Feature – Page 7 – Specialty Fabrics Review

Fabric graphics dazzle outdoors

April 1, 2018 | Feature

Branding has become a major fixation. From people who carefully curate their social media postings to large corporations with entire brand-focused departments and everything in between, it seems as if everyone is intent on cementing public perception of their brands. And although we’ve all likely …

Shade-product manufacturers are making outdoor spaces more comfortable—and smarter

April 1, 2018 | Feature

While many manufacturers concentrate on making smart products that give people convenient and luxurious control over functions in their homes and businesses, others are finding ways to make the outdoors equally responsive and comfortable to lifestyles in the Internet of Things age. A robotics compan…

Some of the most innovative uses of fabric in entertainment environments are found inside

March 1, 2018 | Feature

Fabric and lighting have an ages-old relationship that elicits something visceral, and when done skillfully there’s a quality to backlit fabric that nothing else can provide,” says Eric Bury, director of project development for the Toronto, Canada-based custom architectural fabrication company E…

David Murray at Fiesta Tents goes for the gold

March 1, 2018 | Feature, Perspective

Running a business is hard work. There’s always a time when you’ve got to change the way you’re doing things,” says David Murray, founder and president of Fiesta Tents Ltd. in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada. “Every year you have to review your business—you have to review and correct.” T…

2018 State of the Industry

March 1, 2018 | Feature

AWNINGS AND CANOPIES In 2017, growth in the awning market increased, in the low single-digit range. Contributing to the growth was an approximate 6.5 percent rise in housing values in 2017; a 4.1 percent increase in home values is anticipated in 2018. Many homeowners used their rising home equity to…

Tarp and truck cover manufacturers stand at the ready with products designed to keep loads secure and drivers safe

March 1, 2018 | Feature

Fabric truck covers, side curtains and tarping systems are enjoying increased attention from an industry looking for advanced solutions to help keep fleets rolling along more efficiently, safely and economically. Several factors are fueling this interest. For one thing, drivers are getting older, sa…

Building facades and vertical shade

February 1, 2018 | Feature

For decades now, since the revelation of the 1970s back-to-earth, energy enlightenment era of oil embargoes and the beginning of the environmentalism movement, architects and government officials have acknowledged the importance of making ever more energy-efficient buildings. It has been proven that…

The business of yurts: round architecture

February 1, 2018 | Feature, Perspective

I never had an interest in going into business to just duplicate a product that already existed,” says Alan Bair, founder and owner of Pacific Yurts Inc. in Cottage Grove, Ore. “But early on I realized the yurt is a unique warm space that is limited only by the imagination. When you go into tha…

Fabric performance tested and approved

February 1, 2018 | Feature

That we live in a litigious society is evident to anyone who has spent even a little time in front of the television, where commercials touting the services of personal injury or product failure attorneys are pervasive reminders about how precarious life can be. Consumers have become ever more deman…

Job costing

February 1, 2018 | Feature

It’s a fairly safe bet that not many fabricators started their operations because they wanted to work on spreadsheets. But like it or not, when you hang out a shingle, only part of your work will be designing a custom awning or reupholstering seats on a pontoon boat. Figuring out how to charge for…

Category: Feature

Fabric graphics dazzle outdoors

Shade-product manufacturers are making outdoor spaces more comfortable—and smarter

Some of the most innovative uses of fabric in entertainment environments are found inside

David Murray at Fiesta Tents goes for the gold

2018 State of the Industry

Tarp and truck cover manufacturers stand at the ready with products designed to keep loads secure and drivers safe

Building facades and vertical shade

The business of yurts: round architecture

Fabric performance tested and approved

Job costing