This year’s winners in ATA’s global International Achievement Awards (IAA) competition, recognizing design excellence in specialty fabrics applications, were announced on Sept. 28 at the organization’s annual meeting at IFAI Expo 2017 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

For more than 70 years, IAA has acknowledged innovation and excellence in design and fabrication, highlighting truly spectacular work in the specialty fabrics and technical textiles industry. ATA’s goal is to promote awareness of the specialty fabrics used in thousands of products and applications in the growing $130+ billion dollar global fabrics marketplace.

Winners were selected based on project complexity, design, workmanship, uniqueness and function. Judges included industry experts, editors, architects, educators and design professionals. This year, ATA received a total of 235 entries from 11 countries, resulting in 41 Award of Excellence (AOE) winners and 31 Outstanding Achievement Awards.

Best in Category

Seven AOE recipients were also chosen as “Best in Category” winners:

Fabric Structures: Comercial Industrial Delta SA (CIDELSA); Lima, Peru

Awnings and Canopies: J. Miller Canvas Inc.; Santa Ana, Calif, USA

Fabric Environments: Fabric Images Inc.; Elgin, Ill., USA

Marine Fabrication: David’s Custom Trimmers; Wakerley, Queensland, Australia

Tent Rental and Manufacturing: Fiesta Tents Ltd.; Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada

Geosynthetics: ACE Geosynthetics Inc.; Taichung City, Taiwan

Advanced Textiles: Coppins Sea Anchors Ltd.; Motueka, New Zealand

Detailed product descriptions and photos of all 2017 IAA winners will be posted at https://iaa.textiles.org.