Industrial Washing Machine?

[twins]

Hey all,

We have been a plastisol shop for the past 30 years and are starting to do more and more Waterbase/discharge printing. The reason for this is the soft hand it leaves, but in order to accomplish this the shirts need to be washed.

We currently have 2 speed queen residential sized clothes washing machines, but we are only able to wash 60-80 shirts an hour... this has bottle necked our folding and we have needed to make a few trips to the local laundry mat.

Does anyone have any insight into industrial sized laundry machines or are people going the route of buying multiple residential units? Or is the bulk of shops just not washing the shirts prior to shipping?

Thanks!

[Frog]

I'd bet that indeed, the  bulk of shops are just not washing the shirts prior to shipping.  Many, in fact, may not care for the "used" appearance laundering can add.
I can see, however, in some cases, like events at which many like to put 'em on immediately, it could be a good compensated service to offer.

A tag or enclosed info sheet describing the the fact that hand will improve with laundering is another option.

[ericheartsu]

If a client requests it to be laundered we will, but often times find, clients don't want to incur that expensive.

[Nation03]

Woof, that sounds like a huge hassle. At my previous job we used Milnor washing machines. They have a few different sizes I believe but they're definitely more industrial than a standard washer.

[numbercruncher]

Think at  Riddell we used B+C commercial/industrial machines... why these were used primarily to wash and sanitize uniforms - we also used them for wash tests...and the occasional discharge order - they were huge - think 300 lbs or so