Letter from the ITA President

from the ITA President

The connecting thread that weaves through our industry is in the language we speak and the ties that bind us. Think of how often we use textile phrases to speak about everything we do in our daily lives and realize how intrinsically important our industry is: we ‘weave in and out of traffic;’ we have ‘threads of conversation’ and ‘threads’ in social media; we ‘shuttle’ our kids back and forth to activities. We are communicating our lives through textile “speak.”

KATHRYN RICHARDSON, ITA president

Textiles are critically important in our lives as a result—from the designs on toilet paper to the materials that cocoon us in bed, to the fabrics and leathers on our sofas, desk chairs, in our cars, and what we wear. Textiles are how we express ourselves, communicate our values, and connect with others.

We at the ITA recognize the meaning textiles have in our lives and renew our commitment to how we communicate and connect our industry. We recommit to our mantra “Connections Happen Here” and invite you to join us. Our committees, initiatives, Educational Foundation, events, and our volunteer Board of Directors are all opportunities for you to join us and help make our industry stronger, more interwoven. Our combined efforts allow us to reach more and more interested buyers, potential employees, end consumers and educators.

The ITA has been focused on new ways of speaking to our industry. We will be announcing major changes and initiatives in the spring of 2022 in how we are communicating and connecting the stakeholders in the textile, leather and trimmings worlds. We have already started with new programs like our Member Showcase each quarter, our more robust educational programming, our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative through the Educational Foundation, and a renewed investment in our fiscal strategy, media outreach, operational systems, an overhauled website and marketing opportunities to come.

Our organization and industry have gone through immense turmoil, and will still see challenges in the years to come. But we are inspired by the booming interest in the home furnishings market, and in the passion for home textile, leather and trimmings design, stories and new technology.

Please come see me at Showtime market in the Libeco showroom, MST 382, and let me know how we can serve our industry, and your company, better. Let’s connect. Connections Happen Here.

-Kathryn Richardson, ITA president