[ad_1]
Tons of textiles are transported miles to cheaper companies abroad
Laundries and dry cleaners have much less work due to the crown crisis. This accelerates the battle for displacement in the industry and brings with it non-green development.
Shirts, suits and party dresses have been in the shadows since the outbreak of the pandemic. There were few opportunities to wear the elegant wardrobe during this time. One or another cultural event is now back on the agenda, and some business meetings take place again physically. Due to the risk of infection, people still spend a lot of time at home, and jeans or sweatpants are generally the rule there.
Dry cleaning companies sometimes only have half as many jobs as usual. Image: shutterstock
Dry cleaners particularly feel this. For several months now, they have received significantly less clothes from their customers to clean. Orders at most companies are reportedly currently between 50 and 60 percent compared to the previous year. Therefore, some cleaners have already had to close branches, for example the international franchise company 5àsec, which is the market leader in Switzerland.
“The propaganda from the central office is really bad for us”
In second and third place are Zürcher Terlinden AG (27 branches) and Lucerne Texpress AG (14 branches). The latter has prominent clients such as Circus Knie and FC Luzern, but also many commercial clients. “The current head office propaganda is very bad for us,” says managing director Patrick Meier. Plus:
“We are also missing the coats and shirts of the musicians of the catering and tourism staff.”
Texpress works in part directly with hotels, the Lake Lucerne shipping company and companies in other sectors and offers its employees special conditions.
It is thanks to this collaboration, among other things, that the company is doing better than the competition, says Meier. “This strategy costs us a lot of energy, but now it is proving that it pays off. Our order volume is back to 90 percent. “
Fewer hotel and restaurant orders
It’s not just dry cleaning companies that have to deal with, but big laundries too. In Switzerland it is the French group Elis, the Bodensee laundry or the Basel-based company Bardusch. Laundries live on orders from restaurants and hotels, but also on cleaning clothes from industry and the health sector.
During the lockdown, when restaurants had to close overnight and many hotels were dragged down due to lack of guests, the market for washing tablecloths, sheets and duvet covers completely collapsed.
Now he is slowly recovering again. But only slowly. According to the Federal Statistical Office, hotels registered 26 percent fewer overnight stays in July than in the previous year. There are no more recent figures yet. Elis Switzerland boss Thomas Hollinger says on request:
“The hotel industry in cities in particular is still at a very low level. The catering segment is not doing badly now. “
At the time one of the 12 production locations is still closed, order volume is 20 to 25 percent lower than the previous year. Since the company caters to a wide range of customers, it should be better than smaller laundries with a focus on gastronomy and the hospitality industry, especially in view of the cold season when there will be less outdoor seating and therefore So less tablecloths and napkins to wash.
Sheets and tablecloths are being washed more and more abroad
Therefore, the crisis is likely to accelerate the consolidation process that has been going on for years. Some laundries will expand to larger ones or disappear. The same applies to dry cleaning. According to the Swiss Textile Care Association, around 7,000 people are still employed in the industry today.
The harsh price war and displacement are now also intensifying the following development: Hotels, restaurants and companies are increasingly washing their clothes in neighboring countries. Cheaper suppliers from Germany, France and Liechtenstein collect many sheets, tablecloths and uniforms every day and transport them for miles by truck. According to the industry association, more than 30 tons of Swiss clothing cross the Swiss border every day.
From an ecological point of view, this is “total nonsense”, criticize several representatives of the industry. Development concerns them most of all with regard to their own future: they cannot keep up with such low prices due to higher personnel costs in this country. The association’s “Washed Textiles in Switzerland” label now aims to provide a remedy and strengthen the Swiss production location and awareness of green laundry in Switzerland.
Hospitals are changing chairs due to delivery bottlenecks
The head of Elis Switzerland, Hollinger, also believes that the fear of interruption of supply chains, as in some cases due to the closure of borders, could lead to a rethinking in one or another company. In the case of hospitals, for example, you can already see that they are relying more and more on reusable rather than disposable clothing for staff and patients. There were bottlenecks in the delivery of the cheapest disposable clothing during the closing.
Patrick Meier from Texpress in Lucerne sees another medium-term opportunity in the current crisis: “The past has shown that in times of crisis people tend to buy fewer new clothes and prefer to wear their old coats, suits, etc. to the dry cleaner. With growing environmental awareness, this trend could be further strengthened. “(Aargauerzeitung.ch)
