FEATURE
The Future of Uniforms
Peter Broom, Director and Technical Innovator at Meryl Medical, looks at the latest trends in uniform and workwear fabrics which help defend against bacteria and are fully sustainable.
The pandemic has increased focus on how uniforms feel and look aſter we all saw images of staff working long hours and suffering chaffed skin and rashes caused by wearing ill-fitting workwear and single-use PPE.
Reflecting on those early months of 2020, it is important to think about how workwear can be improved and if there are more effective and even more sustainable alternatives to help maintain hygiene and safety while reducing the reliance in single-use masks and aprons.
It’s easy to stay with uniform and workwear materials you have always used however advances in textile technologies have produced ‘smarter’ more comfortable, harder wearing and cost-effective fabrics.
Further green credentials come with the ability for some newer fabrics to offer ‘infinite recyclability’. At the end of their working life, the garments do not need to end up like most clothing in landfill and taking up to 200 years to decompose as they can be recycled into new items to create a ‘constant loop’ of material. This process also saves up to 3,000 litres of water for each 600 metres of fabric manufactured be saved and removes the need to use chemicals and solvents during the dyeing and finishing of materials.
What these fabrics also offer is the ability to be used in a range of garments whether it is tunics, trousers, scrubs, dresses and polos shirts to give care homes team more choices in what they can wear while not sacrificing comfort and durability.
“Further green credentials come with the ability for
some newer fabrics to offer ‘infinite recyclability’.”
Uniforms can have in-built antimicrobial and antifungal protection which doesn’t diminish with use or garment washing and helps to stop the spread of care-home acquired infections, preventing cross-contamination and transmission of viruses.
This happens when silver ion is added to the material during the manufacturing process so the silver envelops any virus it touches, kills the bacteria for continuous protection against the likes of MRSA and even Covid-19 and stop smells and odours developing.
There are also benefits of excellent moisture management making it quick drying helping to maintain the wearer’s natural balance of the skin so preventing problems such as sores and chaffing.
These new fabrics can play a role in a care homes’ sustainability goals by stopping microplastic fibres, also known as microfibres, from shredding with each wash which ten enter our water systems and potentially the food chain. Using a hydrogen bonding process while manufacturing the yarn seals the microfibres so they won’t shed.
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www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
They can even be used for lightweight all-day wear face mask be washed and eventually recycled so helping to save the tens of thousands of single-use and unrecyclable masks which are being thrown away every week across the healthcare sector.
It is becoming increasingly important to understand more about the items you use on a daily basis, even with uniforms and workwear fabrics, as it is part of understanding how to become more sustainable.
For those care homes which work alongside the NHS this is becoming more important as it has already launched its Greener NHS Scheme as part of its net-zero by 2040 journey. Increasingly, NHS organisations are wanting organisations it works with to demonstrate how they are reducing their own environmental impact.
The reality is we all have some way to go but taking small steps will help move us along the road and the new generation of fabrics can play a role in adopting a green mindset.
https://merylmedical.com/
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