ALEXANDRIA, Va. — April 8, 2021 — Among the roughly 215 linen, uniform and facility services operator and supplier partners who attended five, 90-minute online TRSA Regional Town Hall sessions on March 30, 31 and April 1, pretty much everyone could agree on two things. First, they’re relieved that the economy in most parts of the U.S. has begun to emerge from last year’s COVID-19-related shutdowns. However, there also were widespread concerns expressed by each of the U.S. regional town halls that a severe labor shortage could stymie the recovery.

Attendees at this week’s Regional Town Halls (Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, South/Southeast, West/Northwest and Southwest) predicted that the labor shortages could begin easing this September when additional unemployment relief provided in President Joe Biden’s recently approved COVID-19 aid bill expires. A big part of the problem with recruitment/retention is that government aid is discouraging people from paid work, several attendees said. Examples of how operators are addressing the labor shortage include:

• Reducing people to part-time: One operator said with reduced demand from restaurant customers, he’s cut employee hours sufficiently that they can still qualify for unemployment benefits.
• Expanding onboarding programs to foster teamwork, coupled with in-depth exit and “stay” interviews to get a better handle on what’s working and what needs to work better to satisfy employee needs. One attendee emphasized that the challenge is not just hiring but avoiding a “Tsunami of turnover” in staff.
• Enhanced flexibility: This means showing that you care, especially for employees required to work overtime due to labor shortages, by providing pizza parties and other perks, plus paid time off for COVID-19 vaccinations or other personal needs.
• Increased pay, including retention bonuses: Many companies have already done this, but the problem is the difficulty of passing these added labor costs on to hard-hit customers such as restaurants and hotels that are themselves struggling with labor shortages and trying to survive government-mandated COVID restrictions that limit capacity to 25%-50%. Industry supplier partners face similar recruitment/retention challenges in terms of boosting pay for staff at a time when many laundries have cut capital spending due to reduced sales. One supplier described a “catch 22” situation in which material costs, such as steel, keep rising, yet it’s extraordinarily difficult to pass any costs on to customers.
• To the extent that companies can retain staff, they are taking advantage of Employee Retention Credits in combination with Paycheck Protection Program loans. In earlier versions of this program, you couldn’t take advantage of both programs at the same time. In the latest bill from the Biden administration, you can pursue both simultaneously.

One upside of the labor shortage for laundry operators in the hospitality sector is that it’s pushing hotels to close their on-premise laundries due to the difficulty of keeping them staffed. The pandemic has accelerated an ongoing trend in favor of hotel laundry outsourcing, several operators said. One noted that in most cases he’ll decline to take on OPL work — unless the hotel agrees to close the facility permanently in favor of outsourcing their laundry operation.

Another positive consequence of the pandemic is that it has increased the focus of laundry customers in all sectors, but especially healthcare, hotels and food processing, on ensuring textile cleanliness. This, in turn, has enhanced the value of programs such as TRSA’s Hygienically Clean program. The third-party auditing of laundry hygiene that this program provides to linen, uniform and facility services companies confers a sense of “validation” to customers. That means that customers know that their textile provider follows best practices for laundering, including periodic testing of textiles to ensure that they are safe for use by staff and the public.

One factor that makes Year II of the COVID-19 pandemic a continuing challenging for operators is the uncertainly that goes with it. No one can predict with any certainty what’s coming as far as the reopening of customer businesses or the imposition of new restrictions with each succeeding “wave” of COVID cases. One operator said this unpredictability factor aggravates planning efforts. Laundry operators long for a return to stability that can allow them to reduce costly overtime, and, in turn, lower, employee stress levels.

A related issue is the wide variation in government rules related to the pandemic. Attendees at the Town Halls confirmed that states like Florida and Nebraska are largely wide open for business, while others, such as California and Michigan, are nearly as restricted as they were a year ago.

Despite all these challenges, most attendees still said they’re better off than they were a year ago. Industrial operators said their sales are near the level of pre-COVID, with extra demand for facility services products helping to make up the gap with customers whose uniform business is down. Some industry segments such as clean room and food processing also are experiencing brisk growth.

Healthcare too has largely recovered, but not completely. Hospital flatwork business is typically at about 90% of pre-COVID levels, several Town Hall attendees said. Operators speculated that a combination of COVID patients, who typically use fewer linens, and patient fears about going to the hospital have contributed to the downturn. Most said that outpatient medical business had recovered to pre-COVID levels.

