Rachal McCarthy is a new-age leader in an old-school industry. On this edition of the Textile Nerd Podcast, the second-generation president of NTI Global in New York talks with Lori and Dan about the key place communications play in leadership in a world where the lines between on-site vs. off-site, high-tech vs. low-tech, and confidence vs. training are increasingly blurry.

Guest after guest on the Textile Nerd Podcast brings up sustainability as a primary industry concern and opportunity. It's such a pervasive topic of discussion, Lori and Dan captured three expert perspectives on this vast subject: pediatric hand surgeon and medical sustainability scholar Dr. Holly Morris, Gaston College Textile Technology Center Executive Director Jasmine Cox, and PatternRoom.com founder and CEO Julia Watts.

Let's face it, the textile printing process can be pretty bland. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, the cofounder of an innovative print studio believes more creativity could be injected into every facet of textile printing. Lori and Dan welcome back Western Sensibility CEO Kathryn Sanders to explore why and how creativity can be baked in every step of the way to elevate projects.

Access is everything for print media professionals. Third-generation textile printer Kathryn Sanders, founder and CEO of print studio Western Sensibility, hips us to a philosophy she calls the "Democratization of Design." This concept, as Lori and Dan find out, involves access by creatives to printers and technology to move thier designs from drawing board to substrate.

In the ever-evolving textile ecosystem, industry-focused education remains a critical piece of the puzzle. In the United States, issues including supply chain, sustainability, and onshoring/nearshoring remain top of mind for educators working to teach and skill-up the next generation of textile nerds. On the Textile Nerd Podcast, Lori and Dan will talk with Jasmine Cox, executive director of Gaston College's Textile Technology Center about solutions, successes, and fabric's future forces.

Does polyester get a bad wrap in the fashion, apparel, and movie world? If you ask longtime textile print maven and Hollywood costume printer Steven Moreno of MY Prints, the answer is an emphatic "yes." Lori, and Dan explore a concept Steven raised during our behind-the-scenes in Tinseltown episode that we'll call Polyester Prejudice, deepening a discussion on the need for additional education on the polyester options of today.

Bringing any fabric to market takes a dizzying number of people along the way... especially for a newly-developed material. From fiber-to-fruition, textiles will be put through the paces until they're ready to find their end use. On this episode of The Textile Nerd Podcast, Lori, and Dan travel along the production chain and bring in TVF Senior Sales Consultant Chris Russo to illuminate and salute the many hands behind every yard.

As new textiles evolve faster than we can measure, modeling, testing, and quality control are increasingly going 3D to keep pace. One of the great minds on the forefront of this technology is GORE-TEX Fabrics Digital Business Process Specialist Christina Rapa. Lori and Dan explore how this technology - very different from 3D printing - is already changing the game for several key facets of the textile industry.