When you’re in the market for uniforms, there are two ways to satisfy your needs. You can focus on renting business uniforms – and let the supplier take care of everything – or you can buy – and take control yourself.
Which option is best for you depends on your needs, limitations, and style of management.
Renting Business Uniforms
Generally speaking, uniform rentals are full-service. They’re taken in on a weekly basis for maintenance, quality control, and cleaning.
Uniforms are meant to be worn and that inevitably means wear and tear. Seams become frayed, buttons come undone, and colors become weathered. By renting, you don’t have to bother to keep up appearances. Someone does it for you. Even one missing button or patch or yellowed collar can bring down your image. A solid uniform company will have good quality control and take care of these issues on a weekly basis.
A lot of rental companies also includes alterations and replacements for staff changes. At I. Buss & Allan, we go one step further when it comes to replacing uniforms that have seen too much wear and tear. We switch them out for new ones.
Is The Rental Right For You?
If you have an extremely high turnover, renting may not be your best option (say 50 percent or more). Of course, you can build anything into your contract, but I’d say most contracts have a 10 to 20 percent turnover clause. So, keep that in mind.
Regular cleaning is an important benefit of the rental. Often times, if you leave it up the employee to clean the uniforms, it will not happen as often as it should (even if you give them an allowance for it).
Having a uniform company pick up the uniforms each week to wash and press makes it much easier for your employees and their supervisors. And a uniform company, as opposed to a cleaner, should know to look out for quality issues.
At I. Buss & Allan, my team is trained to watch out for rips, tears, stains, and faded patches. So, while we are doing the cleaning, we are also making sure the uniform is in suitable condition.
Buying Uniforms
While renting is the best way to ensure quality without doing the work yourself, sometimes it makes more sense to buy.
If you already have in-house laundry services or tailors, it can be more cost-effective to purchase the uniforms outright and handle those aspects yourself. Just make sure you have a cleaning plan in place that’s appropriate for your uniforms to prevent premature wear and tear and, of course, a tailor who knows their stuff.
Purchasing can be ideal if and only if you can count on your team to take care of the maintenance and cleaning of the uniforms. Or if you are buying uniforms for an event and you do not need regular service of them.
What’s Best For You?
Figure what is best for your business and your budget. Uniforms are a near-constant concern; you’re either outfitting new employees or maintaining the uniforms of existing ones. It can be a burden off your back by renting, but you have to consider all the factors.
Take a look at the big picture of your operation, identify your needs, and know that you’ve got options either way!
