News and Headlines

   3/11/10 - BondCote answers Haiti's call for help
                Local company provides waterproof  fabric for use as shelter from rain   

A Pulaski County company has stepped up in a big way to help the people of Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake that struck the tiny nation in January. About three-quarters of a million Haitians are still without basic shelter following the quake, and now the annual rainy season poses a huge threat. And by June, hurricane season will arrive posing an even greater threat. Finding even the most basic of shelter from the sometimes torrential downpours that strike Haiti this time of year is a tremendous challenge for its people.

BondCote Corporation is helping to meet the challenge head-on by donating a shipping container load of its coated fabrics to the Haitian relief effort. According to BondCote President and CEO Ted Anderson and Plant Manager Donnie Kemp, the fabrics will be used to make shelters for those thousands of Haitians who have lost their homes, or do not have dry shelter of any kind. Anderson said the amount of fabrics being donated have a manufacturing cost to BondCote of about $114,000. Anderson said that if you unrolled the dozens of rolls of fabrics filling the container there would be enough "to cover over eight football fields," and if laid out end to end the fabric would reach from Pulaski to Radford.

Kemp said most of the fabrics being sent to Haiti are solar reflective to reflect heat from the sun, and all of it is waterproof. He added the fabric is both heat weldable and sewable. The rainy season in Haiti poses a significant danger to its people. The rainfall is often heavy enough to cause landslides, and will definitely cause problems for the extremely poor country as it rebuilds from the 7.0 quake blamed for killing hundreds of Haitians. Makeshift camps have been set up around the country with some half million Haitians taking up emergency residence under sheets and tarps that are hardly able to protect against the heavy rains. According to published reports, the Haitian government's appeal for 200,000 tents has not been met. However, now the need is for rain-resistant shelter  - the likes of which BondCote is providing. According to Shipping Manager June Flinchum, the filled shipping container will travel by truck to Norfolk where it will be shipped to Haiti.

BondCote, with facilities in Pulaski and in Dublin at the Pulaski County Corporate Center, is a world-wide leader in single-ply roofing systems and coated and laminated fabrics. Its products are used in a variety of applications in the transportation, military, environmental, medical, agricultural, recreational and athletic industries. BondCote was founded in 1949.
courtesy of The Patriot, Pulaski County, VA 3/12/2010


After the fabrics are donated to Haiti, they will be assembled by America's Development
Foundation and be used by the millions who were left homeless due to the earthquakes.

   5/28/08 - Crosslink Announces License Agreement with BondCote Corporation   
   Partnership to serve military channels

ST. LOUIS—Crosslink (www.crosslinkresearch.com), a leader in electroactive polymer materials, today announced a North American license agreement with BondCote Corporation (www.bondcote.com), a leader in high performance coated and laminated fabrics, to exclusively represent SuperFlex™ technology within military channels of trade. SuperFlex™, a coating that produces flexible electroluminescent lighting, can be used on tents, flexible shelters, tarpaulins, soft tops and other military applications that comprise coated or laminated fabrics or textiles.

SuperFlex™ is an ultra-flexible, durable, electroluminescent (EL) technology based on polythiophene, an inherently conductive polymer known as PEDOT. It is transferred onto a variety of substrates in any two dimensional configuration to emit white light that does not cast harsh shadows associated with point source lighting. It can be formulated to emit light in fifteen other visible colors and near-infrared (NIR) spectrums.

Military end users that value rapid deployment, find SuperFlex™ technology interesting since it is lighter in weight, crushable, ballistic tolerant and non-toxic when compared to ruggidized florescent lighting systems. SuperFlex™ was selected as one of the top five “Hot Talks/Cool Papers” at the Materials Research Society (MRS) 2006 Fall Meeting.

Initially, this supply agreement covers Crosslink’s production of lamps systems being sent to BondCote for final assembly and delivery to end user specification. In addition, the agreement gives BondCote the long-term option of building its own print production capability, relying on Crosslink for only the proprietary inks.

“Crosslink is excited about accelerating the use of SuperFlex™ in a systems approach with a fabric coating firm like BondCote,” said Charles Jongeward, CEO of Crosslink. “We are impressed with their commitment to military customer satisfaction and long standing relationships within the distribution channel.”

“We believe the SuperFlex™ technology will further expand our product offering to our customers in “next generation” solutions in military applications and are excited to move Crosslink’s development efforts to commercialization,” said Ted Anderson, President/CEO of BondCote.

About Crosslink
Crosslink is a leader in the development and manufacturing of customized conductive, electroactive and electroluminescent polymers for innovative commercial applications. The company works closely with its partners to uncover practical, tailored applications for next-generation technology. A privately held company, Crosslink is headquartered in St. Louis and operates facilities in Springfield, Missouri and Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

About BondCote Corporation
With 60 years of experience, BondCote Corporation offers state of the art, coating technology to customers in a wide range of custom and standard coated and laminated fabrics. BondCote manufactures and supplies coated and laminated fabrics for the military, homeland security, transportation, environmental, agricultural, single-ply roofing, recreational and athletic industries. An ISO 9001 certified company, BondCote Corporation is headquartered in Pulaski, Va.