[labnetwork] gowning services and laundering vs. disposable

[Everly, Richard]

NREC at USF operates a class 1000 cleanroom servicing about 10-20 students per week with about 40-60 cleanroom entries per week. We have 3 sets of 20 gowns that we rotate out at regular intervals for cleaning.   We currently have our gowns cleaned by mail order but the current vendor wants to increase our contract rate by 10X the current amount, needless to say, this is not in our budget! The current company only seems interested in servicing high volume accounts and they want to move us to a minimum billing fee, based on their other clients usage.

Right now I'm looking for alternate companies that service the southeast market that will rent/repair and launder gowns via mail order for a smaller operation like ours. We've tried to contact several vendors but we've have not received any replies, based on this lackluster response I can only assume that the economy has picked up so well that they can afford to turn away business! 

We've always used laundry services and purchased/rented our own gowns, but I'm entertaining the idea of the standard coverall disposables but I have a few questions regarding their use that your feedback will help me determine if they will be cost effective for a smaller operation like ours.

1. would you consider using the disposable gown more than once, as long as they are not torn/tattered or soiled? it seems to me they would last for a few days or maybe even a week.
2. if you use disposables what is your policy regarding these gowns and replacement?
3. what brands/suppliers could you recommend. (I know there are many out there but I'm relying on the vast experience of Labnet to narrow down the playing field to a handful of contenders)

Respectfully,


Richard Everly
Research Engineer
Nanotechnology Research and Education Center (NREC)
University of South Florida
Mailstop ENB 118
4202 E. Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33620

PH:   813-974-5365
FAX: 813-974-3610
everly at usf.edu
www.nrec.usf.edu