American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists

Last week I attended the 2010 AATCC International Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The focus of this year's conference was "Innovation and Sustainability Bring New Life to Textiles". The conference was co-located with ATME-I MEGATEX 2010 as part of the Textile and Sewn Products Industry Week. Techtextil North America and SPESA Expo also ran concurrently.

On the first day of the conference, I presented my thesis research on automotive textile color trends. Although few attendees were experts on the automotive industry, I received much positive feedback regarding my topic and approach.

Attending this conference was a great opportunity for networking and learning more about the textile industry and key players globally. Some the most interesting presentations I attended were in the Concept 2 Consumer track. These included Sarah Kang of Chico's presentation on Color Consistency from Concept to Production, Tiffany Eubanks of Inspired Design Solutions' presentation on Traditional Textile Printing in Today's Digital Age, Stephen Fraser of Spoonflower's presentation on People-powered Textile Design, Danielle Locastro of First2Print's presentation on Digital Printing Dresses Up Couture Fashion for Michael Angel, and the research of NCSU College of Textile's Nancy Powell, Lisa Parillo-Chapman and Amani Shaker, whose topic focused on Consumer Perception of Quality in Jaquard Woven and Printed Fabrics for Home Furnishings.

On the last day of the conference, I made my way through the week's textile expo. Hundreds of global companies were in attendance, and I was able to take the time to sit down with consultants from Lectra, and DataColor, two digital textile technologies companies of great value to automotive industry.


In addition to the conference, those of you who follow me know that I enjoy taking full advantage of my travel, whether it be for pleasure or business. On the drive to Atlanta, I stayed with friends in Spartanburg, SC and made a trip into Greenville, SC- one of the most quaint towns I've come to love. While in Atlanta, I spent time strolling Centennial Park and Decatur Street, enjoying the local cuisine, and even attended an exciting Braves MLB game. On the way back, I stopped in Marietta to see a friend's childhood neighborhood and walked along the Chattahoochee River on a beautiful Thursday afternoon.