Issue | Rope Ties | Net Bags | Washing loosely |
Washer Capacity
| Remarkably, you will get incredible bang for buck by washing shirts with rope ties with regards to washer capacity. You can put, for example, 50 pounds of shirts in a 50 pound machine! What a concept! It will probably be fuller than you’re used to, but that’s ok. | A rope-tie proponent will argue that you are wasting valuable washer capacity by using that capacity to wash laundry nets. This probably isn’t the most compelling of reasons to jettison the nets, but this is a valid point | On the surface it may seem that with no nets or ropes to occupy wash space, this is the opportunity to maximize the use of your washers. But, alas, the point is to wash shirt, not get them wet. You will need to under-load your washers by at least 20% in order to wash properly. This row is about washer capacity… ‘nuff said. |
Wash Quality
| Time and time again, I prove that using rope ties improves wash quality. This is because the dirtiest parts of the shirts – the collars and cuffs – are kept together and protected from getting poor mechanical action. | You can get good wash quality washing in nets, but don’t put more than 8 shirts in a 24x30 net. The only down side is that you are using part of your washing machine capacity to wash nets, rather than shirts. | When I walk into a plant that I have never visited before, I may glance at some shirts hanging on the conveyor or on the storage rail. Oftentimes, I can tell how the shirts are being washed from there. If there is ring around the collar, the shirts are probably being washed loosely. Need I say more? |
Lot Control
| Most people know that I am a lot-control maniac and therefore, ease of managing lots is important to me. Using Rope Ties is the easiest way to manage lots. | There are numerous ways to enable and facilitate lot control using nets. Among them is the use of different color nets and/or net bag flags. Those are simply pieces of wet-strength paper (tag stock), with or without printing on them and a couple of holes drilled in them to make it easy to attach them to a brass net pin. | If you wish to help keep lots together, washing loosely is going to make that a challenge, but you have two (lousy) choices: You can just put one lot in a washer, then it will be easy to keep lots separate. You will underload your machines which is expensive and unnecessary. Alternately you can mix “lots” and then pay someone to sort them. |
Tag-related Issues
| A seldom discussed, oft neglected benefit of rope ties is that the rope goes around the shirt in the area where the tag is attached. This protects the tag from getting lost. Furthermore, if a shirt somehow doesn’t have a tag, the shirt usually goes with the other shirts in the bundle. | Assuming that you’re using tags and staples, the staples seem to like to get caught on the net bags and the resulting hazard is that the tags can get torn off when this happens. | Tags get lost when washing loose. Really. Come to terms with it. It’s not because you need two or three staples. The points of the staples snag on other shirts in the washer and get torn off resulting in a shirt with no tag. The solution is not that you need to double-staple. That exactly doubles the chance that tags will come off by doubling the number of sharp staples to get caught on. And it’s hardly an excuse to barcode garments. |
Shaking out Shirts | No shake out at all. Some people still shake out shirts even after rope tying. That makes be crazy! The shirts are all laid out and neat, then someone makes a mess of them while removing the ties, only to go through them again and shake them out! AAAGHHH!! | You dump out the net of shirts and then shake them out. The shirts aren’t tangled but, assuming that you believe that you need to lay them out, someone has to do it. | Once you empty the washer full of loose shirts, you will need to untangle the jumbled mess that is your freshly laundered shirts. Even if you don’t believe in shaking out shirts, you will need to untangle them to keep your presser pressing |
