Understanding How Performance Textiles Work:
The Payoff of Added Value

AATCC/Concept III Seminar at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market,
August 3, 2010

AATCC and Concept III are presenting a one-hour seminar in conjunction with the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market.

Date: Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Time: 9AM-10AM
Place: Salt Lake City Marriot Downtown (across from Salt Palace), Salon Deer Valley

Eliminating the mysteries behind performance textile features like odor control and moisture management can help you create and sell products with real added value.

Add this important event to your OR planner. Get the information and tools you need to make educated buying decisions before you walk the show floor.

Retailers, product developers, merchandisers, and just about anyone involved with textile-based products needs to know what works, what doesn’t, and why in order to economically add value that appeals to consumers.

Listen as Mike Sweet, Director of Technical Development for Polygiene AB, makers of Polygiene Active Odor Control Technology, reviews methods of odor control, how odor is formed, test methods, claims that can be made, and why odor control is so important to today’s market.

Then, Michele Wallace, Associate Director of Product Integrity at Cotton Incorporated and AATCC textile testing expert, explains the various aspects of moisture management—wicking, dry time, breathability, and more. Learn to quantify them, and how to optimize them.

A question and answer period follows.

Speakers:

Mike Sweet is Director of Technical Development for Polygiene AB, a worldwide supplier of antimicrobial solutions, based in Gustafsborg, Sweden. Working from Nottingham, England and a graduate of Nottingham Trent University, Sweet has been involved extensively with the technical aspects of odor treatment and antimicrobials on textiles from mill production to technical sales support his entire career. He was instrumental in adapting Polygiene odor and microbe control technology, originally used in industrial applications, for use in textile-based products that come in contact with the skin. Well on its way to acceptance by prominent European outdoor and active sportswear brands, Sweet has now taken on a technical role in helping Concept III Textiles introduce Polygiene to the North American outdoor apparel and accessory markets.

Michele Wallace is chair of AATCC’s RA63 Committee on Water Resistance, Absorbency, and Wetting Agent Evaluation Test Methods. She was also instrumental in developing the 2008 Moisture Management Technical Supplement. Wallace is currently Associate Director of Product Integrity at Cotton Incorporated, specializing in functional finishes. Throughout her career, she has conducted research on antimicrobials, flammability, moisture management, stain resistance, and other functional finishes. She has a BS and MS in Textile Chemistry from North Carolina State University. Wallace has been a member of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) since 1998, serving as a member and chair of several research committees. She has also been served on committees for ASTM International D13 (Textiles), the National Textile Association, and the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA). Wallace has one patent and has published more than eight research papers, including a paper that won AATCC's William J. Weaver Paper of the Year Award for 2000.