01
Bed sheets & pillowcases
Flat and fitted sheeting and pillowcases for ward, side room and day-case beds, in the composition and sheeting tier your laundry regime supports.
Institutional · Product category
Hospital & Institutional Linen Supplier
Institutional linen is not bought by the piece. It is bought by the use: the delivered price divided by the number of times a sheet goes back into service, plus what the laundry spends putting it there. We specify against that arithmetic.
- Settings served
- Acute · Long-term · Rehabilitation · Mental health
- Composition
- 100% cotton or poly-cotton
- Colour
- White and cream from stock
- Payment terms
- 30% advance, 70% before pick-up
What we make for clinical settings
Four families, and we will say so when it is only four
Paragon Textile provides services to “acute care hospitals, long term care facilities, hotel, hospitality providers, rehabilitation centres and mental health facilities.” The list below is what our own files evidence us making for those settings. Anything a competitor lists that is missing here is missing on purpose.
02
Draw sheets
Draw sheets for safe patient repositioning: the piece that takes the load when a patient is turned or slid, and therefore the piece whose width, hem and seam construction deserve the most attention in the brief.
03
Patient bedding
The bedding that goes over the sheet: covers, blankets and top pieces made up to your ward specification and marking convention.
04
Towels & washcloths
Patient towels and washcloths in terry, weighted for a laundry that runs constantly rather than for a retail shelf.
Something else on your requisition?
If your schedule includes an item that is not in the four families above, ask. We would rather quote it honestly, or tell you it is outside what we make, than let a category page imply a capability we have not evidenced. Send the line item and we will answer it directly.
Staff clothing is a separate category with its own page, not a sub-line of the linen order: medical scrub sets and staff uniforms, and wrinkle-resistant doctor lab coats.
Composition
Why blend ratios differ
There is no single correct composition for institutional linen, and any supplier who tells you otherwise is describing their stock rather than your ward. The choice is a trade-off between what the patient feels and what the laundry costs, and the balance point moves depending on which of the two is doing the deciding.
Where 100% cotton wins
Cotton is specified where skin contact, absorbency and breathability dominate the decision: draw sheets in direct and prolonged contact with a patient, towels and washcloths, and long-stay beds where a patient lies on the same surface for hours at a time. Cotton takes up moisture readily and breathes, and for a patient who cannot move themselves that is a clinical consideration, not a comfort preference.
It is also the composition that behaves most predictably under a hot wash, which is why cotton remains the default in acute settings even where the accountants would prefer otherwise.
Where poly-cotton wins
Polyester content is specified where drying time, shape retention and cycles to failure dominate: high-turn ward flat linen, day-case units, and any site where the laundry is the binding constraint rather than the bed. Polyester dries faster than cotton, which takes energy and dwell time out of every single cycle, and it holds its shape and dimension better through repeated hot washing and finishing.
The documented industry ratios are the ones below. Which one belongs on your ward is a function of your wash regime and your replacement budget, not of fashion.
| Composition Typical industry range | What the ratio is chosen for | Usual position |
|---|---|---|
| 100% cotton | Absorbency, breathability, hand against skin | Draw sheets, towels and washcloths, long-stay and prolonged-contact beds |
| Poly-cotton 55/45 | The most cotton-forward of the blends; hand feel kept closest to cotton | Wards where patient comfort still leads but drying cost matters |
| Poly-cotton 65/35 | The mainstream institutional compromise between hand and laundry cost | General ward flat linen and pillowcases |
| Poly-cotton 80/20 | Fastest drying and strongest shape retention of the three | High-turn flat linen where the laundry is the binding constraint |
Typical industry range. Exact specification confirmed at sampling.
The two published figures behind the trade-off
- Published industry figures put the loss of tensile strength in pure cotton at roughly 20-25% after about 200 industrial wash cycles. Typical industry range
- Polyester content shortens drying time, which is why blends are reached for wherever the dryer, not the bed, is the bottleneck. Typical industry range
Typical industry range. Exact specification confirmed at sampling. Both figures describe cotton and polyester as fibres, as published in the general textile literature. Neither is a measurement of a Paragon product: we do not publish a cycle life, a strength retention figure or a laundering test result for our own goods, because we have not carried out that testing.
Guidance for buyers
Specifying for high-cycle laundering
Institutional linen is a consumable with a long tail. The number that governs the budget is not the unit price on the quotation. It is the unit price divided by the number of times the piece goes back into service before it is condemned, plus the cost of processing it on every one of those occasions. A cheaper sheet that leaves service earlier, or that takes longer to dry, is a more expensive sheet.
The variables that move cost per use
- Composition. It sets drying time, shape retention and how the piece behaves under repeated hot washing, the three things that decide both halves of the arithmetic.
- Construction. Sheeting tier, yarn and weave decide how the cloth takes mechanical action in the washer-extractor and the finisher.
