Philadelphia, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 07/30/2020 -- The rise of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) is prolific amongst the elderly, sick, and young. The New England Medical Journal reports that in healthcare facilities alone 721,000 HAIs are reported annually contributing to 75,000 mortalities. Hospitals schools, daycares, nursing homes, and even the hospitality industry are implementing color-coded microfiber systems to combat this. Monarch Brands has the following to say about facilitating the use of this cleaning system.

What colors are used for each cleaning task?

There is no defined answer users designate a specific color for a particular job. When groups are trained, four colors are used in the wiping system and two colors in the moping systems. It's made as easy as possible to remember so that after a few days after implementing the program it becomes natural. Here are the recommend colors designating for specific tasks but they can always be changed to fit plans.

Cloths

- Yellow – Dry Dusting and polishing.

- Red – Restrooms area such as toilets and urinals, hazard areas.

- Blue – Glass, and mirrors.

- Green – General areas such as desks, tables, kitchens, sinks, water fountains.

Mops

- Red – Restrooms & hazard areas.

- Green – General areas such as classrooms, hallways, patient rooms.

How to prevent cross-contamination.

Use a specific mop for each room. Unlike traditional cotton mops, microfiber flat mops take up little space and can be stacked to use a mop for every room. Never take the mop that was just used in the restroom and bring those germs out into the general areas and hallways. Clean the bathroom, take off the mop, put it in your laundry bag, and start fresh with a new mop when moving into a new area. This will make sure whatever the germs are in a particular area are contained.

So why not just use a clean cloth or mop of the same color?

A color-coding system at a local university was recently implemented. While explaining to the group that they should never use a red towel outside of the bathroom somebody asked, "Why don't you just use a clean red cloth?"

The answer is, though using a brand new clean red cloth to clean a water fountain in the hallway, a person may have just seen you using a red cloth cleaning a toilet or a urinal. Users don't want the person that is observing the situation going to a supervisor complaining that the same town was used to clean the fountain right after the bathroom. They have no idea a change was made to a clean cloth and will assume the worst. Keep up the color coding procedure to ensure customers that cleaning procedures are properly in place.

Resistant to change?

Color coding microfiber training is not always easy. Breaking the employees cleaning routine is often a challenge. Comments are frequent like, "You don't know what it's like cleaning 25,000 square feet a night. We don't have time to worry about the color towels we are using." Even so, the potential of spreading harmful germs from one area to another is high. Be sure to let a team know that as they get used to the system they will feel more comfortable and it will help them break the usual routine. Eventually, the team will appreciate and embrace using new microfibers for each room. It's more sanitary for them.

Clean smarter, save lives. That should be the rallying cry of every aspect of your facilities maintenance team.

About Monarch Brands
With roots established in 1947, Monarch Brands delivers high quality and value-priced textiles from manufacturers around the world. By leveraging deep sourcing relationships and purchasing power, Monarch Brands works with distributors to design hospitality programs that work for each client.

Media Contact:
Andrew Moore
Director of Brands & Marketing
(215) 482-6100 x332
andrewm@monarchbrands.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Philadelphia, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 07/07/2020 -- The hospitality industry runs on bar mops. Every year, restaurants, bars, and hotels use billions of these cheap absorbent striped towels. However, ask any laundry, and they will say that the most anyone could ever get out of a bar mop is five or six turns. Before long, they get greased up, burned, thrown out, or disintegrate. To keep up with demand, reduce costs, and reduce the industry's carbon footprint, mills have adopted the 3R principle of waste management (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle).

The cotton-growing process takes 150-180 days and requires an abundance of water, pesticides, and energy to process raw cotton fibers into viable yarn. According to WWF, it takes more than 2,500 gallons of water to produce just one pound of cotton, which roughly equals a shirt and pants. In developing countries, where the bulk of cotton is grown, both water and electricity are usually non-renewable resources. Therefore, spinning mills developed new processes to combat the waste, pollution, and sustainability issues in the wake of global warming and green production pressure. Cotton (a non-edible crop) uses 3% of the total amount of water consumed by agriculture. Making fabric out of regenerated cotton uses 95% less water than virgin cotton products.

Sustainable cotton-growing practices include the adoption of better irrigation practices. Farmers in developing countries work with experts from the C&A Foundation, Cotton Inc, and the WWF to improve water use efficiency. The manufacturing process (especially the dyeing process) uses a large amount of water and causes a large amount of pollution. New dyeing methods have recently come on the market. Towels like the Clear Water Cabana and Salon Towels use no water in the dying process, and incredibly, are also bleach-safe (a side effect of the new dying method).