As more people get vaccinated for COVID-19, a robust recovery and a loosening of business restrictions could follow this spring. And while there are no easy answers for the recruitment/retention issue, most operators and suppliers will settle for any sign of progress. “We’re still scratching our heads on labor,” one operator said, adding that, “I’d still rather take this over last year.”

Posted April 8, 2021

Source: TRSA

ZURICH — April 8, 2021 — The International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) has published its report on International Textile Industry Statistics (ITIS) on productive capacity and raw materials consumption in the short-staple organized (spinning mill-) sector in virtually all textile-producing countries in the world.

The 2019 data shows a decrease in short-staple spindles and open-end rotors capacities around the world. The number of installed short-staple spindles went down from 230 million in 2018 to 223 million in 2019. The number of installed open-end rotors decreased from 8.2 million in 2018 to 7.4 million in 2019. These changes are mainly driven by scraping of outdated machinery in China. The trends observed in other regions are stable. The number of installed air-jet spindles is increasing worldwide, mainly in Asian countries and Turkey.

The substitution between shuttle and shuttle-less looms continues but the growth in shuttle-less looms capacities has slowed down. The number of installed shuttle-less looms increased by 1 percent in 2019 and reached 1.7 million units.  Total raw material consumption in the short-staple organized sector has stagnated in 2019. Consumption of cellulosic short-staple fiber increased by 9 percent to 5.4 million tons and consumption of synthetic short-staple fibers decreased by -4 percent to 14.2 million tons. The consumption of cotton has stabilized at 26 mill tons.

Posted April 8, 2021

Source: International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF)

HOLBROOK, N.Y.  — April 8, 2021 — Tiger Group is now accepting bids for the April 15 online auction of assets from Holbrook, N.Y.-based embroidery and garment-printing company Gate NY, which had been a major drop-ship location for garment distributors from across the Northeast.

Highlights of the auction include screen-printing machines, flash cures, dryers, folders and accessories by brands such as MHM, M&R, Dane, Hix, Interchange, OYO and NEDCO; direct-to-garment equipment by Brother; and embroidery machines and accessories by well-known manufacturers such as Barudan and Hashima.

“Embroidery and garment-printing companies are gearing up for a rebirth of live events this spring and summer as the national vaccination campaign progresses,” noted John Coelho, a senior director with Tiger Commercial & Industrial. “But brand-new equipment is taking months to ship due to disruptions in the supply chain. As a result, this online auction is particularly relevant to the needs of growth-oriented companies in this sector.”

In addition to equipment such as heat-transfer presses from Stahls and Brother and a Roland printer/cutter, Tiger is auctioning warehouse and office assets from Gate NY’s 32,000-square-foot facility in Holbrook. These include heat sealers, conveyors, forklifts, air compressors, pallet jacks, dollies and carts, as well as computers and office, reception and breakroom furniture.

Established in 1996, full-service contract decoration company Gate NY recently discontinued its operations following the death of its founder. Gate NY decorated more than 1.5 million garments a year for major distributors like S&S Activewear, SanMar and Alpha Broder. It was an authorized decorator for North Face, Under Armour and Puma, and had worked on projects involving brands such as Ferrari, Ford, Pepsi, Red Bull, BBC America, Energizer, Benjamin Moore Paints and CAT, to name a few.

“This is high-quality and, in many cases, late-model equipment that could give a competitive edge to embroidery and garment-printing companies as they position themselves for the future,” Coelho said.

Online bidding at SoldTiger.com will close on Thursday, April 15, at 10:30 A.M. (ET). All bidders are required to register prior to the sale at SoldTiger.com.

Posted April 7, 2021

Source: Tiger Group

MINNEAPOLIS — April 7, 2021 — Piper Sandler Companies, an investment bank, has completed its 41st semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens® survey in partnership with DECA. This survey highlights discretionary spending trends and brand preferences from 7,000 teens across 47 U.S. states with an average age of 16.1 years. Generation Z, which contributes approximately $830 billion to U.S. retail sales annually*, represents an influential consumer group where wallet size and allocation provide a proxy for category interest.

This year’s Spring 2021 survey was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was conducted from February 19 to March 24; 58 percent of teens have returned to school in either a hybrid format or in person this Spring while 42 percent remained fully virtual. We received the highest amount of responses from the South at 48 percent of the mix and 10 percent of the responses from the Northeast — similar to Spring and Fall 2020.

