The past 12 months have been good ones for the nonwovens industry, marked by the largest ever IDEA Show, North America's largest nonwovens exposition, numerous nonwovens capacity investments around the globe and continued growth in both existing and new applications for nonwoven fabrics. That's not to say, of course, that the nonwovens industry has not been without its problems in 2007. Chief among these is continued raw material pricing challenges that have put margin pressures on companies throughout the nonwovens supply chain.

Despite, these challenges, most of the nonwovens executives who participated in this year's Review and Forecast (see page 34) look to 2008 with optimism. The makers of nonwoven roll goods expect new technology to lead to new applications and further growth while machinery and equipment suppliers and raw material providers feel their efforts will help their nonwovens customers continue to raise the bar on innovation.

For those of us at Nonwovens Industry, 2007 was also a great year. Not only did we continue to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the nonwovens industry around, we extended our services with a number of interesting new initiatives. For one, we began our online conferencing, or webinar, program. If you missed our first two webinars—one on sustainability in the hygiene market and another on nanotechnology in filtration—you can access them on our website, www.nonwovens-industry.com and be sure to look out for more of these events in 2008. Also in 2007 we redesigned our website to give our global audience more comprehensive information on the nonwovens industry in a more user-friendly format. Check it out if you haven't already.

On a personal note, 2007 was also kind to me and my family. In August, we welcomed our second daughter, Kelsey Rae.

Here's to a great 2008 for you and yours.

Karen Bitz McIntyre
Editor
karenb@rodpub.com