Businesses are always looking for ways to cut their costs. While one cannot always prevent damage to their work uniforms, ensuring that employees care for them properly can mean they last much longer, saving your company a lot of money.
The following tips will help your employees to better care for their business wear. This information may be helpful if posted in a staff or changing room.
Business Suits
Today’s suit-wearing employee is fortunate that the majority of suits are now machine-washable. But while it may no longer be necessary to dry clean suits, there are procedures to be followed which bring the best results. Using a wash bag can keep suits separate from other clothing being washed. To do this properly, the bag must be washed at the temperature on the garment labels. Instead of using the dryer to dry clothing, hang to dry before cool ironing with a damp cloth.
Shirts
Boil-washing shorts can ruin the strength of the fabric, making them susceptible to rips, tears, and stains. Not to mention that using excessively hot water can cause shirts to shrink and become unusable. All of the shrinkage, damage, lost buttons and other disasters can be avoided simply by washing work shirts at 40 degrees or less. Many detergents on the market today do their best cleaning job at this range of temperatures.
Embroidered Uniforms
All too often, uniforms with name badges or logos are laundered improperly. This can cause shrinkage of a shirt, but not the label itself. When this happens, a corporate shirt can look old and worn, not to mention be ill-fitting. Avoiding this common issue is as simple as washing in lower temperatures, and then ironing the garment inside out.
Knitwear
It’s easy to extend the life of knitwear; all that’s needed is to turn the garment inside out before washing, which will help to preserve the colour and brightness. When it comes time to dry, avoid heat, opting instead to lay it flat. Dryers can cause knitwear to shrink, as well as be pulled out of shape should any vigorous wringing occur.
Jackets
Jackets worn for high-visibility jobs like crossing guards should be washed no more than ten times. Not washing a jacket more than ten times will allow the waterproofing to remain intact. As well, doing so will ensure that any reflective tape on the jacket doesn’t degrade or wear. After each washing, it’s important to allow the jacket to air dry by hanging or laying it flat. Between washes, wiping the jacket to eliminate any dust and dirt should suffice.
Provide More than One
If you are able, providing employees with more than one piece of staff clothing will allow for their uniforms to be alternated on a regular basis. This will also extend the life of business garments. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the wear of corporate uniforms is also due to how long an employee wears them in a day, as well as for how long the garments get a rest between the next day of wear.
Additional Tips
Another way to help ensure a long life for work clothing is to empty all pockets and remove any badges prior to washing, as these too can cause fabric to wear. Washing work garments with other clothes of the same material will also help to lengthen their life. Clothes should be removed from the washer as soon as the cycle has completed.
For business suits or other uniforms with more than one piece, it is important to ensure that each piece is washed and dried in the same way. This will help to ensure that both pieces maintain equal quality.
