Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/952449
THE MAKE: MANUFACTURING TAILORED FOR FACTORIES OF THE FUTURE in 2015 based university innovations. And over the past 20 years, research institutions have earned more than 80,000 US patents, states the organization. Creating strong relationships with local universities continues as a recent announcement from Chemours confirms. The chemical company is launching The Chemours Discovery Hub, a state-of-the-art research facility at the Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus of the University of Delaware. The $150 million, 29,000- square-foot facility is slated for completion by 2020 and the long-term partnership looks to help Chemours meet emerging customer needs, satisfy new market demands and deliver high-value chemistry. Chemours' primary STAR focus will be chemistry and chemical engineering research, Zeru Tekie, Chemours' global technical director, Fluoroproducts, says. Beyond that, "We are looking to collaborate with the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences for physics, material science, and mechanical engineering. Many of our programs are going to need expertise in these fields, so we'll need this key collaboration. We cannot overstate the value and importance of collaboration to innovation. Diverse groups of people bring different perspectives and ideas to solve the same problem." The STAR Campus will also give Chemours a site for collective entrepreneurship. Everyone will be in one place working together in a more collective approach to advancing innovation. Cordura, in addition to its affiliation with North Carolina State University's College of Textiles, is now expanding its collaborative platform with a newly created, dedicated "maker space" at the company's Kennesaw, GA headquarters. Currently known as the Cordura Innovation Center, the hub will tie directly to Cordura's corporate Destination Durability storytelling and its theme. The Innovation Center will showcase a fabric library, a product library, numerous displays, trend boards, and basically everything needed to ideate, says Cindy McNaull, Cordura's global brand marketing director. "This all has to do with the evolution of Cordura. We have so many fabrics now and so many more applications that we needed a dedicated space. The carpet bag was just so big." Indeed, there are more than 1800 Cordura fabrics and the library list is growing every day. Solving problems, identifying unmet needs, and then creating product to meet those needs is the contemporary philosophy that spurs innovation. "This kind of connectivity has been happening virtually, but now we'll be able to do it in person at the Cordura Innovation Center," explains McNaull, who outlines these fabric development trends Cordura believes drives innovation today: Light yet Strength; Sustainability Innovation; Natural Empowerment; Extreme Resistance; Denims Durability; and Active Soft Strength. The new Cordura Innovation Center will push these elements by working with designers, mill partners, brand partners. Acting as a solution provider also relates to Kim Ortengren's incubator/ factory in Portland, ME. Although on a much smaller scale than big textile players like Cordura and Chemours, Ortengren's company, Wallace James, serves as a launching pad for innovation. Wallace James is one of roughly 50 founding members of Maine Outdoor Brands, a newly formed alliance composed of an assortment of companies united in a mission to promote local entrepreneurship and inspire growth in Maine's $8.2B outdoor recreation economy. Maine Outdoor Brands made a successful debut at the recent Denver show where its busy booth throughout trade event proved a good indicator of today's strong "localization" trend and brand community connection. Ortengren's business is about many things, though providing infrastructure, solving production problems and creating new ways to make goods are central. The year-old company can facility everything from initial sizing and pattern grading to small run production, complete with fully automated machinery that feature high-tech computer systems. Education plays a big role. "Its not just cut and sew," says Ortengren, who returned to her home state after a stint in 7th Avenue fashion followed by work at Cloudveil, Spyder, and Crane & Lion in Boston. "A client has an idea, but no idea how to make it. For us it's 50/50 thinking/making. We set clients up with a foundation," states Ortengren. "Primary for us is not faster to market but the education component so its done correctly the first time around. Communication and clarity go a long way." Her business model is paying off. Wallace James has established a steady client base and has tallied successes in its first year, with highlight achievements including helping expedite fabric sourcing and streamline production for local designers as well as on-the-mark fabric development for established brands in a timely manner. "I don't believe I could I have been doing this five years ago," says Ortengren. "We are on the forefront of the new thinking about made in America. People have the capital now. People have been frustrated just long enough to want to things differently." O "Over the past five years, we made significant investment with our infrastructure. It's about speed, particularly with knitting. It was invest or die." Steve Perry, Darlington Fabrics textileinsight.com