Before regenerated cotton, most cotton apparel ended up in landfills. Some old clothing had a second lease of life in thrift stores before also heading to the dump.

Cotton regeneration got the attention of consumers when, in 2015, Levi Strauss & Co launched the world's first jeans made from discarded denim fabrics and cotton. However, bar mops have been green for much longer.

Since bar mops are used for cleaning, using regenerated, and recycled cotton made sense from fiscal and sustainable points of view. During the bar mop manufacturing process, mills use mostly low-grade 10Single (10s) yarn in all three directions (Pile, Warp, and Weft). More about cotton types and uses can be found here. 10s yarn is produced using a percentage of waste cotton. To keep the strength of the yarn, manufacturers blend virgin cotton (from a higher grade, e.g., 16s) with waste cotton. Because this process uses a blend of cotton, yarn is not uniform, strength is low, and the textile has a 'hairy' appearance.

Regenerated Cotton Production Process:?The regenerated cotton process breaks used cotton and waste finished fabrics down to the fiber level then blends with virgin cotton to create new yarn. Post-consumer fabric is collected from thrift stores and public recycling centers. Pre-consumer fabric (the offcuts of T-shirts etc) are, cut into manageable strips, sorted for color, and washed (the strips below are ready for regeneration).

Fibers are fed into a mechanical shredder where tremendous forces are applied to break fibers down. The new brittle cotton fibers that need to be handled with delicacy. A blow room is used to gently loosen and separate the new fibers, air cleaning them in the process. It is here that virgin cotton (that has also been through the same cleaning and separating process) is blended with the regenerated cotton and packaged in bales for the spinning mill to finish.

The resulting yarn is less optically bright than pure cotton products but may be treated with dies and bleaching to attain more vibrant results. Naturally, the regenerated cotton will have the appearance of the materials that were broken down (e.g. Denim fibers will have blue hues).

The Benefits of Regenerated Wholesale Bar Mops

Environmental Benefits

- Cotton products are not dumped in landfills.

- 95% Water saved for human consumption.

- 100% Pesticide reduction as no cotton is grown.

Consumer Benefits

- Lower priced products that get the job done.

- Peace of Mind for the environmentally conscious.

Corporate Benefit

- Doing the right thing for people while lessening the carbon footprint at a profit.

Media Contact:
Andrew Moore
Director of Brands & Marketing
O: (215) 482-6100 x332
P: (267) 338-0128
F: (215) 482-6190
andrewm@monarchbrands.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Philadelphia, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/02/2020 -- As the saying goes, when life gives lemons, source PPE as well as regular wholesale microfiber and rags.

Turn on any news channel or talk show and see masks and all other PPE supplies at the forefront of the conversation. Many cut and sew operations are now full-time EVS manufacturers. Those who can make masks at home craft exotic COVID fashion statements. Andrew Moore, the Director of Brands & Marketing for the company said, "My wife, a pattern maker for a resort-wear apparel company, sewed hundreds of masks out of bright floral fabric to donate to hospitals. Our friend works for a global security and aerospace company. They told me that masks their procurement team sourced for essential defense workers were 'requisitioned' by the government as soon as they arrived in port.

Scientists believe that social distancing in hard-hit regions should remain the norm for several more weeks (at least in stores and public areas). Many predict that the virus will come back with a vengeance in the Fall (see Spanish Flu for details).

So… masks are here to stay, and the more people sourcing masks, the faster we can get them into the hands of the essential workforce. Monarch Brand's sourcing team has selected three offerings to be airfreighted to the US in the first week of May. The company will continue to import PPE while looking for additional products as long as there is a need.

Please review the offering below and contact Monarch Brands for a specification sheet containing packing information and certifications. Please pre-order through a rep, and contact by phone (215) 482-6100, or fill out the contact form.

Level 1 3-Ply Disposable Masks
- 50 Pieces/Box
- 40 Boxes/Case
- ITEM#: MASK-3PLY

KN95 Disposable Masks
- 20 Pieces/Bag
- 50 Bags/Case
- ITEM#: MASK-KN95

Direct Splash Protection Face Shield
- 100 Pieces/Case
- ITEM#: FS-100PC

For more information, visit https://www.monarchbrands.com.

