Textile Insights: View from the Mill (Part 2)

CHICAGO — Many factors influence the operation of laundry and linen services.

Materials and costs, the environment, trends in textiles customers want, all these and more affect laundries.

But these elements come into play earlier than the textile/linen supplier. What happens at textile mills is the start of the effect goods have on a laundry operation.

American Laundry News communicated with several textile providers to find out what’s going on with mills and how laundry and linen services are affected by what mills do.

Describe the supply status of materials used, costs and how these affect the production of laundry/linen services goods and prices.

Tapash Bhattacharjee, Vice President, Global Sourcing, Monarch Brands: Cotton yarn is the primary raw material for laundry linen, accounting for approximately 60% of the total cost. Other materials include bleaching chemicals, finishing materials and labels.

The price of cotton yarn is influenced by the global market price of raw cotton, which is subject to volatility. These fluctuations in raw cotton prices directly impact the cost of cotton yarn, affecting the prices and production costs of laundry and linen services.

Bridget Miklausich, Managing Director of Manufacturing & Sourcing, Encompass Group: Over the past 12 months, and post-COVID, we have seen a return to a more normalized supply chain. Lead times are close to normal, and the availability of materials is no longer an issue.

However, raw materials like cotton, polyester, yarn, etc. have remained at a much higher level than the pre-COVID pricing of 2019. The high cost of raw materials coupled with global inflation and labor increases is creating much higher product costs, and these costs are getting passed on in finished product pricing.

Tom Main, Group Vice President, National Accounts, Standard Textile: The supply status of materials used in laundry and linen services is influenced by various factors, including ongoing global supply-chain disruptions, rising raw material costs and inflation. These challenges have led to increased production costs, which can significantly impact pricing for laundry and linen services.

Many suppliers are experiencing delays in sourcing key materials, leading to longer lead times and potential shortages. As a result, operators are often faced with higher acquisition costs for textiles, which can affect their overall pricing strategies.

We are mitigating these challenges with our U.S.-based manufacturing and distribution capabilities which allows us to reduce reliance on international suppliers and minimize the impact of global uncertainties on our customers.

Lenore Law, Owner, Alliance Textile Solutions (formerly California Textiles): Our machines have all been updated as needed in the United States and in the two mills we work with overseas, and the quality has been much better in the last 10 years than in years past. The cotton crops here and overseas have also been much better over the past five years in terms of long staple quality. I have not been made aware of any additional material costs or other costs at this time that are affecting our industry right now.

The only real obstacle is transportation and keeping that consistent in cost going ahead in 2025. The port strike has been resolved in terms of hourly pay but the contract for the Eastern ports to Texas has not been signed, yet.

Automation will go forward in all industries as well as our U.S. ports, so in my opinion that is a non-negotiable going forward. It has been put off till January 2025, so we will know more then. I do not see it as an obstacle at this time.

I strongly feel if we get a change in command come January, plus a president who knows how to negotiate with world leaders, that the United States will benefit as will the world in terms of material costs and transportation costs. Container costs have been down for over a year now, and the only real issue dealt with was some container scheduling in the ports of Pakistan. That has all been resolved.

We are constantly negotiating for our customers’ benefit and looking forward to an all-systems go in 2025 in all our product lines.

My prayers are for the five Southern states hit by not one but two hurricanes recently. The ports all our mills use have not been hurt in terms of containers flowing. My U.S. sheet mill did have some damage at the South Carolina plant but it will not affect the flow of production and is being fixed now.

How have environmental practices improved over the past 5-10 years? How have these practices improved textile goods?

BHATTACHARJEE: Textile waste is a significant pollutant of river streams if discharged untreated. Effluent treatment plants (ETPs) have become essential in mitigating this issue. Many qualified factories have installed in-house ETPs and have been certified by environmentally conscious retail customers.

Although maintaining high environmental standards incurs costs, it is now mandatory in many countries to have an ETP before setting up a wet-processing unit. This requirement has led to improved environmental practices and better-quality textile goods.

MIKLAUSICH: There are two parts of the equation. There is the environmental impact from a raw material aspect and a pollution/carbon footprint impact from a manufacturing viewpoint.

For raw materials, the textile world is starting to embrace products made with more sustainable materials. Cotton is certainly a great sustainable material, but additionally, the increased demand for rayon products produced from bamboo, corn, wood, etc. has also become important.

