ATA HIGHLIGHTS
Advanced Textiles Prove the
SKY IS THE LIMIT By Marie O’Mahony
he Advanced Textiles Association’s (ATA) annual expo attracts national and international exhibitors, conference speakers and delegates to become a barometer for innovation in advanced and smart textiles. Held in a rotation of around half a dozen cities in North America, the ATA EXPO 2023 was held in Orlando, Florida. Colocated with the Sun Shading EXPO, the events attracted 4,517 attendees with 375 exhibitors from North America, Europe and Asia. This year, space, wearables and medical market’s dominated, with many exhibitors (particularly e-textile) serving all three sectors. NASA are regular exhibitors and speakers at the ATA EXPO, but this year the discussion on space was much broader because of the growth of the commercial space sector. There was a long list of stakeholders represented either as speakers, exhibitors or both: Axiom Space, Columbia Sportswear, Bally Ribbon Mills, Kuraray America and Aegis Aerospace all participated.
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24 IFJ ISSUE 1 2024
The Space Foundation’s Q2 report for 2023 provides some insights on this. The U.S. government space budgets the report puts at $69.5B, against a non-U.S. government budget of $49.1B, citing a growth rate of 8%. Commercial infrastructure and support industries are valued at $139.6B, a figure surpassed by the commercial space products and services at $288B. “The Space Report forecasts continued growth in the space economy, and
based on our conservative modelling, we anticipate nearing the $800 billion mark within five years,” according to Thomas Dorame, senior vice president at Space Foundation. “This forecast is bolstered by the increase in 2023 space launch activity, which is well on pace to surpass the annual record set in 2022.” The commercial space sector growth is impacting the number and range of stakeholders, in addition to the new performance demands it brings.
Speaking of Space Haskell Beckham, Vice President of Innovation at Columbia Sportswear chaired a very lively panel discussion titled “Advanced textiles – a new frontier and new opportunities.” The panelists were Chyree Batton, Commercial Innovation Strategy Lead for in-space solutions and Axion Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit prototype showing the white outer layer. Axion Space Systems will work with Prada’s engineers throughout the design process to develop solutions for material and design features to protect against the unique challenges of space and the lunar surface. Axiom Space
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ATA EXPO 2023 Delivers Smart Solutions to Textile Technology
