Almost all goods on the market can be categorized into two types: durable goods and consumable goods (non-durable goods).

Durable goods are items that are used for at least 1 year and support reuse, such as refrigerators and automobiles.

Consumable goods are completely consumed after one or a few uses under normal circumstances, e.g. paper towels, packaged food. Disposable nitrile gloves would be considered a consumable item.

There is no doubt about the “life” of durable goods, a longer period of safe use and a perfect warranty period commitment to give consumers more peace of mind.

But for consumables, the situation is more complex. For example, for a pencil, the length of time between production and use does not have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the product. However, prepackaged foods require strict control of the shelf life from production to consumption.

Which category of consumables do nitrile gloves fall into?

The answer is somewhere in between. On one hand, its product performance is more stable, on the other hand, gloves can change over time.

Each nitrile glove has its own “shelf life”, or more accurately - expiration date.

Currently, there are no strict regulations on the expiration date of gloves in many regions of the world. However, KINGFA still assigns an expiration date to each glove to provide better storage and transportation as well as usage guidelines.

Generally, the expiration date of our nitrile gloves can be up to 5 years, during which the products have the best performance and the best hand protection. When the expiration date is exceeded, the product's protection may be reduced and the probability of tearing or rupture will be increased.

Why the shelf life of nitrile gloves can be as high as 5 years?

Experts familiar with the glove industry understand that the shelf life of common natural rubber gloves is about 3 years. But why the shelf life of nitrile gloves can be realized beyond that and reach 5 years?

This is related to its material properties.

Nitrile gloves are made of acrylonitrile and butadiene as the main components, adding other additives, and made by impregnation and vulcanization, etc. Due to the high polarity of the material, the intermolecular force is larger and the structure is more stalking continuously improves the material and formula of nitrile gloves, as well as the production control, so as to guarantee the durability and stability of the finished products. And the performance is still stable after a long time of storage.

For natural latex gloves, the raw material itself has a large number of unsaturated double bonds. Their nature is more active, more likely to change under the conditions of light, heat, ozone, radiation, etc. That’s why the aging resistance is lower. After a long time of storage, the aging phenomenon of becoming soft and sticky/brittle and hard will be more obvious, and the performance of each property will be significantly reduced at the same time.

What are the advantages of longer expiration date?

(1) Stable performance allows end-customers to have a stable experience. Reliable quality and guaranteed expiration date ensure that every time the user wears the product, he/she gets a similar protective experience instead of suddenly realizing that the product is easy to tear.

(2) Easier to store for bulk purchases and long sales cycles. Under similar storage conditions, the product has a longer release cycle and is easier to manage, which determines that the product has a higher turnover period and will not be scrapped due to a precipitous drop in performance.

How to ensure the best performance of nitrile gloves during the expiration date?

The answer is guarantee good storage conditions.

Just as humid and open environments and broken and exposed packaging accelerate the deterioration of food, the rate of deterioration of gloves increases dramatically under conditions such as humidity, high temperature and direct sunlight, so please follow the storage guidelines below:

① Complete sealed package: Do not easily break the package of the product unless you are ready to use it;

② Good storage environment: Always store in a [cool, dry and dark] place, away from heat and moisture, avoid exposure to ozone or ultraviolet light (including sunlight and strong artificial light sources with high ultraviolet content) Remember do not store with acids, alkalis, oils and corrosive objects

③ Healthy expiration date management: Follow the expiration date guidelines written on the glove package and try to use them within the expiration date to ensure the best protection experience.

Finally, it should be noted again that all expiration dates for disposable gloves are only estimates, and the so-called shelf life is not absolute. If the original packaging is intact, the gloves will still maintain stable performance after ten years under optimal storage conditions, as long as the product does not exhibit the following signs: brittleness, reduced elasticity, discoloration, tearing easily when stretched, etc.