- Hem and seam. Institutional linen almost always fails at an edge or a seam before it fails in the field. Hem depth, stitch type and corner reinforcement are worth arguing about at specification stage.
- Marking and sortation. Where the name tape, heat-seal chip or date tab sits determines how quickly the laundry can sort, and how early a piece is pulled from stock by mistake.
- Par level. A thin par forces every piece through more cycles per year. The specification and the par have to be set together, not sequentially.
A dependable manufacturing partner for global markets. Consistency, accountability, long-term reliability
Tell us your regime, not ours
Send the wash temperatures your laundry runs, the bleach and detergent chemistry it uses, the drying and finishing route, and the replacement interval you budget for. We will propose a composition, a construction and a hem against those parameters and confirm the exact specification at sampling.
What we will not do is publish a cycle life for our goods, or any performance property we have not tested for ourselves. None of it is evidenced in our files, and a procurement officer who discovers one unsupported claim on a supplier’s website is right to distrust every other number on it.
Specification
What is fixed, what is a range, what is on request
Three states, and nothing in between. A documented fact is printed plainly. A published industry range carries the pill. Where we hold no figure, the cell reads On request rather than a number we would have had to invent.
| Field | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Composition | 100% cotton, or poly-cotton 55/45, 65/35, 80/20 Typical industry range | Chosen against your wash regime and replacement budget |
| Sheeting tier | T-180 · T-200 percale · T-220 · T-250 percale Typical industry range | Institutional flat linen is normally specified at the lower tiers |
| Terry weight, towels & washcloths | 400-450 economy · 500-550 standard GSM Typical industry range | Washcloths are typically specified below the matched towel |
| Weave | Percale, plain and terry | Percale is a one-over-one plain weave; terry for towelling |
| Colour | White and cream from stock | Other shades matched to a Pantone reference on order |
| Finished sizes | On request | Cut to your bed, trolley and pillow measurements; confirmed at sampling |
| Draw sheet width & reinforcement | On request | State bed width, the repositioning method used and the reinforcement you need |
| Hem & seam construction | On request | Hem depth, stitch type and corner reinforcement specified per item |
| Marking | On request | Name tape, heat-seal chip position, date tab and department marking |
| Packing & folding | On request | Fold, count per bundle and outer marking to your goods-in convention |
| Minimum order quantity | On request | No figure is published; it is confirmed with your quote |
| Lead time | On request | No figure is published; it is confirmed with your quote |
| Certification | On request | We state no certification. Our processes are structured to meet international sourcing and compliance requirements |
| Payment terms | 30% advance, 70% before pick-up | Documented commercial term |
Typical industry range. Exact specification confirmed at sampling. Recommended care is written for the stated composition and is guidance for this fabric type, not a tested result for a Paragon batch.
Customisation option
Colour coding by department
Most institutional stock is white, because white is what a chlorine regime tolerates and what a sorter can judge at a glance. But a coloured identifier (a hem stripe, a bound edge, a woven border line, a coloured name tape), is the cheapest sortation tool a laundry has, and it stops theatre stock migrating to a general ward and staying there.
Coding can be specified per department: theatre, maternity, paediatrics, isolation, rehabilitation, day case, general ward. The identifier can sit in the weave as a coloured border line, at the edge as a bound or piped hem, or on the marking tape, depending on how your sorters actually work.
White and cream from stock. Other shades matched to a Pantone reference on order.
One caution to raise with your laundry manager before you commit: dyed goods and a chlorine regime do not always agree, and the coding scheme you choose should be settled against the bleach chemistry your laundry runs rather than against a colour chart. State that chemistry on the enquiry and we will specify accordingly.
- Coloured hem, bound edge or woven border line.
- Coloured name tape or department tape.
- Size and department marking printed or woven into the label.
- Position of heat-seal chip and date tab specified per item.
- Your own brand or institution name on a woven satin or printed label.
Organisations we have supplied
Hospitals, government, institutions and multinationals
Marks are shown with the permission of the organisation named, and imply no endorsement or preferred-supplier status. Further references are available on request. References
Connect now for orders
Send the schedule. We will price the cost per use.
A useful enquiry gives us the line items and annual volumes, the bed and pillow measurements, the wash regime the laundry runs, and the par level you hold. With those four things we can propose a composition and a construction and put a real number against them.
If your tender requires a specific format for the response, send it with the enquiry and we will answer in that format rather than in ours.
- Bed sheets and pillowcases, draw sheets, patient bedding, towels and washcloths.
- 100% cotton or poly-cotton, chosen against your laundry regime.
- Department colour coding, marking and packing to your convention.
- Payment terms: 30% advance, 70% before pick-up.
- No minimum-order or lead-time figure is published. Both are confirmed with your quote.