Cheap Gloves: Cost Effective or Poor ROI?

Are you under pressure to reduce costs while attempting to maintain high standards of food safety? Some companies opt for cheap nitrile gloves to reduce immediate expenses, while others understand this approach can be counterproductive and costly in the longer term.  

A newly published article in the Journal of Food Protection highlights that choosing gloves because of low cost is a risky procurement strategy - glove contamination from cost-cutting manufacturing steps was shown to contaminate food and consumers and cause product recalls. 

With raw materials and factory expenses totaling 70% of the total cost of a glove, significant cost savings can only be made in these two areas. Understanding the full risks and true cost implications of cheap nitrile gloves is essential when making informed gloves purchasing decisions. We explain why sourcing gloves because of low cost is a risk to your business.

The major factors Influencing glove cost/where cost cutting occurs - raw materials and factory expenses

Cheap Raw Materials:

1. Ripped Gloves: Cheap raw materials and fillers added during manufacturing will reduce cost and increase glove thickness, but also make gloves weaker and rip frequently. Read more about the risks of ripped gloves.  
2. 40% Usage Increase: Due to ripping, holes and the need to double glove, cheaply made gloves immediately negate any short-term cost savings. 
3. Reduced Worker Efficiency: Time wasting swapping ripped gloves and production lines affected with foreign material (glove pieces) contaminants.
4. Food Safety Implications: Can contain toxic compounds which can contaminate food (such as phthalates, BPA & PFAS). Combined with poor hand hygiene and glove juice, a ripped glove can risk microbial and chemical contamination.
5. Skin issues & muscle injury: Cheap toxic compounds can cause skin irritation to glove wearers, who can also suffer from muscle damage as gloves are made thicker and less elastic from filler use, increasing muscle strain. 

Poor Factory Standards 

1. Food Safety Implications from Contaminated Water: Glove manufacturing uses significant amounts of hot water which is costly. To reduce cost, cheap water sources contaminated with animal and human sewage, fertilizers and pesticides and industrial wastewater can be used, heated insufficiently to kill microbes, risking pathogen contamination.
2. Energy: Dirty wash tanks and poor environment practices are other ways to save costs. Additionally, insufficient drying methods save money, but can cause mold and fungus to form.
3. Labor: Glove manufacturing is notorious for labor violations, poor wages and living standards.
4. Gloves per Box: A well-known method by manufacturers of reducing costs is to include up to 5-10 fewer gloves per box, and/or include a number of defective gloves.  

Get a more detailed explanation of cost-cutting manufacturing steps in the critical control points of glove manufacturing. 

Cheap disposable gloves may provide immediate cost savings, but ultimately are a poor return on investment. Don’t let gloves be a risk to your business, source from verified suppliers with robust manufacturing quality assurance systems in place, together with responsible sourcing certifications.

Read more about the benefits to of sourcing from Eagle Protect, and how we set the glove industry standard with our 5 points of difference, including our proprietary Delta Zero™ third-party glove quality verification ensuring a line of Eagle gloves meet consistent high quality specifications and safety standards.