Mention fake tan to anyone who works in hospitality and the bronze glow they will think of is the one ruining countless, pristine towels and sheets.

More beauty-conscious people than ever before are visiting salons or applying powders, sprays, mousses, gels, lotions and moisturisers at home, to create a sun-kissed look. This industry is absolutely booming in the UK.

However, the phenomenon has created a huge headache for commercial laundry managers. To meet guest expectations, hotels must prepare their rooms with spotless white bedclothes and towels – just the sort of fabrics that are super-susceptible to an orange stain.

Given that non-business travellers tend to check in for special occasions requiring them to look their best – weddings, holidays, nights out, days at the races, you name it – fake tan and hotel sheets are set to be inevitable bedfellows for many years to come.

The ongoing cost of this to the hospitality industry is considerable. Tonnes of good linen are being condemned just because they are heavily stained – by that golden glow, rust, mildew, food, or anything else.

The cost of ‘ruined’ linen

The industry knows full well that stained linen is highly likely to cause a hotel guest to complain. The healthcare sector too, requires excellent standards – although not necessarily to hotel perfection.

Therefore, to make sure it consistently delivers to requirements, a typical laundry house will spend 10% of its turnover on buying top-up stock.

There is also the serious environmental cost of renewal and replacement to consider. Disposing of textiles in landfill currently costs the UK £82m per year – and our nation is starting to wake up to the devastation caused by excessive cotton and poly/cotton production.

The focus of outrage is currently on fast fashion but will surely spread to other industries using large quantities of textiles, namely hospitality and healthcare. As a result, the pressure will be on big linen providers to be more prudent with the new items they order.

So, are laundry specialists missing a business trick by not paying greater to attention to the stock they are condemning? The short answer is yes – because, much of it can be saved.

Regenex’s effective cleaning system

Continuous Batch Washing (CBW) methods are effective for the vast majority of linens but higher-temperature ‘kill or cure’ methods typically employed by laundries for heavily marked items work only in as few as 30% of cases.

Anything failing post-wash inspection has historically been ragged or sent to landfill – but Regenex has pioneered a new, gentle, multi-bath system that can rescue 75% to 80% of these items.

We developed and refined our methods over many months, using independent testing in university research laboratories. We do not charge for processing any items we cannot save.

Now a number of the UK’s 134 laundry sites, processing more than 700,000 tonnes of commercial washing per annum, are already turning to the Regenex solution – which has the added environmental benefit of sharing heat and steam with textile dyeing processes on the same site in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Up to now, to the majority of linen providers, we have been something of a well-kept secret – but we have recently built our capacity and we are in a position to welcome new customers.

We can prove that a golden glow to a crisp white pillowcase or duvet cover needn’t spell the end of service for that item – and we know that the wider sector will be dazzled by the possibilities this represents.

Regenex is offering a FREE trial of 400g of kilos of linen to any new customer. Contact us today to discuss your requirements.