Advanced Textiles Expo this year returned to the Midwest for the first time in more than a decade, coming back to a region with thousands of fabricators. That resulted in a lot of first-time attendees at the show as new faces filled the expo hall show floor at the Indiana Convention Center.
This year’s Advanced Textiles Expo had plenty of new features as well, including enhanced show floor education and new benefit partners for Advanced Textiles Association (ATA) members.
The debut of networking roundtables gave participants the chance to discuss important industry issues such as tariffs, PFAS and workforce development with fellow attendees. The new podcast space on the show floor featured recordings of not only ATA’s Talking Textiles podcast but also other industry podcasts.
Past favorites returned as well. The day before the expo opened, the Emerging Technologies Conference had attendees learning about the latest developments in cotton performance fibers, hemp, boots heading on Artemis missions, artificial intelligence, infrared-responsive textiles and medical products.
Back for its second year was the Textiles Challenge, where attendees showed off their hands-on skills in a variety of timed tasks. The Women in Textiles Leadership Sessions and the Marine Fabricators Association Roadshow gave specialized audiences a chance to learn through hands-on demos during the half-day of sessions on Friday morning.
The opening reception drew about 1,000 attendees to the Georgia Street Cube to network and cap off the first day of the show. The celebration continued at the sold-out Industry Night at the Slippery Noodle Inn, featuring industry band Hangin’ by a Thread.
Next year, Advanced Textiles Expo returns to Orlando, Fla., Nov. 3–5, 2026.
Advanced Textiles Expo 2025 highlights and special events
Shade sail design session draws a crowd
Robin DuBroy, director of sales and marketing at Wholesale Shade, provided Advanced Textiles Expo attendees with an overview of do’s and don’ts for designing and installing shade sails. The session, “Shade Sail Designs That Bombed—Don’t Make These Mistakes!” drew a crowd of observers, with attendees spilling into the aisles. DuBroy presented case studies featuring different shade sail designs and installations, going over what went right and wrong with each one.
The most important thing to remember, says DuBroy, is to communicate with the client throughout the entire design and installation process. This deters instances of miscommunication. She also shared the most common issues with shade sail designs, such as sails being too flat, triangle-shaped sails being misused, shading the wrong area, and poorly planned posts and brackets.
Women in Textiles events
On the last day of Advanced Textiles Expo, attendees were invited to participate in the Women’s Networking Walk and attend
the Women in Textiles Leadership Sessions.
The sessions began with Coffee and Conversations, allowing attendees to meet one another. This was followed by a panel discussion, “Next in Textiles—The Future Is Female,” moderated by Apurba Banerjee, Ph.D., textile research scientist, R&D at Standard Textile. Panelists included Lindsey Hynek, marketing manager, North America, of fashion and industrial markets at Lectra; Donielle Lorelli, product manager at National Industries for the Blind; and Bailey Smith, extension coordinator at North Carolina State University, Wilson College of Textiles, Zeis Textiles Extension.
The panelists discussed barriers they have overcome and how others can do the same. They advised women to speak up for themselves and for other women. Additionally, they encouraged attendees to take advantage of opportunities available to get involved with the industry, such as joining advisory boards and committees.
“Know that you have a seat at the table, even if it’s all men. You’re meant to be there,” says Hynek.
The panel discussion was followed by the session “From Technical Expert to Industry Leader: How to Build Your Influence and
Lead with Your Expertise,” presented by Xochil Herrera Scheer, owner of The Chicago Pattern Maker.
Sharing insights in roundtable discussions
At the inaugural networking roundtables, attendees chose from 10 different topics to discuss in-depth with fellow professionals. Moderators shared their experience and guided chats about PFAS, developing leaders, awning sales and more.
Perk picks via a ping poll
A new “ping poll” asked attendees what benefits matter most to them and what new benefits they’d like to see. The new-benefit winner was employee training and certifications, and the top existing benefits were market insights and industry news and networking. Voting here is Robin DuBroy of Wholesale Shade.
