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HEALTH & HOSPITALITY WEAR
How to embroider
workwear
Prevention is better than cure when it comes to the problems
associated with embroidering onto garments designed for the
hospitality and healthcare sectors, says Tony Whitmore
T
he term workwear includes many varied may include harsh washing agents.
items and styles these days. Far more than it Another consideration should be the
used to. I suppose if we we’re being very PC regularity of laundering where a garment,
then we would split them down into various cloth or sheet may be used once per day and
categories such as corporate wear and then sent for laundering. This single item
promotional wear but, at the end of the day, if you could be washed more times in a week that
have to wear it for work then, in my book it is many standard garments are in one month.
workwear. Because of all of these factors the correct
Because of these different categories though, choice of thread is paramount and it needs to be
there may also be different rules but here we will one that is more able to withstand such severe mention here but, suffice to say, that the majority
promote the act of adopting one rule to fit all. and habitual laundering. of garments used are likely to suffer regular and,
With this in mind we must base that rule on the The choice in this area is limited and the most maybe, harsh laundering so if you always work to
worst case scenario and for this we have chosen common selection will be polyester such as FALC the worst case scenario you should be using
utility linen which includes that used in a hospital, Filopol as supplied by Your Embroidery Services polyester thread such as FALC Filopol. The
hotel, kitchen or restaurant. (YES). The way that this material is dyed gives it a problems associated with embroidering workwear
Where workwear is concerned the main higher ability to retain the colour, greatly reducing are best avoided as many of these contracts
consideration is how it will be cleaned. Polo shirts the risk of bleeding or fading – both of which will involve large numbers of garments and, hopefully,
for instance will more than likely be machine or leave you with a very unhappy customer. repeat orders.
hand washed, whereas a chef’s jacket will almost Most people reading this will know what Prevention is always better than cure so prevent
certainly go to an industrial laundry and it is here bleeding and fading are, but in case you are bleeding and fading by using the correct thread.
that the problems may start. Industrial laundries unsure, bleeding is where the colour or dye is
have only one consideration and that is to get the loosened from the thread and deposited on the For further information on any f the products and/or
product as clean as possible surrounding fabric. Very often this is a temporary techniques mentioned please contact Your
without damaging it and to situation and further washing may remove it, Embroidery Services on 01623 863343; e-mail
do this there are set but your customer will not be sales@yesltd.co.uk or go to: www.yesltd.co.uk
practices which interested in this and will almost
certainly not try it. They will simply
contact you and complain. Fading is
where some or all of the colours used
to make up the final shade are washed
out so, for instance, you may start with a
grey thread but, after washing, end up
with a pink one because magenta is a
constituent colour of the shade grey
and is likely to be the one left behind.
Unlike bleeding there is no going back
once the damage is done then the
game is up.
If you think about workwear
then the variety of clothing
worn and industries
covered are too much to
| 34 | December 2008 www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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