ALEXANDRIA, Va. — December 18, 2019 — UniFirst Corp.’s Richmond, Va., laundry has recently achieved Hygienically Clean Food Safety certification and three of its plants — Bangor, Maine, Kernersville, N.C., and Richmond — have qualified to renew their certifications. These Hygienically Clean Food Safety certifications reflect UniFirst’s commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and its capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing. UniFirst currently has 58 laundries that have earned this certification; its locations are — one in each state except where noted: Ala.; Ariz.; five in Calif.; Colo.; Conn.; four in Fla.; two in Ga.; Ill.; Kan.; La.; two in Mass.; two in Md.; Maine; four each in Mich., Mont. and N.C.; two in N.H.; two in N.J.; Nev.; two in N.Y.; Ohio; Okla.; Ore.; two in Pa.; two in S.C.; eight in Texas; Utah; Va.; Wash.; and Wis. Canadian provinces represented are Alberta (two) and British Columbia.

The Hygienically Clean Food Safety certification confirms the laundry’s dedication to compliance and processing garments and linens using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, the focal point for inspectors’ evaluation of critical control points (CCPs) that minimize risk. The independent, third-party inspection must confirm essential evidence that:

• Employees are properly trained and protected;
• Managers understand legal requirements;
• OSHA-compliant; and
• Physical plant operates effectively.

To maintain their certification, laundry plants must pass quarterly testing of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean garments and other reusable textiles with diminished presence of harmful bacteria. Testing ensures that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained. This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for animal processing, dairies, fruit/vegetable, bakeries, grain and other food and beverage industry segments.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) practices are examined in the Hygienically Clean Food Safety inspection process, evaluating the plant’s techniques for:

• Conducting hazard analysis;
• Determining CCPs, monitoring their control, correcting them if not under control;
• Validating and verifying HACCP system effectiveness; and
• Documenting and record-keeping to show ongoing conformance.

On-site inspections also evaluate practices relevant to handling and processing textile products used in food manufacturing/processing establishments for adherence to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directives. Introduced in 2014, Hygienically Clean Food Safety brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for laundering garments and other textile products for food manufacturing used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.

“More and more, we’re seeing our customers in food-related industries looking for third-party validation that our specialized Product Protection Process and our Hygienically Clean standards are consistent with HACCP and GFSI guidelines,” said Adam Soreff, director of marketing and communications at UniFirst Corp., Wilmington, Mass. “Working with a Hygienically Clean Food Safety certified laundry helps reassure them that their managed uniform program is working in concert with their own food-safety protocols to help them ensure food safety for consumers.”

Posted December 19, 2019

Source: TRSA

Alexandria, VA — December 19, 2019 — TRSA hosted its Second Annual Marketing & Sales Summit on Dec. 4-5 in Tampa. Key topics discussed by the linen, uniform and facility services industry’s marketing and sales professionals included customer growth and retention, social media and digital opportunities, employee hiring and retention, emotional intelligence, and more.

The summit kicked off on Dec. 5 in Tampa, FL, with a presentation by CITY Clean and Simple executives Chriss Carsello and Emily Hauber. Their presentation, titled “Marketing, Sales and the Digital Age,” touched on the ways that CITY is using digital channels, including social media, videos and more, to communicate to customers and prospects, as well as increase sales opportunities for the business based in Oelwein, IA.

Keynote presenter Joel Landi, a consultant, performance coach and bestselling author, highlighted the importance of harnessing your emotional intelligence in order to achieve success both personally and professionally.

Other presentations, panels and workshops at the Summit included:

• The Importance of Marketing Environmental Sustainability
• Great Ideas Swap: Stories from the Trenches
• Processing Innovation: Developing Internal SOPs to Align with New Products
• Strategic Partnership: Serving Your Customer’s Customer
• Closing Panel: State of the Markets

Following the conclusion of the panel presentation, summit attendees visited nearby Busch Gardens Tampa to network and explore the park’s many offerings against the backdrop of stunning holiday décor.

Attendees were pleased with the overall content and energy that the event inspired. “I enjoyed the interactions of all the individuals in the breakouts, networking times, and other sessions. It was a unique blend of an audience, vendors and operators, and a difference of presentations that meshed extremely well,” said Kasey Wahl, director of sales and marketing, WSI.

Additionally, the TRSA Marketing & Sales Committee held their year-end meeting on Dec. 4 to look back at their accomplishments in 2019 and discuss initiatives moving forward into 2020. The following TRSA members attended that meeting:

• Andy Feldman, Committee Chair, Omni Solutions
• Chriss Carsello, CITY Clean and Simple
• Charles Crowell, Milliken & Co.
• Tyler Fowler, M+A Matting
• Lauren Glass, M+A MattingJacob Gurtler, Gurtler Industries Inc.

Will Hacker, Landau Uniforms Inc.

Emily Hauber, CITY Clean and Simple

Mark Lewis, Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply Inc.

Alan Maness, Milliken & Co.

Jerry Martin, Prudential Overall Supply

Kristi Sanders, Positek RFID

Kris Smith, Health Mats

Kasey Wahl, WSI

Jon Witschy, Spindle

The following Marketing & Sales Committee members collaborated on the content for the 2nd Annual Marketing & Sales Summit: Andy Feldman, Omni Solutions; Karen Harrington, Gojo Industries; Jerry Martin, Prudential Overall Supply; Kris Smith, Health Mats; and Amanda Steffen, Ecolab.

TRSA committees are open to all TRSA members. The next Marketing & Sales Committee meeting will be held on March 25, 2020, at the TRSA 10th Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., and is open to all interested TRSA members.

Posted December 19, 2019

Source: TRSA

WASHINGTON — December 19, 2019 — The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), representing the full spectrum of U.S. textiles from fiber though finished sewn products, issued the following statement regarding the expected passage today of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) by the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Passage of the USMCA in the House today will mark a significant step forward in advancing the trade deal through Congress and we urge the Senate to pass it swiftly,” said NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas. “Mexico and Canada are the two largest export markets for the U.S. textile industry, totaling nearly $12 billion last year, and several provisions in USMCA will help producers expand and build new business in the critical Western Hemisphere supply chain.”

NCTO worked with the administration during negotiations on USMCA and successfully lobbied for several provisions and improvements that were subsequently incorporated in the trade deal that will close loopholes and strengthen U.S. Customs enforcement.

“We expect U.S. textile companies to export more to the region and invest more in the U.S. when USMCA is implemented,” Glas said. “Textile executives from North Carolina to New York have said they will seek to take advantage of the modifications in the trade deal and build new business in areas such as pocketing and sewing thread, as a result of stronger rules of origin and Customs enforcement.”

The USMCA updates and modifies the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and makes significant improvements, including:

• Creation of a separate chapter for textiles and apparel rules of origin with strong customs enforcement language.
• Stronger rules of origin for sewing thread, pocketing, narrow elastics and certain coated fabrics.  Under the current NAFTA, these items can be sourced from outside the region – USMCA fixes this loophole and ensures these secondary components are originating to the region.
• Fixes the Kissell Amendment Buy American loophole, ensuring that a significant amount the Department of Homeland Security spends annually on clothing and textiles for the Transportation Security Administration is spent on domestically produced products.

This release follows NCTO’s previous endorsement of the deal reached between House Democrats and the administration last week.

NCTO is a Washington-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.

• U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 594,147 in 2018.
• The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $76.8 billion in 2018.
• U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $30.1 billion in 2018.
• Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.0 billion in 2017, the last year for which data is available.

Posted December 19, 2019

Source: The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — December 18, 2019 — TRSA has commissioned The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to build a market opportunity assessment for the linen, uniform and facility services industry across 13 countries in six regions to explore market demands and forecast market, service and product opportunities. Based on evidence-driven research, interviews with industry experts and demand sector outlooks, EIU will premiere results at the World Textile Services Congress (WTSC) June 18-19, 2020, in Frankfurt, Germany, immediately prior to the Texcare International trade show.

“This first-ever global textile services market opportunity assessment will highlight opportunities and challenges across market sectors and geographic regions,” said TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci. “The results will be discussed, released and available for purchase at discounted rates to World Textile Services Congress (WTSC) participants before subsequent release internationally.”

Countries to be profiled across Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and North and South America including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States. Sectors to be covered are healthcare, hotels, construction, energy (oil and gas) and manufacturing.

Key questions to be answered:

• Where will demand for linen, uniform and facility services come from over the next five years?
• Which countries will present the greatest opportunities or challenges?
• How large are the demand sectors and which are the fastest growing?
• How will megatrends such as sustainability and digitization impact the industry and how will this differ across countries?

The research will address opportunities for linen supply, industrial laundry and facility services and include profiles of 10 public companies in the industry, using growth-related and financial-performance-based indicators.

Interviews with nearly 30 industry experts provide EIU with insights into operating conditions, market trends, customers and competition providing contest around market opportunity and future growth potential, based on the links between the demand sectors and the industry.

“Across the sectors, EIU will identify the main drivers for demand for the industry’s services in the next five years,” said TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci. “The study will portray corporate dynamics from consolidation and fragmentation of ownership to challenges and opportunities of managing everyday operations.”

“EIU’s understanding of the complexity and nuance of international markets will yield unmatched expert commentary, interpretation and forecasting on how our industry and its trajectory will be shaped by macroeconomic and demographic forces,” he added.

Posted December 18, 2019

Source: TRSA