INDUSTRIAL WASHING

Industrial washing is large-scale professional laundry, as opposed to washing at home. Garments marked “Industrial washing/PRO label” can be washed in line with these instructions at a professional laundry. EN ISO 15797 is the test method used to simulate an industrial washing process in a laboratory. The standard specifies the test method itself but does not define which parameters that should be evaluated after wash or what constitutes an acceptable result. EN ISO 15797 is often mistakenly thought of as a certification. Instead, it is used as a pre-treatment method/aging simulation, alongside another standard or specification.

For “regular” workwear, there is no universal assessment of what constitutes a sufficient result after testing in accordance with EN ISO 15797. It is a matter of evaluation, often based on expectations for different garment types. For protective clothing, the performance of protective properties after washing is a mandatory requirement in the certification process. General wear of the garment is not evaluated as long as the protective functions remain intact.

Although EN ISO 15797 simulate an industrial wash cycle, many parameters and variables in actual industrial washing may deviate significantly from the test method. In practice, this means that a garment labelled with the PRO tag may still need to be tested in the specific industrial laundry process intended for use. This is something Blåkläder both evaluates internally and recommends be carried out when introducing a new washing process