Sustainability. It’s a buzzword from the early ‘90s that has long resonated in the textile sector of the hospitality industry, particularly with producers of fine linens, who obsessively pursue methods of melding fashion and function.

The trend to luxury linens raises challenges for hoteliers on caring for and preserving today’s fine fabrics—often richly patterned and intricately textured—in the face of soaring utility rates and laundry costs. Yet, for restaurateurs intent on quality and luxe looks, nothing evokes style, status, and cleanliness more dramatically than an elegant linen-dressed table.

Two of the textile industry’s venerable companies have developed creative solutions—through a combination of technology and marketing skill—to help customers negotiate the care/cost crunch and get long-term use from fabrics.

Garnier-Thiebaut, France’s manufacturer of lush linens, offers a care/rental service to process and preserve its products. Taking a different path, Milliken & Company, the U.S. textile and chemical firm, founded in 1865 and renowned for its worldwide research facilities and technology advances, has devised an energy-saving program linked to fabrics treated with soil-release properties.

PLUS MORE
Milliken, based in Spartanburg, South Carolina (800-322-8326, www.millikentablelinen.com), hit the ground running in the hospitality market over 25 years ago with linens that emphasize soil resistance and stain release. One of its major offerings, the “Signature” line, embodies state-of-the-art advances in stain-soil release in fabrics with a soft, natural touch. Last year, “Signature Plus” made its debut, the “Plus” signifying improved soil release and fewer “rejects,” meaning stains that resist washing and must be recycled—adding extra energy, time, and cost. Signature Plus fabrics can be laundered at 120°F, requiring less therms or electric kilowatts to heat water. (Traditionally, the temperature for stain/soil release is 160°F.)

Milliken technicians developed Project Green, a standardized chemical process that adds Plus qualities to fabrics in a single wash. As a one-time free service to customers (now concentrated on Signature linens), treated fabrics can be laundered at the energy-saving 120°F temperature.

“We estimate the average four to five percent reject rate can be cut in half with Project Green processing,” says Steve Bobo, director of corporate accounts, “with energy savings of 20 to 25 percent.”

To attract prospects, Milliken devised the Project Green Savings Calculator. Posted on the company website, it’s a handy tool customers can use to determine energy and cost reductions from using the low-temperature wash. To calculate savings, a customer inputs data on their laundry operation: number of napkins and tablecloths processed weekly, cost for a dozen napkins and tablecloths, reject rate, and machine equipment. A chart lists average reject improvements and wash energy reduction.

RENTAL SOLUTION
To put to rest apprehension about the care and cleaning of its fine linens, Garnier-Thiebaut (GT), based in Arlington, Virginia, offers a service that lifts laundry processing out of the hotel’s province and simplifies purchasing decisions. Under the program, GT provide linens on a rental basis that includes laundry service. A hotel or restaurant contracts the service for a three-year period, during which GT supplies linens and provides pick-up and delivery of clean linens on a daily or bi-weekly schedule.

“By controlling laundry processing, this service eliminates any risk in linen purchases and helps contain utility costs,” says Jean-Philippe Krukowicz, national sales manager at Garnier- Thiebaut. “At the same time, proper care preserves the life and look of our fine linens.”

The program has a number of ancillary advantages, he adds. “There is no need to worry about replacing linens or matching designs. The current pattern is never out of stock. And finding storage space is no longer a problem.”

Eliminated, too, are laundry headaches—a missing napkin or frayed tablecloth border. And GT replaces damaged or lost linens at cost. The all-important factor fueling the program is reliable economical laundering. To this end, GT licenses laundry services that conform to standards set at the company’s research laboratory at the headquarters in France.

A leader in the textile business since 1830, Garnier-Thiebaut (888-812-6670, www.gtlinens.com) has pioneered many of the industry’s innovative design and weaving techniques, particularly in development of lustrous damask linens, its signature fabric.

These two approaches to protecting and preserving the unique qualities of today’s fabrics offer an optimistic vision for hoteliers who will continue to set the table with luxurious linens.

Meade McCabe is a frequent contributor to HOTEL F&B.