Preventing Towels from Discoloring and Tearing

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Written by Rich Fitzmorris

Question: I work in a 400 room business resort hotel in southern Malaysia. We receive outside laundry from the Roman Spa Center to wash at our laundry. The towels are both 100% cotton, and are from the same manufacturer. After a few months of washing, the Roman Spa towels have turned from white to yellow, but the hotel towels are still white (we are using the same wash and chemical programs for both sets of towels). The Roman Spa towels are also starting to become loose and tear. What is the cause of this and how can we correct it?
- Rudi, Laundry Supervisor

Answer: You mention that the towels are from the same manufacturer, but not that the towels are exactly the same. I suspect that they are not identical towels. The towels that are discoloring are reacting to a problem in your operation. First, test for chlorine carryover at the end of the cycle using orthotolidine solution contained in a washroom technician's test kit. If there is a high enough residual, than this could explain the yellowing and the fabric damage after several washings. You may want to consider being especially mindful not to over load the washers, giving the product freedom to move inside the washer allowing the fabric to rinse more efficiently. Also, you may want to verify what the chlorine parts per million are in the bath for the Spa towels and the Resort towels. You may have more soil in the Resort towels and therefore the chlorine would be spent on this soil versus the Spa towels that may not need as much chlorine bleach.