Article - Putting Essential Personal Protective Clothing First


28 May 2020

The phrase “personal protective clothing” – abbreviated to PPC in the relevant section of the XCO Group’s convenient website, refers to garments and accessories that are worn by those in occupations and environments that may expose them to a host of potential contaminants or impurities.

Commonplace Contaminants

There are a number of pollutants in the world, and these include dirt, dust, debris, chemicals, fumes, paint, oil, poisons, corrosive agents, flame or sparks, contamination from substances like bodily fluids, which may spread bacteria, viral infections and disease. They also include anything that you would choose to avoid if you didn’t want to get yourself or your everyday clothing soiled, contaminated, or ruined.

By wearing personal protective clothing over or instead of “normal” garments, the wearer and their clothes are shielded and prevented from the possible undesirable effects of coming into contact with or being near to foreign matter.

A Leading South African Supplier

XCO Group is a leading South African supplier of branded team wear, sports gear, corporate and personal protective clothing, essential personal safety accessories and equipment, and promotional items for all preferences and budgets.

Today, XCO is proud to have its own company-based manufacturing, embroidery, and printing divisions for centralised in-house production and branding, ensuring that errors are unlikely to occur. Thereby, we’re also able to exercise stringent control to maintain our own high standards over all aspects of quality and lead times that we indicate to our clients on receipt of their orders.  XCO Group is a respected supplier, known for value, service excellence, choice, convenience, quality, and comprehensive ranges of varied merchandise in a very competitive market sector. To date, our overall list of products totals exceeds 180 000, spanning 90 sought-after brands.

Without consistently maintaining our high standards plus the characteristics and qualities that have enabled us to grow and expand our ranges and fields of operations and expertise, the XCO Group would never have been able to establish and retain our loyal customer base, which is not limited to, but includes:

  • 5 000 athletes – national and provincial
  • 4 798 schools
  • 1 060 corporate concerns
  • 89 tertiary education facilities
  • 78 government departments

While South Africa was under lockdown Level 5, XCO continued to operate remotely, via electronic-communication technology. Although we were by no means functioning fully, across all our product ranges yet, we were able to deal with most clients’ questions and queries, and take “advance” orders, pending the stepping down of the lockdown’s most extreme level. As such, we were only permitted to supply a small, select range of essential personal protective products that did not include clothing but consisted of disposable gloves, top- grade protective face masks, as well as effective hand and surface sanitisers.

Currently, we’re functioning at Level 4 trading conditions, eagerly awaiting 1 June 2020, when we’ll be functioning under Level 3’s less restrictive regulations. This will allow us to resume trading in more of XCO’s proud product offerings, including our full range of personal protective clothing that consists of items in the broad XCO categories listed below:

  • Disposable Wear: Still vitally important throughout all virus levels and beyond, for those employed in potentially hazardous occupations and tasks that actively strive to curb and contain the spread of COVID-19 infections and contamination. The list is long since it includes personnel who are tasked with conducting countrywide COVID-19 tests, emergency service personnel, medical and health services (those in all medical roles that include caring for people who have tested positive and are confined to isolation facilities), persons involved in sanitising public areas and spaces, and those who perform essential services.
  • Dust Coats and Aprons: Protecting and keeping the wearer’s own clothes clean.
  • High-Visibility and Reflective Vests: Essential personal protective clothing, designed to prevent on-the-job accidents by ensuring the visibility of those on construction sites, traffic wardens, members of the police, and emergency services
  • Hospitality and Chef Wear: currently regarded as non-essential clothing.
  • Overalls and Conti Suits:  Protective workwear clothing items.
  • Rain and Freezer Wear: They keep the wearer dry and relatively warm
  • Security Wear:  Also known as security uniforms.

We’d like to reassure our customers that we’re ready and waiting to see to all their personal protective clothing needs and look forward to the time when everything is back in place, and we are fully functional. In the interim, please stay safe and please do stay in contact with XCO Group. 

Back to articles