Our Podcast: Talking Textiles
- Kyle VanDamme sits down with Keith Purves, Jeff Newkirk, and Johannes Lombard at the Marine Fabricators Conference. The guests share from different backgrounds—from what it was like growing up in the family business to being recruited by a sail maker and coming into the business after a career in the yachting industry. They cover the trades and hiring for character and teaching the skills, to learning a craft, and managing a multi-generational staff. They also touch on building an environment of belonging and end with succession planning and how to prepare for selling your business.
Listen From Anywhere
Join us each month for insider views, best practices and tips from successful companies in the industrial fabric market. Discover the road to the fabric industry and gain insight from shared experiences.
Previous Episodes
Make Yourself Remarkable: Trends and Strategies for Young Professionals and Graduating Students
On this episode, Jasmine Cox, Executive Director at Textile Technology Center at Gaston College and Dr. Apurba Banerjee, Senior Manager, Global Sourcing at Glowforge and Adjunct Professor at Mount Mary University take a new approach to Talking Textiles. Listen as Cox and Banerjee share a collaborative conversation on strategies for success for the next generation of textile professionals while sharing their own backgrounds in industry. The two are sure to inspire as they cover topics from setting career goals, negotiating, networking and more. Keep an open mind because the path ahead may surprise you!
Balancing the Marine Canvas Business and Life
She's got her Peloton; he’s got his mountain bike and for the past 15 years they’ve been making a marine canvas business together. Hear how a husband-and-wife team embarked on the canvas business and makes a conscious effort at work-life balance. The couple shares on learning from mistakes, incorporating flexibility, expanding to different markets, and networking with the Marine Fabricators Association. Enjoy this episode that offers both entrepreneurial and marital advice!
Manufacturing Textile Solutions and Synergies through MSC
Today’s Talking Textiles panel discussion brings together the great minds involved with the Manufacturing Solutions Center (MSC), a center designed to support and sustain the textile industry. MSC’s Jeff Neuville, Tanya Wade and Frank Henderson of Henderson Sewing talk to us about the cooperation, collaboration and partnerships created in the new facility. Learn how MSC is helping manufacturers test the limitations of all different types of textiles along with meeting the standards necessary to bring products to market. Tour MSC while attending the Fabricators Conference April 24-25, 2023. To learn more visit https://www.textiles.org/fabricatorsconference/.
Textile Prototyping via the Fantastic Flex Factory
From fashion designer to trend forecaster to opportunity maker, Dr. Andre West does it all. Dr. West speaks to Talking Textiles about his latest venture, the Flex Factory, a rapid prototyping, flexible space for textile manufacturing, housed within the North Carolina State University. Learn how students and entrepreneurs alike are using the innovation and ideation hands-on space to experiment and advance the textile industry. All attendees to the Smart Fabric Summit can tour and experience the new Flex Factory. Join us April 11-12, 2023. Visit smartfabricsummit.com to learn more.
