showcasing shirts

Showing off your shirts!

1 December 2006



Shirt laundering is a growth sector that no cleaner can afford to ignore. Tony Vince looks at some of the options now available


A shirt finishing service can be a highly labour-intensive operation – after all, time spent by an operative in finishing just one shirt might have been better spent processing several drycleaned garments.

High street drycleaners need to consider carefully whether investing in dedicated shirt finishing equipment is worth the outlay.

Jason Alexander, managing director of Renzacci UK, is in no doubt. “Shirt laundering is the single largest growth sector in our industry for the last few years and a market that no cleaner can afford to ignore. A specialist shirt service is simple to set up and inexpensive to operate,” he says.

Cleanwell Drycleaners in the East End of London says shirts are important to its business. Brothers Zia and Irshad Ullah spent three years researching the industry before approaching Renzacci UK to equip their new premises.

“Jason Alexander not only brought into the picture the very high quality machinery that I was looking for but also a wealth of knowledge he has amassed,” says Zia Ullah.

“He pointed us in the right direction in terms of ancillary suppliers, marketing consultants and graphic designers.His company organised the installation of the gas mains, and applied for the permit to operate a drycleaners on my behalf from the local council and installed the machinery.”

Cleanwell decided to offer a specialist shirt service from the outset. Zeeshan Ullah adds: “We’re pleased with the way the service is going. We have a program that allows us to see exactly how many shirts we’re doing a week and already the numbers are much higher than we expected and the service is just establishing itself.”

With running costs around £2.50 per hour, Alexander says the Pony MG405 shirt former and CCP collar and cuff press offer a versatile way of processing all types of shirts, which can either be damp or dry.

Capable of handling up to 40 shirts an hour, the MG405 includes a vacuum that reaches across the whole dummy area making it easier for the operator to dress the shirt.

The front closing paddle is flexible and padded to eliminate any pressure marks as well as avoiding gloss, button and seam scuffs.

Two joysticks are fitted on the paddle making it possible to adjust the vertical alignment of the sleeve clamps to the armhole.

Special pneumatic clamps stretch down the shirt body and tighten the seams while they are fast dried via a powerful hot airflow.

Oval clamps hold up the sleeves, rotating and fitting the cuff shape, thus conforming to the sleeve shape. Neck holding is also pneumatic.

The unit trolley is fitted with a photocell for automatic positioning of the rear clamp with the lower shirt edge.

A microprocessor with 10 programs allows automatic steaming cycles air/steam mix and ventilation (hot and cold air) according to the composition of the fabric and how wet the shirt is. Manual operation is also possible.

Accessories include water spray gun, electric iron, button post and shirt hangers, pneumatic side clamping device and air vent chimney with sound insulation.

Tony Dickens at BMM Weston firmly believes that shirt finishing is now an essential part of a successful drycleaning business.

“The profitability of providing the service will vary depending upon whether the work is contracted out or done in house but no drycleaner can really afford not to provide the service,” he says.

“It is indisputable that a customer using a shirt service provided by a drycleaner will be a more frequent visitor to the shop than someone just bringing in drycleaning.

“The majority of shirt customers will visit their drycleaner once a week and it is reasonable to assume that this frequency of visit will also increase drycleaning revenue,” he says. “For drycleaners who invest in their own shirt finishing equipment and are able to have the machine visible to the public, there is the added attraction of customers being able to view the actual shirt finishing process.”

BMM Weston offers an most extensive range of one-,two-, and three-piece machines. It recently introduced a complete new range of machines with the launch of the Lightning.

This is available as a single or double buck model in addition to an all-in-one unit that incorporates the collar and cuff press and body in one machine.

“One of the most significant factors to a profitable shirt service is to eliminate or reduce touching-up of the shirt after it has been pressed.

The new Lightning range comes close to producing the perfect shirt every time. “One recent installation of a Lightning machine has seen a 80% reduction in the number of shirts requiring any kind of touch up versus the previous model and this has actually resulted in over 90% of shirts being ready for despatch as soon as they come off the machine,” adds Dickens.

Forty shirts an hour is a good benchmark on which to base an investment decision, according to Firbimatic UK. One of the most comprehensive ranges is that supplied by Barbanti from Italy. whose product range is distributed, installed and serviced nationwide by Firbimatic UK.

One user who appreciates the flexibility of the Barbanti machine is Julian Berger in Manchester who has been involved in shirt processing for many years.

“We installed the Barbanti to replace a very old ESP shirt machine and we were impressed by the ease with which the staff took to the new operation. We process about 600 shirts a week and we see it as a very useful add-on service to our drycleaning business. Shirt processing is currently a steady business as there is a lot of competition about, but we see a shirt customer every week and this reminds them to take another garment in for cleaning when they collect the shirts.”

The Barbanti 481 Shirt Finisher can be combined with a Barbanti 510 Collar-Cuffer to deliver the best finish and increase productivity.

Up to nine programs are available to provide flexibility in processing and to report on a comprehensive series of self-diagnostic checks which manage the complexity of the machine operation and identify and isolate any mechanical glitch immediately it occurs.

In processing, the shirt is held by vacuum until the front and rear padded clamps are positioned by photoelectric sensors and then activated by foot control. The full-height front clamp ensures a perfect ironing position and the latest additions to the features include double clamps for long and short sleeved shirts, and joy-stick control for correct positioning for crease free finishing of the shirt.

Safety features on the P510 include enforced two-hand, operation of the heated pressing head. The P510 has both heated head and buck to speed throughput and ensure quality finishing to the collars and cuffs.


Lightning inset Lightning inset
cleanwell drycleaners cleanwell drycleaners
Lightning BWW Weston Lightning BWW Weston
Barbanti 510 collar cuffer Barbanti 510 collar cuffer
Pony MGC 397 Pony MGC 397
Barbanti 481 Barbanti 481


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