Colorado PPE Opens New Colorado Facility to Deliver Firefighter PPE Care Above and Beyond Standard Compliance

Expands Access to Comprehensive Firefighter PPE Care with the Opening of its Colorado Facility

New Facility Provides Fire Departments with Cleaning, Inspection, Repair, Rental PPE, NFPA 1850 Training and Department Cleaning Equipment Under One Roof

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lakeland Industries, Inc. ("Lakeland Fire + Safety" or "Lakeland") (NASDAQ: LAKE) announced today the expansion of its network of independent service providers for comprehensive firefighter PPE care with the opening of its new Centennial, Colorado facility, Colorado PPE. Colorado PPE combines responsive department-focused service with the resources and capabilities of Lakeland Fire + Safety to deliver comprehensive PPE care, rental and training solutions.

Colorado PPE operates as an independent service provider, offering fire departments a more personal approach while bringing the resources and capabilities of a larger organization to the relationship. The facility represents a broader approach to firefighter PPE management—one that goes beyond compliance to focus on the people who rely on their gear every time they answer a call.

“We believe in maintaining a higher level of service for our fire departments,” said Mike Glaze, President of California PPE. “Our goal is to ensure our firefighters and departments are valued and their gear is in the best condition it can be in to protect them when it leaves our facility and enters their service.”

NFPA 1850, is the National Fire Protection Association standard that establishes requirements for the selection, care, maintenance, inspection, cleaning, repair, retirement, and management of protective ensembles and clothing used by firefighters and emergency responders. Under this standard, it establishes a minimum performance benchmark of removing 50% of heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from contaminated PPE. Based on test results from UL, a third-party testing agency, our cleaning process achieved average cleaning efficiencies of 88% removal of VOCs and 89% removal of heavy metals—exceeding the minimum benchmark and raising the bar for PPE cleaning in the industry.

The new facility provides comprehensive PPE services designed to support firefighters throughout the lifecycle of their gear, including cleaning, inspection and repair. Rental PPE is also available to help departments maintain readiness when gear is temporarily out of service or when additional equipment is needed for training and other operational requirements. Colorado PPE will also provide NFPA 1850 training and station cleaning equipment such as extractors to help departments better understand and implement effective PPE care programs.

“Every department has different needs, different resources and different challenges. Our job is to understand those needs and help build a PPE care program that works for them,” said Misty Johnson, Operations Manager at Colorado PPE. “We clean, inspect and repair PPE with purpose—going beyond the minimum to help protect those who protect us because when it comes to protecting firefighters, meeting the minimum should be the starting point, not the finish line.”

Jim Jenkins, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lakeland, added, “Colorado PPE is committed to helping departments care for their gear with purpose and looks forward to serving the Colorado fire community. PPE care is ultimately about more than equipment, standards or processes. It is about the people wearing the gear. The firefighters who run toward emergencies trust their PPE to provide protection in some of the most demanding environments imaginable and Colorado PPE believes the care that gear receives should reflect the importance of that responsibility.”

About Lakeland Fire + Safety

Lakeland Fire + Safety manufactures and sells a comprehensive line of fire services and industrial protective clothing and accessories for the industrial and first responder markets. In addition, we provide decontamination, repair and rental services that complement our fire services portfolio. Our products are sold globally by our in-house sales teams, our customer service group, and authorized independent sales representatives to a strategic global network of selective fire and industrial distributors and wholesale partners. Our authorized distributors supply end users across various industries, including integrated oil, chemical/petrochemical, automobile, transportation, steel, glass, construction, smelting, cleanroom, janitorial, pharmaceutical, and high-tech electronics manufacturers, as well as scientific, medical laboratories, and the utilities industry. In addition, we supply federal, state and local governmental agencies and departments, including fire and law enforcement, airport crash rescue units, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control. Internationally, we sell to a mix of end-users directly and to industrial distributors, depending on the particular country and market. In addition to the United States, sales are made into more than 50 foreign countries, the majority of which were into China, the European Economic Community ("EEC"), Canada, Chile, Argentina, Commonwealth of Independent States (“CIS”) Region, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, India, Uruguay, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

For more information about Lakeland, please visit the Company's website at www.lakeland.com.

About Colorado PPE

Located in Centennial, Colorado, Colorado PPE provides comprehensive PPE care and resources for fire departments, including cleaning, inspection, repair, rental PPE, NFPA 1850 training and equipment, and advanced decontamination solutions.

Colorado PPE combines the responsive, department-focused approach of an independent service provider with the resources, technical expertise and broader capabilities of Lakeland Fire + Safety. This combination allows Colorado PPE to deliver personal service at the local level while continuing to invest in technologies and capabilities designed to improve firefighter safety and PPE care. For more information visit https://coloradoppe.com/.

Colorado PPE
6675 S. Kenton St., Suite 113
Centennial, CO 80111

Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. MT
Email: customerservice@coloradoppe.com

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This press release contains estimates, predictions, opinions, goals and other "forward-looking statements" as that phrase is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, without limitation, references to the Company's predictions or expectations of future business or financial performance as well as its goals and objectives for future operations, financial and business trends, business prospects, and management's expectations for earnings, revenues, expenses, inventory levels, capital levels, liquidity levels, or other future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations, including without limitation our plans to deliver comprehensive care, rental and training solutions. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, which address Lakeland's expectations of sources or uses for capital, or which express the Company's expectation for the future with respect to financial performance or operating strategies, can be identified as forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as described from time to time in press releases and Forms 8-K, registration statements, quarterly and annual reports and other reports and filings filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission or made by management. As a result, there can be no assurance that Lakeland's future results will not be materially different from those described herein as "believed," "projected," "planned," "intended," "anticipated," "can," "estimated" or "expected," or other words which reflect the current view of the Company with respect to future events. We caution readers that these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. The Company hereby expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which such statement is based, except as may be required by law.

Investor Relations
Chris Tyson
Executive Vice President
MZ Group - MZ North America
949-491-8235
LAKE@mzgroup.us 
www.mzgroup.us

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