(Roseville, Minn. – August 25, 2009) – The sixth annual Safety Products Student Design Challenge had excellent quality entries and numerous student participants in 2009, with 19 entries from seven colleges, involving 72 students. Wendy Horowitz, Vice President, Lucerne Textiles, chaired the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) Safety & Protective Products Division committee overseeing the 2009 Challenge. She said, “The mastery of design required to produce truly functional protective products is a long-term effort, but this year’s entries show that we are training our next generation of designers to incorporate textiles in appropriate ways for innovative protective solutions.”
The contest encourages training of designers for function, not just fashion, and the use of textiles in protective and safety applications. Students are challenged to design original projects which incorporate textiles and protect people or property from hazards.
The 2009 Safety Products Student Design Challenge paired interested students with companies giving help by supplying fabric, advice and tours of their facilities, and by evaluating the students’ work. The winning projects were chosen by a team of industry members who have extensive knowledge about the requirements of protective products.
The Safety & Protective Products Division brought the first place team to San Diego, CA to present their project at the SPPD Annual Meeting on September 23, at the IFAI Annual Meeting on September 24, and to attend the IFAI Expo, September 23 - 25.
Designers and their school are also awarded cash prizes donated by the Narrow Fabrics Institute, an IFAI division which understands the need for next generation designers to incorporate narrow fabrics in protective solutions.
For a look at all the 2009 entries, click here.
