(St. Paul, Minn. – Nov. 13, 2014) – The Industrial Fabrics Foundation (IFF) recently announced the recipient of the 2014 IFF Innovation Award. Foundation representatives announced the innovation award during Specialty Fabrics Expo 2014 and Advanced Textiles Expo, October 7 – 9, 2014, in Minneapolis, Minn.

Norafin (Americas) Inc. of Asheville, N.C. is the recipient of the 2014 IFF Innovation Award. The company won for a project called Norafin Komanda. Norafin was awarded a prize of $5,000.

Norafin’s Komanda range of performance engineered nonwoven materials deliver significant performance advantages over traditional textile materials currently used in arc flash protection and flame resistant protective clothing. Norafin’s materials offer up to three times the level of protection of similar materials of the same weight. As a stand‐alone material, or in layered or laminated constructions, Norafin Komanda elevates the level of protection and comfort that can be offered to the arc flash protective clothing market.

Honorable mentions include: Fabric Images, Inc. for their project The PURE Tension Volvo Pavilion; VACU-WASH USA for their project VACU-WASH; and Watershed Geosynthetics for their project HydroTurf™ Advanced Revetment Technology.

Innovation is the heart of creating a specialty fabrics industry that will inspire technology in the 21st century. The IFF Innovation Award transforms that idea into action. Join IFF as it fosters the next-generation of specialty fabric industry innovators.

The IFF is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to education and research in specialty fabrics. For more information, contact Linden Wicklund, IFF Managing Director, 651 225 6920 or llwicklund@ifai.com.