“The people who have come by have all been quality contacts,” said Marty Colwell of American Dornier. “We’ve been at this show consecutively for at least 15 years. I think it would send the wrong message for Dornier not to exhibit here because just about everyone here that has our equipment is members of IFAI. We’re going to continue to support this one. It’s a great show for us.”

 

The only U.S.-based yarn spinner to exhibit here is Shuford Yarns of Hickory, N.C. And they couldn’t be more pleased with Day 1, according to Randy Miller.

 

“We were slammed from the opening until early afternoon,” he said. “Overall, it was a very positive day. We had a good mix of existing customers and people we haven’t seen before.”

 

New for the show: A&E embroidery yarns

 

American & Efird (A&E) of Mount Holly, N.C., working collaboratively with Glen Raven and its subsidiary, Trivantage, announced at the show the release of its line of Sunbrella embroidery thread in 16 colors. The thread is a perfect complement to Sunbrella, Glen Raven’s well-known outdoor fabric, according to Mark Hatton, director of marketing and sales at A&E. The thread provides an option to embroider custom engraving on Sunbrella fabrics.

 

“The market has needed something that could last for the life of the fabric because people don’t want to make the investment to embellish something just to have the color fade or the product degrade,” Hatton said. “So now we’re giving them the option to embroider the name of their boat or the name of their company on an umbrella or what have you with a product that will last. So this is really exciting.”

 

The thread has all the attributes of Glen Raven’s standard Sunbrella product, according to Bill McDaniel, Glen Raven’s marine market manager.

 

“We offer a five-year warranty on the embroidery, which can go on the back of the seat or the boot of the boat or wherever,” he said. “It’s not going to fade. You can clean it with bleach.”

 

Being new to the market, the product has much potential that customers may not have even considered, Hatton added.

 

“We expect that it will take people in this industry some time to get their head around what they can do with this,” he said. “It will give them a new creative lever to offer something new and different for their customers.”

 

Worth noting: This is the first show in the Americas that American & Efird has exhibited with Gütermann, a Germany-based manufacturer of industrial thread that it acquired this year.

 

“They’re a very good brand and company,” Hatton said. “A lot of our customers and their customers are excited about this. They can begin to see the possibilities of these two brands hooking up. We’re two great brands with great histories, but we’re to united in our unwavering commitment to our customer.”