FM Awards Will Co-Locate with The 8th Aachen-Dresden International Textile Conference

The Future Materials (FM) Awards will co-locate with the 8th Aachen-Dresden International Textile Conference in Dresden, Germany, in November 2014.

The glittering gala dinner to reward innovation in the technical textiles industry will be held on Wednesday 26th November, 2014 – the day before the conference starts.

The co-location of the FM Awards and the Aachen-Dresden International Textile Conference will provide an unparalleled platform to share information, establish partnerships and facilitate networking for companies, suppliers, associations and academics across the entire technical textiles value chain.

World Textile Information Network, publisher of international technical textiles magazine Future Materials, launched the FM Awards to recognise success in textile innovation and celebrate the essential work of the many businesses which support the industry.

The FM Awards are open to all the end-use sectors for technical textiles as well as materials experts, product developers and designers.

They will celebrate winners in 21 categories, including the best innovations in sportswear, protective textiles, industrial textiles and medical textiles.

There will also be awards for groundbreaking partnership development, best start-up company and a lifetime achievement award.

A panel of renowned industry experts will decide the winners, including Linda Keppinger, Global Materials Director at Nike; Dr Jean-Pierre Haug, Secretary General of Oeko-Tex; Dr Peter Dinsdale, World President of the Textile Institute; Michael Sieber, Research Textile Engineer at the US Army Natick Soldier Systems Center; Siegfried Winkelbeiner, CEO of Schoeller Textil, Thomas White, Textile Innovation Director at Under Armour; and Lutz Walter, Head of R&D and Innovation of EURATEX.

Invista’s CORDURAbrand (the durable fabric brand) and ARCHROMA (a global leader in specialty chemicals) announced they will become the Platinum Sponsors of the event.

“We are thrilled to announce this new partnership with the Aachen-Dresden International Textile Conference, and to unveil Invista’s CORDURAbrand and ARCHROMA as the Platinum Sponsors for the FM Awards,” said Tara Hounslea, Editor of Future Materials magazine.

“The textiles business is often presented as a sunset industry but new advances in fibre and polymer science, processing and finishing techniques are transforming the textiles landscape and opening up new markets that far exceed the traditional apparel supply chain. The FM Awards will reward the outstanding innovation that is taking place in our industry.”