A preview for marine fabricators
The Marine Fabricators Association (MFA) Roadshow serves as a taste of what attendees can expect at the Marine Fabricators Conference, held annually in January.
This year’s roadshow began with an overview of marine fabric by Ron Paratore, senior account manager at Trivantage and member of the MFA advisory board. He outlined the benefits and possible roadblocks using cotton, polyester, vinyl and acrylic for marine projects as well as how to best use each fabric in different jobs.
Next, Kyle Van Damme, MFC, of Marine Tops Unlimited LLC in Omro, Wis., and member of the MFA advisory board, demonstrated traditional patterning with a small boat model he brought with him to the show. Finally, Jeff Newkirk, MFC, of Precision Custom Canvas in St. Catharines, Ont., Canada, shared how to build a U-zip, showing several key details with a sewing machine.
Attendees were heavily engaged in all demonstrations, asking thoughtful questions and examining samples provided by presenters. This mirrors the experience registrants can expect at the 2026 Marine Fabricators Conference, which is Jan. 8–10, 2026, in Savannah, Ga.
Textiles challenge returns to Advanced Textiles Expo 2025
Eight competitors who advanced from the qualifying round of the 2025 Textiles Challenge completed three championship tasks, including the Awning Graphics Showdown. After an audience-vote tiebreaker, Justin Jones of SewLong Custom Covers in Salt Lake City, Utah, and member of the Marine Fabricators Association advisory board, won first place.
Industry Night jams with Hangin’ by a Thread
Advanced Textiles Expo attendees gathered for the annual Industry Night, this year at the Slippery Noodle Inn. The celebration was sold out, as hundreds packed the bar to network and hear industry band Hangin’ by a Thread.
Emerging Technologies Conference
Presenters encourage attendees to try AI
Adam Penner, AP Consulting and Technical Services, spoke on the topic “AI for All: Practical Tools to Streamline Your Business” and offered a “hands-on starting point” to enter the world of artificial intelligence (AI).
“It’s not the future,” Penner says. “It’s the present, and it’s here.” AI can make daily activities more convenient, taking over busywork so humans can focus on more creative and meaningful tasks. He started with ChatGPT, an AI tool that can help with various work-related tasks.
He’s used it for constructing the basic terms for an estimate from “rough notes,” including adding “anything I might forget,” he says.
No need to take meeting notes; AI can record and transcribe them for you. It can also improve the language you use in email messages, which is especially important if you’re upset, he says. ChatGPT will correct it, “so the anger doesn’t come through.”
AI is getting easier to use, too, as it is now built into tools we already use, such as Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, and it has user-friendly interfaces that respond to natural language prompts. “If you can text, you can use AI,” he says.
There are some risks. He warns of overreliance and using AI for expert advice. “It’s not a lawyer or an engineer,” he says. It’s also important to remember that “anything you put in there could end up somewhere else.” Creators of AI tools say their enterprise versions allow for more data privacy; check the terms.
The best way to get to know AI is to just try it. “Play with it,” he says. “There’s no better substitute for learning it.”
Audience, panelists share ideas on using AI
In a panel discussion during the Emerging Technologies Conference, the audience actively participated concerning “AI in Everyday Business,” with Paige Mullis, senior sales executive at MMI Textiles, moderating.
Panelist Xochil Herrera Scheer, who works independently in patternmaking and product development through her company, The Chicago Pattern Maker, says she first used it for taking notes and “started experimenting with software for patternmaking.”
Panelist Mary Reardon, vice president textile innovation, MMI, says she uses ChatGPT to reword messages and find information. “In the past it was a Google search, but AI is so much faster.”
Audience members came up with their own suggestions. Jonathan Crumpler, who presented earlier in the day about developing augmented reality training, advises, “Don’t struggle against it; use it.”
Herrera Scheer says AI is a great tool to make changes in design, such as color, or generating marketing or website copy. However, it’s necessary to edit, “when the copy sounds like AI, not like a real person.”
