Strataglass and Herculite are offering designs for PPE products. The designs are for face shields and protector shields. Strataglass is not FDA approved for use, but the companies have created two designs that use Strataglass as a protective barrier. They are providing these patterns as design guides and are not manufacturing or selling these products. [...]

Eastman Machine Co. announced today that its exclusive Matchmaker program is connecting facilities manufacturing personal protective equipment (PPE) with more than a dozen customers who offer automatic, CNC (computer-controlled) cutting services. The Matchmaker program has successfully linked organizations throughout the U.S. and U.K. for several decades from Eastman’s website. Thousands of manufacturers use automatic and [...]

Harvard Business Review takes a look at how COVID-19 is impacting companies’ supply chains. Business experts recommend that managers invest in mapping their supply networks before crisis happens. More information is available at https://hbr.org/2020/03/coronavirus-is-a-wake-up-call-for-supply-chain-management

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) wrote to the Trump Administration asking that it drop reported plans to defer duties on products unrelated to critical medical supplies that are subject to the Most-Favored Nation (MFN) tariff rate. Deferring duties on textile, fabric, and apparel items, in particular, will undermine American manufacturers' efforts [...]

Global textile manufacturer Milliken & Company is leveraging its materials science expertise to manufacture much needed personal protective equipment (PPE) for the health care industry amid the current COVID-19 global pandemic, focusing on engineering textiles into medical-grade fabrics using antimicrobial and fabric barrier coatings. Milliken’s new advanced medical fabrics and barriers are currently available, and [...]

The organizers of the successful and long-running conference series Textile Coating and Laminating (TCL) have announced its expansion and refocus as the World Congress on Textile Coating (WCTC20). The event will debut in Berlin on November 19-20, 2020. The venue hotel is the Novotel Berlin Am Tiergarten, Berlin, Germany, which has excellent conference facilities. Tegel [...]

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), representing the full spectrum of U.S. textiles from fiber through finished products, has issued a statement from NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas in response to the Administration’s plan to institute a 90-day deferral on MFN tariffs, as reported by numerous press outlets. The reported plan being pushed [...]

Morito Scovill Americas (MSA) has shifted focus to help in the production of PPE to fight COVID-19 infection. MSA is actively reaching out to help manufacturers understand what components the company can supply, including plastic snaps, hook and loop fastening, and stainless steel snaps and fasteners. If you are shifting production to PPE or other [...]

ATA Division Webinars this week are bringing together diverse members of the specialty fabrics industry to discuss how they are navigating the COVID-19 crisis. For companies that are operational—that is, they have either been deemed essential businesses or they are not currently under a “shelter in place” order—worker health and safety is a major concern. [...]

Drexel University design professor Genevieve Dion shifted 3D knitting machines from a Dept. of Defense project to the challenge of developing masks and respirators, according to a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “This is an opportunity to show what advanced manufacturing can do and rapid prototyping can do,” said Dion, who directs Drexel’s Center for Functional [...]