The International Drycleaners Congress (IDC) chose Re-thinking Textile Care as the theme for its 2010 Convention, held in Dublin. The event aimed to start discussion on the industry’s future and ways of enhancing drycleaning’s image.
The first conference session opened with a talk on luxury drycleaning by Ray Lambert, managing director of Jeeves/Jeeves International.
Lambert took great pride in introducing the audience to Jeeves. He said that Jeeves was more than a business; it represented a passion for excellence that had not dimmed even after four decades. The company provided a remarkable tradition of expert garment care and high quality service for a discerning clientele.
As an aspirational brand and the provider of a quality personalised service, Jeeves caters to top tier professionals and bespoke-service seeking individuals. Jeeves has also aligned itself with many of the world’s finest haute-couture houses, which see it as their recommended cleaner.
Lambert said: “The high-end clothes care Industry is experiencing a great uplift in demand, due in part to the fact that people are turning away from “wash and wear” clothes in favour of clothes made with natural fibres. This type of garment can only be drycleaned and expert handling is essential. Clothes are also becoming much more expensive and the cost in relation to the drycleaning charges makes high quality services a worthwhile investment”.
Since the late 1970’s, Jeeves International has successfully franchised the business outside the UK and has established ongoing concerns in New York, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Istanbul and Kula Lumpur. A Bahrain establishment opened in 2010 and in 2011 businesses will open in Singapore, Kuwait, Shanghai and Beijing. Jeeves is an example of the standards that can be achieved in the Industry.
Masashi Shimenoki, president of the Textile Care Information Service in Japan discussed the Foundation for Establishing a Worldwide Professional Textile Care Industry. He described current fashion trends and reported a rapid increase in the kinds of materials and the range of techniques used by the leading clothing manufacturers.
The textile care industry now required more specialised knowledge about textile properties, dyes and dyeing techniques, and garment manufacturing and production processes to provide appropriate cleaning and finishing methods. He felt that without an effective international cleaning standard for these clothes, the industry wouldn’t experience a prosperous 21st century.
Shimenoki strongly believed that it was necessary to distinguish the Professional Textile Care industry from traditional drycleaning. To do this it would be necessary to have expert knowledge about textiles, dyeing and designs so that the “new” industry could give the proper advice and guidance to customers in selecting the best choice of cleaning services. However, it would also be necessary to make customers understand that the more difficult and expensive garments need special, sophisticated processes so that they feel that a premium cleaning charge is both reasonable and necessary.
Shimenoki had a mission to establish the Japan Professional Textile Care Association by the end of this year and one of its main projects would be identifying and certifying shops with professional standards. These would be known as Texcare Pro shops and would have a licence that they could display and shop signs with the official trademark. The first day’s session ended with an open forum on New Business and New Equipment, led by Ken Uchikoshi from Sankosha, Japan.
The second day started with a visit to Dormer in Castlebellingham a supplier to Ireland’s drycleaning industry and a company that also manufactures hangers including a recyclable design.
Diana Vollmer of Methods for Management in the USA began the afternoon sessions by looking at management strategies for improving the industry’s image. She pointed out that each business should make itself the most convenient for customers to use. Convenience could be defined in different ways – by location, opening hours, ease of access or business methods such as accepting credit cards.
Businesses should exploit their competitors’ weaknesses while capitalising on their own strengths and most importantly they must publicise such advantages.
Marketing strategies should be updated on a regular basis and Vollmer discussed modern techniques such as using social media as well as adapting old and trusted ways of communication. She advised cleaners to project a positive eco message but in doing so they should not attack other cleaners as this could detract from the drycleaning concept.
Peter Wennekes, secretary general of Cinet, talked about how the organisation supported the professional textile care industry through a programme that covered marketing and communication including market sectors and opportunities; the environment and legislation including sustainable processing and benchmarking and . education and training.
This last included its interactive web-based training programs for sustainable laundry and the
E-Dryclean project. Cinet also has an extensive research and technology programme that includes sustainable cleaning, finishing technologies, hygiene and working practices.
Fashion Care
Wennekes then gave a detailed address on the Fashion Care Concept, an international initiative to provide customers with the assurance that their garments will be cleaned by the best professional drycleaners, busineses that produce the highest quality results. The programme is available in Germany through DTV/EFIT and in the USA through America’s Best Cleaners but Wennekes concentrated on the Fashion Care foundation in the Netherlands operated by the Dutch trade association, Netex. This aimed to establish quality standards, improve the image, to build partnerships at all levels of the textile chain and to establish a globally recognised brand.
Wennekes also spoke on Project E-DryClean. This is a European project to improve the knowledge and skills both of business owners and their staff . It would help them to comply with EU legislation and to work with a variety of processes so they could remain economically sound and meet customer requirements. The aim was to take away barriers for learning within companies and implement
on-the-job training methods. It would offer educational/training modules and work formats that could be updated to comply with best practice techniques.
As IDC’s executive director, Chris Tebbs led an open forum on the future for solvents that generated lively discussion. The forum went beyond concerns about solvents to discuss the need for a form of registration/licensing/certification of professional cleaners backed up by the need for training qualifications for those operating in the Industry.
On the Saturday, Peter Wennekes gave an overview of the professional textile care industry in Europe over the next five years.
This year there were nine reports on individual countries from John Xue, China; Marcia Todd, Canada; Ian Richards, Ireland; Isao Takeuchi, Japan; Ken Uchikoshi,Korea ; Peter Wennekes, The Netherlands; Cristina Zaman, Romania; Murray Simpson, UK and Lynnette Watterson, USA.
The fashion care network was made up of drycleaners, retailers, garment manufacturers and customers.
The network allows drycleaners to implement quality controls, gain customers, increase sales to existing customers and promote a modern professional image. It also allows them to maintain contacts with suppliers and overall to gain a competitive advantage.
Customers that belong to the network benefit from a 50% discount on their first cleaning order, a 100% guarantee on the cleaning result, service-oriented performance at all levels and a customer friendly approach in case of any complaints.
The network provides fashion retailers with an additional service by helping them to find a qualified textile cleaner, a defined scope of liability for incorrect cleaning and provides feedback about defects in products and a central point of reference on the matter of quality.