Should you keep the memory on when using AI? Half of the people at this session indicated that they do. Herrera Scheer says, “The more you work with it, the more it remembers you, and the better it will work for you.”
However, material will recycle, so Reardon adds, “It’s trained to know what you like to hear, so if you keep ‘hearing yourself,’ turn off the memory and prompt again.”
There is also a sustainability issue due to the amount of energy AI consumes. “It’s something to consider before using [AI], if you don’t really need to,” Herrera Scheer says.
Paige Mullis of MMI Textiles (right) led a panel discussion on business uses of artificial intelligence that included interaction with the audience as well. Panelists were Xochil Herrera Scheer of The Chicago Pattern Maker and Mary Reardon, also of MMI.
SIDEBAR: AI tools
As an early open-source model, ChatGPT is a frequent first-use tool, but panelists and attendees suggested various other tools that use artificial intelligence:
- Perplexity, an “answer engine” that cites its sources
- Claude, for research
- Google’s NotebookLM and Gemini, for research and other tasks
- Nano Banana, for image editing
- Prezi, for presentations
- Fireflies, for meeting transcriptions
- Microsoft’s Copilot, for a variety of tasks
Biomaterials give value to waste products
nanocellulose, Circ® lyocell, and Elevate vegan leather. Image: Mark Skalny PhotographyThe growth of biomaterials (fibers and fabrics) has been well documented in this publication. Emerging Technologies Conference presenter Thomasine Dolan Dow takes it a step further and calls it “a revolution” in next-generation fibers, materials and coatings.
In her presentation she also argued for “giving value to waste” by “transforming overlooked, discarded byproducts into something valuable.” This could include waste from agriculture, plants, food and textiles.
Bio-based is “nature-based,” she says, consisting of materials “that can be grown again and again,” such as corn, potatoes, sugarcane, soybeans and grains. Emerging next-gen feedstocks include mycelium, agricultural waste, seaweed, kelp and algae, with market growth well underway. In 2023, the global vegan leather market was valued at $73.4 billion by market research firm Next Move Strategy Consulting. The forecast for 2030 is slightly more than $139 billion.
Dow urges everyone to consider the environmental impact of our choices. Currently, 60% of apparel is made from fossil fuel-based materials (polyester, nylon and acrylic), which can shed microplastics that do not biodegrade.
“It’s really hard to compete with polyester and with plastic in general because it’s so cheap—and it’s been subsidized,” she says.
However, there are many companies with biosynthetic materials and biofibers on the market.
“Biosynthetics are particularly intriguing,” she says. “They could eventually replace petroleum-based plastics and nylon.”
She also listed many recycling companies and provided a substantial list of companies making performance bio-coatings and dyes, which are “really important,” she says, “Because once you put a petroleum coating on, you can’t recycle it.”
Infrared-responsive textile introduced
Akira Kumada, SOLAMENT product manager for Takisada-Nagoya Co. Ltd., spoke on the company’s infrared-responsive textile. Made with metal-derived nanoscale particles, the material is capable of absorbing near-infrared (NIR) energy when applied to almost any textile.
The technology was invented by Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. and has been “widely utilized for heat-blocking for years,” Kumada says. What’s new is the process that made it possible to disperse the product into a yarn matrix.
Sunlight, he points out, is 52% visible light, 6% ultraviolet light, and the rest—42%—is NIR light, which SOLAMENT can capture and absorb. One test under simulated sunlight showed heat reduction of about 19% with SOLAMENT’s infused fibers. The fibers without SOLAMENT cooled about 6%.
The infused fabric can also be used for keeping people warm. “Yes, this can do both [heat and cool],” Kumada says. “It depends on the structure of the weave.” The product absorbs the heat and can contain it, disperse it from the wearer or release it toward the body.
Microplastics testing, standards, laws still nascent
Although testing to quantify and characterize microplastics is still in its developmental stages, interest in it is on the rise, especially among textile producers, says Danielle Harrier, Ph.D., with Exponent, an engineering and scientific consulting firm with offices worldwide. Harrier is a senior associate in the Polymer Science and Materials Chemistry Group at the company’s office in Menlo Park, Calif.
Over the past few years, several standards have been developed—and others are still emerging—for analyzing the composition and quantity of microplastics in water, including some standards that are specific to textiles. The challenge is that no single piece of equipment or technique will take care of the entire size range of particles, she says. Her firm uses a combination of techniques.
Research is influencing policymakers. “Textiles are being looked at [by legislators] with increasing scrutiny,” Harrier says.
The only federal ban currently in effect targets plastic microbeads used in cosmetics, such as exfoliating face washes. However, a shift is beginning, she says, as state and federal lawmakers work to address the broader issue of plastic pollution. Most existing laws, bills, regulations and proposals focus on primary microplastics, like microbeads, but are increasingly referencing secondary sources such as synthetic textiles. Emerging regulations aim to curb microfiber pollution by requiring washing machines to include particle filters.
Due to the government shutdown, the presentation “NASA’s Development of Next-Generation Lunar Space Suit Fabrics” that was scheduled for the Emerging Technologies Conference will now be presented as a webinar Jan. 21. Go to textiles.org/events/calendar to sign up.
Specialty fabrics and business
Advocacy work and how to get involved
Sara Beatty, president of Whitehaven Trade, Charlotte, N.C., gave a policy update and spoke on the advocacy work being done on behalf of the U.S. Industrial and Narrow Fabrics Institute and Military Division of Advanced Textiles Association.
Chief topics concerned tariffs, the de minimis loophole for packages sent into the U.S. valued at less than $800 and efforts to require government agencies to buy materials made in America.
She cited several advocacy success stories from the past few years, some of which took years of work to accomplish, including:
- Allowing materials that follow the rules of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to come into the country duty-free
- Closing the de minimis loophole
- Lowering the Berry Amendment threshold for purchasing American-made products from $250,000 to $125,000
- Requiring government agencies to purchase American-made personal protective equipment, the first contracts for which are finally coming through
Work is ongoing in relation to the documentation needed for companies to take advantage of the 20% U.S. content deduction and excluding tariffs on textile manufacturing equipment, much of which must be imported. Because the National Defense Authorization Act regularly comes up for renewal, “We are always educating legislators on the importance of Berry,” says Beatty.
Getting involved
She encouraged companies to become involved in the advocacy process each spring; last year, Advocacy Days participants included 25 people from 14 companies from nine different states. The 2026 Advocacy Days are expected to take place in early March. For more information and final dates, visit usinfi.textiles.org.
“If you are in what’s not thought of as a traditional textile-producing state, we need you,” she says.
Talking Textiles and other podcasts recorded at Advanced Textiles Expo 2025
Multiple textiles podcasts were recorded at Advanced Textiles Expo this year, including upcoming episodes of Talking Textiles on trade and tariffs and (pictured here) seasonal ebbs and flows in the marine canvas business, where participants included Julie Tinsman and Charlene Clark. Several other industry podcasts also recorded episodes live from the expo hall floor. For more information on current and past episodes, see textiles.org/podcast and subscribe via your favorite podcast app.
Zylotex seeks funding to establish Canadian hemp lyocell production
Potential gaps in the fiber market can create big opportunities, and Leila Lawson, founder of Zylotex Inc., based in Edmonton, Alta., Canada, wants to take advantage of this with hemp.
Lawson predicts there will be a “cotton gap” in the future—the difference between supply and demand—that hemp lyocell could fill. Lawson also sees textile hemp as serving a need for companies that are increasingly looking for more sustainable, biodegradable or natural options for the fibers that comprise their fabrics.
“People are hungry for this type of alternative,” she says. Increased use of hemp could also spare old-growth forests.
“We can be more cost competitive than wood pulp,” she says, because of a less-intensive process that the company will use for processing. Zylotex has an exclusive agreement with Plantae Technologies to use its proprietary mechanical method, rather than the traditional chemical-based method that is water- and energy-intensive.
