Economic turmoil, fewer new housing starts, scarce credit and consumer insecurities interrupted a healthy growth trend in the U.S. outdoor furniture market, according to a report by Global Industry Analysts Inc. (GIA), San Jose, Calif. That growth will resume in 2011, thanks to trends toward outdoor living, increased focus on quality time at home and [...]

Australia’s Victoria Province anticipates a rough year in 2011, after receiving six inches of rain in 24 hours, experiencing record-breaking floods and facing predicted plagues of locusts. Torrents of vehicle owners are flooding auto parts businesses in the city of Ballarat in Victoria, buying car bug protection screens to prevent locusts from blocking up radiators [...]

The hospitality industry opened up a new frontier in the quest for customers seeking trendy bars, nightclubs and restaurants with an outdoors ambience—the roof. MDT-Tex, Tyrone, Ga., a designer and manufacturer of customized shade systems, increased sales significantly in the last half of 2010, noting rooftop getaways as one of the hottest trends. The Tulip [...]

The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill triggered fast and furious research efforts to minimize harm to Gulf Coast environments, and a team consisting of Swiss and German companies developed a nonwoven fabric, Oilguard, that protects coastal areas and beaches from contamination. The Swiss Innovation Forum awarded HeiQ Materials AG, Basel, Switzerland, with the Swiss Technology [...]

Argentina is the world’s top exporter of peanuts, and the Argentine National Institute for Industrial Technology (INTI) has developed a colorful way to recycle the shells and several other types of plant wastes. INTI extracts natural dyes from everything from parsley to lemon trees to sunflower seed shells, using a process that captures the pigment [...]

The final text of an international trade agreement to combat infringement of intellectual property rights, counterfeiting and piracy has been published, paving the way for participating governments to adopt and incorporate the provisions. Participants in negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) include Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland [...]

Polyfab USA LLC, Manhattan Beach, Calif., a manufacturer of shade sails and tensioned membrane structures, seized the opportunity to elevate the company’s profile at the Advanced Textiles Association (ATA) Expo 2010 in Orlando, Fla. Expo visitors at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) could attend pre-trade-show workshops on Polyfab product installation, then see a colorful [...]

Researcher Yi Cui, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford University, hopes a nanotube- and silver-enhanced piece of plain cotton fabric will bring clean drinking water to poor and remote locations in developing countries. Cui and his team created a water filter from cotton dipped in carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires which, when [...]

Shrink-wrap protects everything from fresh food to retail products, and Transhield Inc., Elkhart, Ind., markets comparable protection during transport for larger items, such as planes, trains, boats and limousines. Shrinkable Fabric™ covers feature three layers: a UV-resistant, anti-condensation polyethylene stretch film layer; an olefin hot-melt adhesive middle layer; and a polyester nonwoven soft inner layer [...]

Inside “Bruco,” a 14,000-square-foot caterpillar made from domed structures, the Monolithic® companies of Italy, Texas, custom design and manufacture inflatable PVC-coated nylon or polyester Airforms that allow rapid construction of rugged, energy-efficient domes. The Airform is placed on a ring beam footing and inflated, creating a dome shape. The interior is insulated with three inches [...]