At TenCate Protective Fabrics, our Innovation teams turn change into a driving force for new product solutions. In this blog, we'll share four key strategies that have supported our recent successes and shaped our innovation journey over the past several years.
We believe in developing connections throughout the marketplace and creating an internal culture that fosters innovation. Over the years, we have continued to develop our approach, adapting to changing business landscapes to meet our customers' and end users’ evolving needs. Keep reading to discover a few keys to our strategy.
Customers at the centre
At TenCate Protective Fabrics, we begin our innovation process by focusing on the needs of our end users. Our goal is to enable them to perform their jobs effectively. By interacting with professionals who use our protective fabrics, we gain important insights that guide our product development.
For instance, electrical utility workers have told us they prefer lightweight, comfortable, stretchable materials that don’t compromise on comfort, safety, and durability. In response, we created fabrics that offer much higher performance, using advanced fibre technologies to improve comfort and range of motion while maintaining high protection standards.
Responding to market trends
Understanding and utilizing broad market trends is crucial for staying ahead in the industry. We actively monitor dynamic trends and integrate ideas from diverse sectors like casualwear and athletic markets. This inspiration from various industries has led us to develop workwear fabrics that are as comfortable as the clothes people wear in their everyday lives outside of work.
Sustainability is also becoming more front and centre across our industry and around the world. We’re actively making investments in innovations to deliver new offerings that address what the market is asking for.
Building a structure that serves the goal
Our innovation happens only in a cross-functional manner. To ensure all our teams stay aligned, we structure our innovation processes into seven clear stages, with input from all disciplines at each phase, both external market focus and internal product focus.
This structured approach ensures coordinated development and resource allocation, helping us create products that meet the needs and requirements of all stakeholders.
Leveraging digital tools
In this constantly changing digital world, we continually adjust our product launch strategies to fit the digital-first business environment. In addition to traditional in-person trade shows, we have increased efforts with digital product introductions.
These new digital strategies include virtual product launches and interactive webinars, enabling us to engage directly with our customers, supply chain partners, and end users. This approach has strengthened our market connections well beyond in-person interactions.
Our journey at TenCate Protective Fabrics demonstrates how strategic foresight, combined with an adaptable and collaborative approach to innovation, can lead to success in a dynamic market. As we continue to evolve, our primary focus remains on empowering our end users to perform their roles with confidence and safety, day in and day out.
