March/April 2008

The Groundskeeper’s crew leaders will be wearing Cintas’ easy-fit pants. They’re made of 65/35 polyester/cotton and feature snap-closure side pockets and deep front pockets. Laborers will be wearing Cintas’ easy-fit jeans.

While two out of the three uniform contracts Ed Kavanagh has include garments with stain resistance, the treatment is not what sold the decision-makers on the product. “We outfit the management staff of a lawn care company in button-down shirts, and the garments actually have stain treatment,” says Kavanagh, a sales partner at apparel distributor Geiger (asi/202900). “But the appearance of the shirt is what sold it.”

Another client, a petroleum hauling company, outfits its staff in stain-resistant, easy care denim button-downs. Because the company has a lot of hourly employees, Kavanagh says management wanted shirts that would look good no matter how they were cared for between shifts. “The wrinkle-resistance is what sold the company on these shirts,” he says. “The stain treatment was an added bonus.”

Kavanagh isn’t so sure uniform wearers are ready to pay a little extra for performance-treated garments – especially when it comes to anti-stain treatments. “People are not 100% certain that the more expensive product is actually going to save them money in long run,” he says. And rather than paying a third party to conduct a study, or taking the time and effort to conduct a study themselves (see Passing the test, p. 42), companies choose the less-expensive garment.

Companies searching for uniform programs, however, see them as commodity items and something that must be replaced frequently. “When it comes down to it, it’s all about a budget transaction,” he says. “I always pitch stain resistance, as they can get more washings and more usage for $1.80 more, but eight out of 10 times the client chooses the less expensive garment.”

Tom Kinerk, president of T&C Enterprises Inc., says he too, isn’t seeing the sales in stain-resistant garments. Specializing in health care and restaurant apparel, he says stain treatments can be effective, but hospitals and other health care markets aren’t going for it. “I once saw a customer being shown the demonstration but wouldn’t pay the $2 extra to buy the treated garment,” he says. The reason? “It’s workwear. People will spend unlimited amounts of money on sportswear and causal wear but they don’t want to spend money on the things they wear to work.”

Yet this trend doesn’t hold when it comes to restaurant apparel. Kinerk says his Jerzees (SpotShield) and Blue Generation (DuPont) are flying off the shelves. “In the restaurant industry, we don’t even have to do demonstrations,” he says. “We show catalogs with stain-resistant products and they get it. There’s no question that the hospitality sector is driving sales in this market,” he says.

Passing the test

Few companies are willing to spend the time and effort to thoroughly test performance treatments, including stain resistance. However, you cannot say that about The Groundskeeper, a Tucson, AZ-based commercial landscape management company. When executives at the company were looking to adopt a universal uniform program for its six branches and 700-plus employees, there was a lot to consider. “We needed something that would be comfortable for the employees, something that would help differentiate their job descriptions and something that was functional enough to handle the work they do everyday,” says Amy Fish, purchasing agent.

But with offices spread across Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico – states with average temperatures of 80 degrees and year-round growing periods – finding a comfortable, yet functional garment was easier said than done. A standard, white cotton button-down certainly wouldn’t do.

Groundskeeper employees model the garments tested by the company for stain resistance, appearance and other criteria. A polyester/cotton button-down from Cintas (far left) was chosen for the company’s new uniforms and will be ordered in three colors, each denoting a different job title.

“From a public standpoint, we weren’t comfortable having our employees go out with wrinkled shirts and stained pants,” Fish says. “We wanted something that would make us stand out in the industry.”

Thus, Fish says, The Groundskeeper decided to perform its own research, testing six different manufacturers’ uniforms to see how they fared in terms of wearability and professional appearance. “We had our crew leaders wear them for two days, wash them at home, then wear them again for two days over a four-month time period,” she says. The purpose of the experiment, she adds, was to determine how the garments held up in home versus commercial washings. By doing this, the company was able to see if it was more cost effective to have employees clean the garments themselves or hire a full-service apparel company to handle the uniform program.

Using five 65/35 polyester/cotton blended button-downs, one 100% cotton polo and six pairs of polyester/cotton blended pants, Fish says the company tested products from several suppliers. While not all the garments were officially labeled as performance-enhanced (i.e., stain-resistant), Fish says the ones that were (from Cintas and UniFirst) performed the best, hands down.

“Some of the garments had issues with staining, while fading was an issue with others,” she says. And while the Dickies garments performed the best out of the non-treated garments – they were made of a heavier material, and the stains rolled off, despite not being specifically treated – the buttons had to be replaced several times.

Fish says the company’s test proved that performance-enhanced garments released stains the best while maintaining their color, and were the best choice overall. “The untreated garments showed wear and tear by the end of four months,” she says. “We’re easily getting the commercially-treated garments to last for nine.”

Because there was no comprehensive research or third-party studies available that compared one brand to another, Fish says it was vital for The Groundskeeper to conduct its own independent study. “We went to the major suppliers, and the only information I got was, ‘You need to buy our product, because we’re the best,’” she says. “No one could offer me comparative information to demonstrate that.”

Right: The Groundskeeper chose Cintas’ Micro-Pattern button-down shirt for the new employee uniforms. The shirt is a 65/35 polyester/cotton blend and features Cintas’ Comfort FLEX fabric.

And although it took time and cost more money up front, the tabulated results allowed The Groundskeeper to save money in the long run. “Our study showed that the commercially-treated garments were the way to go,” she says. They also showed that a full-service uniform program was the best way to go. “We’re going with Cintas,” Fish says. “They offered us an incredible deal because we’re a large company, and it turns out to be cheaper than having our employees do everything themselves.”

Fish says she’s confident the new uniform program will provide an image that speaks well for the employees and the company. “We pride ourselves on exemplary service and a part of that is how we look,” she says. “Our employees are our number-one marketing tool and we wanted them to feel the best and look their absolute best.”