Today we’ve got a short and punchy summary of the lifecycle of your, err, linen. It’s a sharp look at how it’s created, why it makes sense to take care of it, and other nitty gritty from the wonderful world of commercial laundry. Let’s jump in...
Linen – we appreciate you
Top quality linen is an unsung hero, quietly going about its business in the background. If it’s good at its job, it goes largely unnoticed but adds a classy, elegant feel to a hotel room or catering event.
If it’s bad at its job? We’re getting $15 American-motel vibes – yuk.
From Pakistan and India with love
A message from your linen: “We’ve been through a lot – please look after us. Plus, we’re pretty expensive, so you’d be doing your wallet a favour.”
Those beautiful, fresh sheets you see on your hotel beds had a tough paper round.
Once nothing more than a meagre crop in Pakistan or India, lonely and purposeless, clever craftsmanship mixed with some TLC took these crops from rags to riches in one fell swoop!
It wasn’t always easy for your linen though…
Your linen’s life story
It all starts when the crop is sown from April to May, and then harvested between December to January. It’s a long, arduous process that requires a lot of care, attention and skill.
If the harvest goes well, prices are kept reasonable. If it goes wrong, prices shoot up and we’re all very sad. Sob sob.
After the harvest, the crop is turned into cotton. Things are starting to take shape, and we’re edging ever-closer to those beautiful fresh sheets your guests/customers know and love.
Next, cotton is spun into yarn and the yarn is woven into long rolls of fabric. This tends to be done in it’s country of origin.
What’s that over the hill? The finish line, of course..
It’s time for the woven fabric to be chemically treated to pre-shrink it and give it that bright-white colour we’ve all come to know and love. Yep – your pristine white sheets were once a yukky, yellow-ish colour that should never see the light of the day.
Last stop: it’s time to cut and hem the fabric into the finished article.
Et voila! Your fresh linen is ready to be shipped over to the UK for companies like us who are on hand to provide companies like yours with the fresh, clean linen that gives your hotels/events that elegant look and feel.
Why are we telling you this?
Ah. We’re glad you asked.
The pillowcase, bed sheet, table cloth or towel you’re holding in your hand has a lot more life to live – if only we’d let it.
The process of getting your linen from the fields of Pakistan to your hotel or event is a long one, and we wanted to emphasise just how much goes into making it happen.
Our idea behind this blog post is a simple one: to encourage you to take good care of your commercial laundry items whilst saving money and being sustainable at the same time.
We’re seeing a massive uptick in orders from businesses who shouldn’t need to order fresh linen quite so often.
Now that’s good for us, sure.
But with the economy going the way it is, we thought it’d be an idea to let you know that you can keep more pennies in your pocket if only you’re just a touch more diligent with your commercial laundry.
It’s not just about the cash, either – you’ll be doing more than your fair share on the quest for sustainability, too. We simply don’t need to go through as much linen as we do, and with a little extra effort, we’ll be doing our not-so-little bit in helping the environment.
Wash often, wash well, wash separately.
A quick tip for keeping your linen fresher for longer
Another point worth mentioning is ‘linen hoarding’. Bear with us, because we know it sounds a little bit, well, funny.
When you’re in a bar, you’ll notice the bartender moving the drinks from the back of the fridge to the front. The idea is to keep the cold drinks at the front, and the warmer ones are given the chance to cool down at the back of the fridge.
The exact same concept should be applied to your linen: constantly rotate all of your linen, making sure that every piece is used frequently.
Otherwise, linen ends up lying dormant at the back of the cupboard and that’s the number one way it’ll lose that fresh, clean look and feel that your customers have come to expect.
It’s subtle, but the reward of longer-lasting linen is well worth the effort.
Over and out
That’s all for today.
If you’ve got any linen-related questions, comments or puns (we love a linen pun), then you can reach us here. Catch you on the next one!
