

Dan Walczyk and Glenn Saunders have always enjoyed tinkering and taking things apart. This passion eventually led them to work as engineers and professors in the study of industrial robots, textile automation, fusing and composites. Today, as professors at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, they strive to produce the best engineering students and thus restore the manufacturing businesses global...

From Fawcett to Fawcett to Fawcett! Lethbridge Canvas has been in business going on three generations. In our latest episode of Talking Textiles, Craig Fawcett and heir apparent, Jonathan Fawcett share the history of the family's shade and covers business, the handing down from one generation to the next, and the lessons learned bringing the business into the 21 st  century. Learn why Jonathan (ou...

What do a Smithsonian exhibit tent, a synthetic leather clutch and renewable energy all have in common? On today's Talking Textiles, learn this and more from Colin Touhey, founder and CEO of Pvilion, a company whose mission is to integrate solar cells with fabrics and build fabric products that generate electricity. Interviewed by Haskell Beckham of the Colombia Sportswear Company, Colin gives adv...

Thad Ribner loves problem solving. Now a research and development senior engineer, learn how a young adult adventure novel helped to shape his future career and peak his interest in the engineering and fabric fields. From early projects designing lift systems for helping patients with muscular dystrophy to working with unmanned underwater vehicles—Thad looks at each new assignment as a puzzle to s...