How To Care For Your Uniforms
The current economic climate makes us all tighten our belts, and that includes when it comes to corporate clothing. Here are our top 6 tips on how to keep costs low and save money on your uniforms and make them last!
- Shirts – Don’t boil-wash your shirts! Sounds funny but this is a common occurrence causing shrinking, loss of buttons and all sorts of other problems. Modern washing powders allow for clean results at 40 degrees or less, so there’s no excuse for shrinking your shirt to the size of a teddy bear’s!
- Jumpers and Knitwear – turn inside out before washing to prolong the life of the garment and the key is to allow it to dry flat naturally. Tumble drying can cause shrinkage and wringing out can stretch the garment out of shape if done too vigorously. We’ve seen some pretty funny shaped jumpers in our time!
- Suits – the majority of suits used as staff uniform these days are washable rather than dry clean only. To get the best results use a wash bag. Lay jackets, trousers and skirts in the bag, seal and fold in half. Ensure you wash at the temperature stated on the garment label. To dry, place on hanger, shake gently and reshape by straightening the seams and folding in the creases. Do not tumble dry, just leave to dry naturally and finish with a cool iron over a damp cloth.
- Hi Visibility jackets – we advise to wash your jackets a maximum of 10 times so that both the waterproof element of the jacket and reflective tape doesn’t degrade. Allow to dry naturally and wipe clean between washes as necessary to maintain fluorescent qualities.
- Embroidered/Printed uniforms – when ironing logos, too much heat can make them fade and pull. To prevent this happening, always iron the garments inside-out.
- Alternate regularly – It’s not all about washing and aftercare to make sure your staff uniforms last, it’s also to do with the amount of time you wear the garments, and the amount of time you rest them for. Where multiple shirts, trousers, jumpers etc are issued, alternate them on different days to give the fabric time to recover.
I hope this has been helpful, for further useful advice on this subject just give us a call!