Navigating the turbulence of creating a sustainable, reusable, personalised theatre hat range has not been an easy task.
Although embroidered reusable theatre hats were a huge step in the right direction to make sustainable changes in healthcare, we decided to investigate and innovate a new product which was:
Even more sustainable
Less complex to order
Enable commercial laundering
Scalable to add our products onto Frameworks
More financially viable for hospitals to implement
Our journey of discovery into creating our new theatre badge hats has certainly been comparable to being on an aeroplane with jet streams and changes in air velocities!
The exhilarating highs of success integrated with a multitude of lows and setbacks led us to our now readily available product range which ticks so many boxes for healthcare and operating theatre departments.
One of the most rewarding aspects of starting our business was the opportunity to bring our vision to life, our journey in creating various prototypes along with the exploration of numerous fixation techniques and devices has certainly been a step in the right direction to bring together history and innovation by fusing two tried and tested ideas together, fabric theatre hats and name badges.
We looked back in history to find out how a theatre hat which was once worn in the 1920’s in hospital theatres throughout the world could be transformed to make a hat range relevant today. It’s strange to think we’ve come full circle, however, now with a modern twist!
The convenience, yet wasteful, throw-away disposable hats have had their day, and we look towards the future! Sustainability is now here to stay!
Exploring many fixation methods and ruling out many options such as magnets and Velcro, we examined ‘clear windows’ on the hats. Working with industry experts such as Universities, test centres and commercial laundries, we were able to conduct thorough research to understand what was required to manufacture the most suitable products which offered outstanding longevity.
Clear window hats
Initially, the clear window hats appeared to be the golden ticket, however, feedback was quite negative from the outset due to the integrated ‘plastic’ that healthcare is trying to steer away from.
The next obstacle was the name badge to slot inside the clear window design – written pieces of paper and cards looked shabby, they also needed to be replaced each day due to cleaning the hats, which created ‘dog ears’ on the corners. The pieces of paper and card could easily be lost and many new names re-written daily were to be inserted, which wasn't realistic to do in the fast-paced environment of an operating theatre.
Printed name badges to slot into the clear window was another idea that we explored but wearing the hard plastic on the forehead all day was not comfortable and it caused friction.
The nail in the coffin for this clear window design was the infection control and laundering research. The window could keep moisture locked inside which is an optimum environment for bacterial growth and mildew.
It was also found that over time, the clear window would not remain clear, and visibility would gradually diminish with each wash. On top of this, our commercial laundering partners have described how the drying of textiles is performed:
The garments go through a rigorous process to rid the excess water from the garments and this wringing-out process (to save energy before drying) causes defects in the window such as cracks, reducing the visibility which was the whole purpose and intention of the product- clear and concise communication.
Our industrial laundering partners have also tried clear windows on workwear tops, and they failed the design after their testing indicated such poor performance. This clear window idea and prototypes of its kind were rejected for many reasons as outlined above but it was a great learning curve which took us on a new path where we embarked on the next fixation method which eventually passed all the tests and ticked all the boxes!
“Failure in success is progress” (Einstein)
We don’t just sell theatre hats; we conduct thorough research to clearly understand the market and requirements to produce robust test results to ensure that our products are of the very best design quality and to give confidence to our customers who are considering switching to them.
All our test results are available to read on our website below: