The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) has announced a host of dynamic education offerings and events for its leading international trade event, Specialty Fabrics Expo and the expanded Advanced Textiles Expo.

The exhibition is set to be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center from 14-16 October 2014. The event is the largest specialty fabrics and technical textiles trade show and conference in the Americas.

Specialty Fabrics Conference

The flagship Specialty Fabrics Conference will feature a number of targeted sessions and market-specific programmes designed for solidifying business practices, presented by IFAI's divisions.

These will include business seminars; Marine Symposium, presented by the Marine Fabricators Association; and Awning Symposium, presented by the Professional Awning Manufacturers Association (PAMA).

Advanced Textiles Conference

The Advanced Textiles Conference will include sessions focused on technical applications with a special focus on textiles in the medical industry, including:

• Overview of Smart and Emerging Fabric Markets
• Advances in Medical Nanotextiles
• Safety and Protection from the Fibre Level Upward
• Healthcare Impact of Wearable Technology and Textile-Integrated Sensors
• A Different Approach to Understanding Auxetic Materials
• Woven Narrow Fabric Medical Devices, and more.

Sessions and workshops

A special Architect Education session, presented by the Fabric Structures Association, will focus on incorporating fabric into design. A session presented by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) will highlight functional and nanofinishes for industrial textiles.

Attendees can also take advantage of hands-on equipment workshops focusing on cutting, welding and sewing in the manufacturing and maintenance arenas.

Extreme sports

On the show floor attendees can discover the world of extreme sports and the specialty as well as technical textiles that make it up at the Extreme Sports Display.

The popular ShowStoppers competition is back and attendees are invited to vote on the newest and most innovative ideas in specialty and advanced fabrics. A special Fiber and Yarn Zone will be dedicated to finding producers and distributors of fibre and yarn.

www.ifaiexpo.com