Why do prices of disposable gloves vary so much between products, and between those who sell them?
Why does inventory come and go? (Those hybrid vinyl/nitrile gloves that you may have loved during the pandemic are much harder to find now.)
The disposable glove market is in a vastly different position from the last couple of years. Yes, it’s still dynamic and unpredictable, but opportunities for glove distributors are everywhere.
The first two years of the pandemic caused havoc for everybody, and the glove market was certainly no exception. A global surge in demand for gloves sent manufacturers scrambling to keep up. The resulting fallout from being unable to deliver needed product pushed every manufacturer to increase production capacity. That led to ample supply coming online in the second half of 2022.
If you’re a distributor, you should be stocking light-duty black nitrile gloves in abundance.
Why? They’re hot. End users want a glove that doesn’t show dirt and grime. They also want to look as professional as possible, which makes black the glove color of choice across countless industries.
Fentanyl is a national health menace. The damage it causes is far-reaching and heartbreaking, and first responders are well aware of the dangers it poses in even casual contact.
Up to 100 times stronger than morphine, this synthetic opioid was developed for managing extreme pain in cancer patients. It has also been subverted as a highly addictive “recreational” drug, added to heroin or mixed into other drugs that pose potentially fatal risks to unknowing victims.
Is there a recession ahead? Some doomsayers believe there is.
Economist Nouriel Roubini, who correctly predicted the 2008 financial crisis, sees a “long and ugly” recession occurring in the U.S. and globally at the end of 2022 that could last all of 2023. (He also has a new book to sell, so keep that in mind.)
Vinyl gloves are the workhorses of the disposable glove world. They may not be sexy, but they get the job done.
If your glove customers are cost conscious above all, vinyl should be your first recommendation. There are three industries in which they are a perfect fit under most circumstances.
The disposable glove market is in a terrific position. In fact, opportunities for distributing gloves are greater than ever.
Why? Here are four reasons:
The industrial disposable glove market has seen consistent double-digit growth over the last 40 years. Glove use for applications from plumbing to electrical to mechanical has increased annually.
There was a time that few if any workers in industrial settings wore disposable gloves. Many workers of a certain vintage still don’t, with a common complaint being that gloves restrict their range of motion and just don’t “feel right.”
Of the most common disposable glove materials, nitrile is far and away the most popular. Latex may have better fit, feel, and comfort—and vinyl may have a lower price point—but it’s difficult to beat nitrile for its all-around appeal.
Nitrile disposable gloves have for years been a popular alternative to latex in many industries, especially those that require more interaction with harsh chemicals and solvents, such as automotive work.
For importers and distributors affected over the last couple years by supply chain dysfunction—in other words, pretty much everybody—the big picture is looking a bit brighter.
Shipping bottlenecks are beginning to loosen. The recent drop in wholesale inflation (for the first time in two years) provided a sign that some of the U.S. economy’s inflationary pressures have begun to cool. The New York Fed’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index fell for the third straight month in July, hitting its lowest point since January 2021.