For the survey infographic and more information, visit pipersandler.com/teens

“Our Spring survey gave rise to a number of themes emerging for GenZ as we think about the path to reopening. We are seeing a female-led spending recovery with upticks in spending on clothing, handbags and skincare in particular. Within apparel, athletic is still the dominant trend with Nike & lululemon taking new highs and Under Armour seeing improved mindshare. Simultaneously, we are seeing a revival of the 1990s fashion trend flannel shirts, baggy pants, mom jeans & eclectic hair trends all in vogue.

“GenZ is a conscious generation as teens this Spring cite Racial Equality & the Environment as their top-two social issues. We have also seen “thrifting” emerge as a strong trend as thinking secondhand is becoming second nature to teens. In fact, 47 percent of teens have purchased and 55 percent have sold secondhand.

“In the wake of COVID-19 and given these consumers are digitally-native, we are not surprised to see online adoption at its highest ever this Spring. Snapchat & TikTok are the top-two social media platforms. While Amazon remains the No. 1 website, we are seeing a rise in female-centric platforms like SHEIN, Revolve and Princess Polly,” said Erinn Murphy, Piper Sandler senior research analyst.

Spring 2021 Key Findings

Spending & Shopping Behavior

• Areas of wallet share contraction included: Concerts/Events & Car (remains below multi-year average);
• Areas of wallet share expansion included: Clothing & Accessories (especially for females);
• Amazon remains teens’ No. 1 preferred online shopping mind-share at 56 percent;
• Skincare spending for females ranks ahead of makeup spending;
• TikTok influencers have significantly reshaped skincare brand preferences; 86 percent of females use online influencers as a source of discovery for beauty brands and trends;
• Video games hold approximately 16 percent of teen wallet share; 53 percent of gamers plan to purchase the new console system in the next 2 years; and
• Teens allocate 8 percent of their shopping to secondhand; 47 percent of teens have purchased and 55 percent have sold secondhand — thrift/consignment stores ranked No. 10 as favorite brand/retailer, compared to No. 23 in the Spring 2020 survey.

Brand Preferences

• Chick-fil-A remains No. 1 restaurant for 7 consecutive surveys; Starbucks maintains No. 2 and Chipotle remains No. 3;
• 49 percent of teens either consume or are willing to try plant-based meat with Impossible Foods as the No. 1 choice, followed closely by Beyond;
• For more than 10 years, Nike remains No. 1 apparel brand; Nike also holds No. 1 spot for footwear brand and preferred athletic apparel & footwear brand;
• PacSun moves up from No. 5 apparel brand to No. 3; adidas falls to No. 5 — lowest level since Fall 2017;
• 96 percent of females claim to shop online versus 88 percent last year, while 92 percent of males claim to shop online versus 91 percent last year;
• Lays is most preferred snack brand among teens at 11 percent, followed closely by Campbell’s Goldfish (9 percent);
• Ulta maintains No. 1 preferred beauty destination against Sephora for fifth survey in a row (46 percent share vs. 39 percent LY); 80 percent of female teens willing to spend more for “clean” or natural beauty;
• Tarte remains top-ranked cosmetic brand for 7 consecutive surveys; e.l.f. registers all-time high in survey at No. 2 preferred makeup brand;
• CeraVe holds No. 1 spot as top skincare brand for the second survey in a row; The Ordinary remains in the No. 4 spot similar to Fall and up from No. 14 last Spring;
• Teens spend 32 percent of their daily video consumption on Netflix, down slightly from 34 percent in Fall 2020, followed by YouTube (No. 2) and Hulu (No. 3);
• Half of the list of favorite social media personalities is dominated by YouTube and TikTok content creators;
• 88 percent of teens own an iPhone and 90 percent expect an iPhone to be their next phone, both record survey highs.

The Piper Sandler Taking Stock With Teens® survey is a semi-annual research project that gathers input from 7,000 teens with an average age of 16.1 years. Discretionary spending patterns, fashion trends, technology, and brand and media preferences are assessed through surveying a geographically diverse subset of high schools across the U.S. Since the project began in 2001, Piper Sandler has surveyed more than 201,800 teens and collected over 49.7 million data points on teen spending.

* Source: Fung Global Retail & Technology

Posted April 7, 2021

Source: Piper Sandler Companies