COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has started a paradigm shift in hospital and laboratory environment, and airborne precautions have become proportionately significant as universal blood and body fluid precautions. The use of PPE (personal protective equipment), including surgical masks or N95FFR, is becoming a norm, which in turn has led to the scarcity of PPE among healthcare workers. Along with this, the demand for hospital gowns escalated amidst the pandemic, which mainly included the adoption of single-use/disposable gowns across the globe. Several research has been going on to manufacture gowns for healthcare and laboratory workers, tested with various disinfectants and heat, and made from reusable material. The cloth could tolerate repeated exposures to alcohol, heat, hypochlorite, and hydrogen peroxide. This impermeable material did not permit the air to pass. A cool vest made up of indigenous “Khadi” cloth with pockets containing phase change material. This can be used among healthcare workers in hospitals and communities and people in diagnostic and research laboratories as a cost-effective PPE. Following these promising developments, the Global Hospital Gowns Market is estimated to see healthy growth, pegged at a CAGR of around 10.7% throughout the forecast period 2020-2025. 

Hospitals have started reusing the single-use PPE using various techniques, such as hypochlorite, H2O2, ethylene oxide, or a combination of these. The material used for reusable PPE is not durable and, after few uses, starts to collapse. One precaution is for the use of hypochlorite as a disinfectant, where after treatment, the gown has to be adequately washed with water; otherwise, it becomes stained and sticky.

Hospital gowns retain superbugs even after disinfected 

A study by the University of Plymouth recommends that surgical gowns used in hospitals and laboratories retain superbugs. Even after single-use, the gowns had been contaminated with superbug Clostridium difficile (C difficile), even after being treated with a certain amount of disinfectant. Following to treating contaminated things with a disinfectant containing 1,000 parts per million of chlorine, the amount and time recommended by the Department of Health and Social Care, the group found that all strains of C difficile spores still endured on the gowns and did not lessen, allowing them to move to different things conceivably. With the rising awareness regarding superbugs in the gowns, the trend for reusable grown is significantly increasing across the globe. Therefore, considerable growth can be expected from the hospital gowns market during the forecast period.

Segmentation Overview of the Global Hospital Gowns Market

The hospital gowns market is segmented on type, usability, and risk type. These major market segments are further categorized into various sub-segments to study the market in detail. 

By Type Outlook (Surgical Gowns, Non-Surgical Gowns, Patient Gowns)

By Usability Outlook (Disposable Gowns, Reusable Gowns)

By Risk Type Outlook (Minimal Risk, Low Risk, Moderate Risk, High Risk)

Key Players Insights

Medline Industries, Inc., Standard Textile Co., Inc., Angelica, AmeriPride Services, Inc., 3M Company, Cardinal Health, among others, are some significant players in the research study of the global hospital gowns market.