In the future, you can also look forward to new technology that treats “polyester and plastic” based products with a non-toxic microbe that encourages biodegrading and reduces a product’s lifetime in a landfill from 100 years to less than five years.

For global warming and pollution, all our key manufacturing partners have made great efforts over the last 10 years to be more conscious of factory pollution and waste. All have instituted wastewater recovery systems, added solar and wind power generation, and installed new improved production equipment that uses less energy and releases much less harmful chemicals into the atmosphere.

MAIN: From 2020 to 2022, we observed a significant industry shift from environmentally harmful disposable products, such as surgical gowns, isolation gowns, and incontinence products, toward reusable alternatives.

This shift was not primarily driven by environmental concerns but rather by procurement professionals recognizing that reusables provided months of supply stability, whereas disposables could lead to months-long shortages. During this period, they also realized operational cost savings exceeding 50% compared to disposables.

However, since 2023, there has been a noticeable trend back toward disposable products driven by major distributors offering volume-based rebates to healthcare systems. This return to disposables is unfortunate as it is environmentally harmful, undermines our country’s healthcare supply-chain stability and leaves significant financial savings on the table for health systems.

To counter this trend, we continue to advocate for reusable textiles and emphasize their long-term value, both environmentally and economically. By focusing on sustainability and reducing reliance on disposables, we can offer more durable, higher-quality products that benefit both healthcare providers and the environment.

LAW: Environmental practices are slowly improving with increased use of solar panels to generate electricity, reusing water, saving energy by using certified appliances, and using recycled cartons and papers for manufacturing tags and labels. This is all an attempt to reduce the environmental impacts.

How do mill processes affect how laundry/linen services process goods? How have they improved?

BHATTACHARJEE: There is a direct correlation between mill processes and the quality of laundry/linen services. Superior input materials and processes yield better production outcomes.

Mills using high-quality yarn and advanced bleaching and drying methods, such as soft flow bleaching and machine drying, produce textiles with longer lifespans, better softness and color retention. These improvements enhance the overall quality and durability of laundry and linen products.

MIKLAUSICH: Product development and the use of new and improved materials has led to an increased life span of the products utilized in the healthcare market and processed at laundries. Some of these come with a higher initial cost, but a reduced “per use cost” as the life span is much longer.

Additionally, some specialized yarns allow products like sheets, blankets, etc. to process more quickly in the dryers and flat irons, saving energy costs and shortening cycle times.

MAIN: Mill processes such as yarn prepping, weaving and finishing have a significant impact on both the quality and durability of textiles used in laundry and linen services. Producing textiles under optimal conditions with high-quality raw materials ensures that the final products meet the rigorous demands of industrial laundering.

Fabrics designed for repeated laundering need to be manufactured with durability in mind, using strong fabric constructions that withstand harsh wash cycles while maintaining their integrity.

In recent years, improvements in chemical treatments applied during the finishing stage have enhanced textiles’ resistance to staining, which helps extend product life. Staining is one of the primary reasons textiles are removed from circulation, and aggressive stain removal processes can prematurely wear down fabrics. By incorporating stain-resistant treatments, the overall lifespan of textiles is increased, reducing the need for frequent replacements.

Another key advancement has been the development of processes to remove residual manufacturing chemicals from new textiles, allowing them to be placed directly into service without the need for pre-laundering. Standard Textile has pioneered such a process, offering immediate cost savings to laundry providers by eliminating the extra step of laundering new items before use.

Finally, advancements in monitoring and controlling production have significantly improved the consistency and quality of finished products. With fewer defects, laundry services can rely on textiles that last longer and perform better through repeated washings, further optimizing their operations.

LAW: Like any product or service, if there are multiple economic supply and demand and increased costs of goods, then it will affect the flow of product at the end user. We have not had any issues since 2022 and prices, while not the same as in 2019, have gone down in 2023 and 2024, substantially since 2022. We really need to look at what products are causing all the PFAS problems and address that as an industry. The solution I see is to stop putting plastic and microfiber in sheets and other products.

While it may save some costs, in the end, it could cause much higher costs through contamination of water. I do not deal with it as I do not sell sheets or any product with any plastic or microfiber. If I pick up a microfiber towel line, I will make sure there are no plastics in it, or PFAS, first. As of now, we do not sell any of that product. I sell a little of the poly spun aprons and have no complaints about that product.

Miss Part 1 where four insiders provide a general overview of mill operations? Click HERE now to read it. And come back Thursday for the conclusion on how laundry/linen services can better work with mills/suppliers and customer textile trends.