Zylotex is seeking angel investors to raise a more than CA$3.75-million match in order to unlock public funding. The company’s short-term goals include finalizing the plan for the demonstration facility in 2026 and starting to produce ZyloPulp and Zylotex® fiber in 2027. The company has offtake agreements for more than the 1,200 tons per year expected to be produced by its pilot plant.
“There’s a huge opportunity here,” she says.
Student presenter at Advanced Textiles Expo 2025: Smart sensing
The student presenter at Advanced Textiles Expo this year was Ayesha Siddika, a doctoral student at North Carolina State University in fiber and polymer science. Her work focuses on textile-based electrodes for sensing applications.
Logistical challenges of recycling eased at product’s design stage
The intent to recycle is beset by logistical challenges, says Andrew Nasarczyk, global director, innovation and sustainability, for Gale Pacific Ltd. However, through a strategic approach, his company is having good luck with agricultural grain covers, water containment liners, structural fabric and billboard fabric.
“You need a good recycling partner to be involved,” he says. “You need to have the will to do it and a lot of partners to do it. … It requires a network of collaborators.”
It’s difficult to do economically and at scale, he says. After their first use, materials need collection and transport for shredding, washing and pelletizing before they can be repurposed for a new application or be fed back into a circular process.
Designing products that are not composites is one key, because traditional coated PVC fabrics are difficult to get back into their individual components. He says Gale has found that coated polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene fabrics can be repurposed, such as into another plastic product, or made into a recyclable resin for coating fabric, enabling circularity. PP is lighter weight than PVC, doesn’t need plasticizers for flexibility and still has comparable performance qualities while being recyclable.
“We’re finding that it still has good mechanical properties after four times in that [circular] loop,” he says. “How many times this circular loop can be repeated is yet to be fully determined; however, our initial observations are very encouraging.”
How to protect a business’s intellectual property
David Prange, partner at Robins Kaplan LLP in Minneapolis, Minn., led the education session “Joint Ventures and Minimizing Risks: Simple Steps to Protect Your IP Interests.” He provided an overview of best practices for protecting a company’s intellectual property (IP) while working with other companies.
The most important step at the beginning of a deal, Prange says, is talking about what protocol will be followed when things go awry. He says most often, the cause of legal issues is “the use of bad language and ambiguity” in contracts.
When drafting a contract, he says to be specific and clear, such as identifying which types of information are confidential and how and by whom this information can be used (also known as an acceptable use policy). He advises against setting a contract end date or a sunset provision, as business relationships can change over time. Multiple contracts will likely also be created over the course of a partnership, which is why it’s crucial to meet regularly to discuss updates or changes.
He recommends including the following language in business contracts: “Certain terms continue after the relationship ends,” to ensure IP protection if the business relationship ends. He also recommends stating in the contract that once the relationship ends, any IP collected during the relationship must be destroyed.
What’s on a label?
“The label is the last thing a lot of designers think about,” says Matt Clark, co-owner of W&W Associates Inc., during his educational session at Advanced Textiles Expo. But labels are a necessity, and the government takes them seriously. Clark pointed out that the Federal Trade Commission recently fined a company $140,000 for a label with incorrect content and country of origin.
According to Clark, U.S. label requirements can be broken up into the “four Cs”:
- Company
- Content
- Care
- Country
In addition to a label’s necessary information, the session focused on the different factors businesses might consider when creating and placing their label. Is branding important? If so, a front-and-center label may be best. What instructions are necessary for the end user to have? That impacts the label’s size.
Clark outlined four different material options for labels and the pros and cons of each fabric based on the end goal for the label. He also shared insights into what a partner like W&W Associates needs to create a high-quality label: vector art files instead of JPGs, how the label will be applied to the product and more.
The session ended with a lively pop quiz in which Clark asked questions about different points in his presentation and awarded embroidered Advanced Textiles Association baseball hats to attendees who answered correctly.
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