Choosing the right disposable gloves for janitorial and sanitation jobs takes a bit of work—but in the long run it’s definitely worth it.
One would think it should be pretty straightforward. Find one you like (nice color? good fit?) and try a box. It either works or it doesn’t.
It’s the law of supply and demand: Workers in businesses across the industrial spectrum depend on disposable gloves to safely perform their daily tasks. They order, take delivery, and wear them on the job. Rinse and repeat. It’s commerce, the way it’s supposed to work.
Where the equation gets interesting is determining which vendors can always deliver the gloves needed, when they’re needed, at scale, without backorders or other roadblocks. That’s where fill rates come into play.
In medical use, double-gloving—wearing one pair of gloves over another—is commonplace.
Healthcare professionals, always looking for extra protection from bloodborne pathogens, germs, viruses, and bacteria, have long double-gloved when the fear of contamination is high. In the early days of the pandemic, even with widespread glove shortages, an extra pair of gloves was seen not as an extravagance but a necessity.
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Since 2020, China has significantly increased its prominence in the disposable glove industry, emerging as a pivotal player in the global market. This rise is attributable to the needs generated by the pandemic, of course, but also to robust manufacturing capabilities, strategic investments, and evolving global trade dynamics. It has enabled China to showcase aggressive pricing and ramped-up capacity to compete head-on with SE Asia manufacturers.
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Spot rates for ocean freight from SE Asia to the U.S. have been rising recently and are expected to continue that trend until Chinese New Year in early 2025. Rates popped between 36%-41% month over month, and ocean carriers increased additional charges, known as general rate increases, by roughly 140%.
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Disposable glove factories, especially in Southeast Asia, continue to optimize their production lines. Some of the world’s largest makers of disposable gloves are working to return to profitability and expect it will take well into 2025 to do so.
The current state of the disposable glove market is defined by several factors that have become common over the last few years.
On the surface, the market appears to be in good shape. Acute glove shortages are behind us, pricing has returned to favorable levels, the supply chain has seen many broken links repaired, and there is no longer a sense of emergency weighing heavily on the entire glove trade.
Compliance is not a flashy topic in the realm of disposable gloves.
Despite its lofty position as one of four pillars in AMMEX’s core capabilities—along with fill rates, quality control, and customer service—it may not enjoy the buzz that surrounds the other three.
Janitorial & sanitation businesses need predictability and consistency. No one likes surprises, especially when it comes to their hand protection.
Those “bargain” disposable gloves that promised savings of a couple bucks per box? Maybe they hold up OK with light-duty tasks. But maybe they don’t—and workers ended up with glove after glove ripping, or leaking when working with cleaning solutions, or shredding when even the slightest resistance is met.
A question making the rounds in manufacturing circles is: What are you doing about sustainability?
It has extra resonance in the disposable glove industry. When it comes to sustainability, people have visions of gloves that, after use, disappear into the ether. (Cool idea, but still science fiction at this point.) There is a lot of chatter out there about gloves’ biodegradability or recyclability or compostability, but not nearly enough about how such efforts are essentially futile.