Contact:
Andrew Moore
andrewm@monarchbrands.com
Phone Number: (215) 482-6100

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Philadelphia, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/06/2020 -- Hal Kanefsky, President of Monarch Brands, recently discussed how the world has slowed down since social distancing became part of the national narrative. One thing that has not slowed was the level of cleaning throughout commercial, residential, and government buildings.

As a distributor of reusable wiping products, Monarch Brands can categorize their items into three primary sources of supply:

Wholesale Microfiber Cloths and Mops

Wholesale Repurposed and New Textiles

Wholesale Recycled Textiles

These three main product segments have all experienced individual challenges, and all three have exerted tremendous pressure on sources of supply. The breakdown of each is unique, and here's some background and the path forward.

Wholesale Microfiber Cloths and Mops

Monarch Brands says their microfiber towels (and mops) are by far the best performing wiping products available on the market. There are thousands of websites touting their benefits, performance, and cleaning attributes. The main issue with the supply currently is simple. 

First, during Chinese New Year (CNY), which fell in late January 2020 and typically factories close for anywhere from 1-3 weeks, depending on the region. Most distributors of this category will make plans for this period by increasing their inventory levels prior. The problem in 2020 was that these factories had shutdowns the began prior and extended through the CNY because of COVID-19. This shutdown lasted up to eight weeks in many regions and shut down production for most factories. So, there was already a shortage of products based on regular planning for importers and distributors of microfiber products in the US. 

Austerity is especially true for larger private equity-backed companies that usually keep their net working capital on a very tight leash. Typically, the larger the company, the more tightly inventory is managed. When there is a market disruption, it leads to insufficient stock or out of stock positions.

In mid-March, the COVID-19 crisis hit the US with fury. The immediate need for cleaning increased ten-fold. Monarch experienced sales in microfiber for March that were typical for 4-5 months of the previous volume rolled into a 30-day window. Typically importers would hold thirty to sixty days of inventory. 

Monarch Brands, as a policy, keeps 120 days stock with a 120 pipeline. Most microfiber comes from China which has a 90-120 day lead time. With record demands, a shutdown for CNY, and an unforeseen shut down after that, the domestic demand far exceeds the supply.

At this point, there are manufacturers feverishly shipping microfiber to restock the shelves for many importers. However, if this wasn't an essential category for a supplier, they may manage inventory tightly, so most likely, the end customer is out of stock.

Wholesale Repurposed and New Textiles

Repurposed textile products generated as a byproduct of textile production are the most economical cleaning applicators. In other words, mistakes manufacturers produce while trying to make a first quality product. Wipers get generated from irregular or scraps from knitting and terry production (that are trimmed to wiper size and sold by the pound). Typically mills will have byproducts that are 1-3% of first quality textile production on a per pound basis. 

In a typical month, Monarch Brands will process one to two million pounds monthly. Items in this space include irregular terry bar mops, knitted rags from garment production, or terry pieces all sold by the LB. The key to this business is having mill relationships, space, and capital. At the end of March, most countries in Central America (the largest suppliers of t-shirts to the US), as well as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, all ceased operations to slow down the spread of COVID. 

So, the sources of supply for cotton wiping cloths throughout the world virtually all shut down at the same time. As production sits idle and inventory demands remain high, it is a function of time before availability in the US market shrinks, and pricing increases for the remaining stock. This market is fluid and trades at a wholesale level based on availability and market demand. 

The only way for a US supplier in this category can maintain price points is with incredibly large capacity and a pipeline to support unforeseen order volume. This industry will begin to see limited supply availability from mid-May onwards and is dependent on the Central American and Asian manufacturing facilities' ability to reopen sometime in the future.

Wholesale Recycled Textiles

Finally, the last market affected would be the used/reclaimed/recycled textile industry. According to Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles (SMART), nearly 100% of all used clothing and household textiles can be reused or recycled. Resold apparel counts for 45%. 30% of textiles get converted into industrial polishing/wiping cloths, and 20% get processed into raw fiber for new products. 95% of all used clothing is recyclable, only 5% is unusable due to mildew or other contamination.

Companies in the textile reuse and recycling industry consist of collectors, processors, and distributors of all types of used clothing, textiles, and secondary materials.

Collectors are companies that collect used clothing and other household textiles from the public. Also, collectors gather materials from industrial laundries, healthcare institutions, hotels, and other businesses that utilize large amounts of textile products. Another source of textile products that are directed into the recycling stream by "collector" companies is textile waste from clothing manufacturers.

Collectors bale and sell these clothing products "as is" to clothing graders or other dealers. Used clothing "graders" sort the items, assign cloth standards and resell the graded product. The activities of collectors, graders, and recycled clothing brokers are instrumental in diverting solid waste from landfills.

Processors sort, grade, and reprocess used clothing and household textiles during the recycling process. At the facilities where clothing and textiles get sorted, the items are then made into large bales to be resold. The newly created bales of used clothing may be resold within the United States. However, most often, the products are shipped overseas to developing markets in Asia, Africa, Europe, or Central and South America.

The main issue at this point is the collection process, grading and cutting of recycled product came to a screeching halt. With donations down, sorters closed worldwide, and factories in EPZ's (export processing zones) all closed, the source of supply for this category will face an incredible shortage. It is up to distributors and dealers in this market to have deep-seated relationships in various parts of the world to maintain stock levels. Like the new repurposed textiles, this market is fluid, and will fact tremendous pricing pressure should demand to continue to sustain. 

In summary, there are several wiping cloth categories that are going through fast changes during this global epidemic. Specialists in these products will either suffer in shortages or price increases depending on their focus. The ones who have excessive stocks, robust pipelines, and genuinely global reach will shine during this time of crisis. 

The Monarch Brands strategy has always been their depth of inventory and diversification of supply sources. So, as an importer of commodity-based products, what they try to do is take a global view of product availability. Essentially worse case scenarios should be viewed and the creation of relationships globally should be underway to mitigate risk. Examples would be to create product streams based in Europe, Central America, Asia, and the US. As restrictions continue in various parts of the world, Monarch Brands hedge their inventory positions by sourcing globally with vetted sources and detailed product specifications established long before a crisis. 

Although pricing varies in various markets, planning allows them to continue to supply their customers in need of extended periods. Providers of wiping products and floor care needed to plan well in advance for this event. As a supplier, they have strategized and established roots in this global marketplace. Monarch Brands says they hope that they have enough product to supply a demand volume that has been and will continue to be, incredibly high, albeit unpredictable.

About Monarch Brands
With roots established in 1947, Monarch Brands delivers high quality and value-priced textiles from manufacturers around the world. By leveraging deep sourcing relationships and purchasing power, Monarch Brands works with distributors to design hospitality programs that work for each client.

Press Contact:
Andrew Moore
andrewm@monarchbrands.com
(215) 482-6100 x332

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

A leading provider of hospitality textiles completes the installation of warehouse automation features and is now fully-equipped to handle increased demand in response to the pandemic.

Philadelphia, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/31/2020 -- COVID-19 has elevated the need for cleaning supplies, and many suppliers are beginning to out of stock or engage in price-gauging practices. In times of national emergency and disaster, Monarch Brands has traditionally ramped up production and logistics without raising prices. Recently deployed automation features and a split shift workforce ensures that Monarch Brands continues to meet demand while mitigating exposure to COVID-19.

All wholesale microfiber and rags get automatically weighed and wrapped before being carried to the dock by "Fred," an automated pallet train that moves along a magnetic track. Fred handles 7,500lbs loaded on his back while pulling five pallet dollies. Fred eliminates the bottleneck created when workers wait on forklift drivers to transport pallets. Furthermore, Monarch Brands has reduced the number of forklift operators moving from production areas to the docks.

The addition of automatic wiper box-line dubbed "Annie" has quadrupled wiper output. Bales of bulk rags enter a hopper, where through a system of teeth and conveyor belts, the material separates. All bulk rags pass through a pneumatic metal detector, which removes all metal and hard detritus before rags get boxed and sealed according to an order. Annie takes the heavy-lifting load off the shoulders of workers who get retrained on lighter-load tasks. 

Monarch Brands' warehouse is working in shifts to meet production goals while also mitigating the spread of COVID-19 throughout the entire staff.

"Safety is incredibly important to us. The safety of our workers and the safety of our customers. We've been at this a while, selling wholesale rags for over 70 years, and bulk microfiber mops and cloths for over a decade. We never stop adding innovations to the warehouse to optimize production in the safest manner possible."
 – Hal Kanefsky. President, Monarch Brands.

About Monarch Brands:
With roots established in 1947, Monarch Brands delivers high quality and value-priced textiles from manufacturers around the world. By leveraging deep sourcing relationships and purchasing power, Monarch Brands works with distributors to design hospitality programs that work for each client.

If you would like more information about this topic, please email Andrew Moore at andrewm@monarchbrands.com.

Contact:
Andrew Moore
andrewm@monarchbradns.com
215-482-6100 x 332

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm