Scottish conference

Forging stronger links with members

1 October 2010



The third TSA/Guild joint Scottish conference attracted a record attendance of 105 delegates that included representatives of 41 drycleaning groups and individual cleaners as well as industry suppliers. Event chairman Ian Simpson had organised a programme that took a practical approach to industry concerns


The working relationship between Textile Services Association (TSA) and The Guild of Launderers and Cleaners has been strengthened in recent years.

TSA’s Murray Simpson and The Guild’s Adrian Redgate opened the conference by declaring their intention to continue working together to improve the industry and ensure it had better representation with a professionally managed central secretariat.

Later, they delivered a joint address that described how the partnership between the two organisations had developed and made it clear that future plans would make the links even stronger to the benefit of members and of the industry.

The event’s agenda illustrated these goals and included much practical advice.

Richard Neale from the Drycleaning Technology Centre reviewed the small number of BSI / ISO standards that could help drycleaners. Textile shrinkage, particularly of household textiles, is a common cause of complaints.

The relevant standard BS5867 Part 1 is generous to fabric manufacturers, which are allowed up to 3% shrinkage when the curtain is drycleaned by the recommended method. This represents a loss of 6cm in a two metre drop and can be difficult to explain to the customer.

A similar allowance is made for upholstery fabric and yet companies that make loose covers frequently fail to make sufficient allowance for shrinkage when cutting the fabric so that after the cover has been cleaned it does not fit the sofa frame.

SED compliance

Norman Donnelly from Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) said he did not expect any significant changes to the present rules on solvents.

SEPA has licensed 176 sites in Scotland with 38% achieving compliance. To date the highest fine for non compliance was £2,500.

Donnelly explained that failures in paperwork rather than excessive emissions were the main reasons for non compliance so SEPA is trying to make the administration simpler.

He suggested that this might be done by extending the reporting interval to up to three years and designing a form that could be completed online and included software to carry out the necessary calculations from the cleaner’s data.

The customer’s view

John Culbert of Glenisla Kilts gave an amusing overview of customer service and the importance of training in drycleaning. Culbert’s serious criticisms of his personal customer experiences (“we canna’ guarantee the buttons, we canna’ guarantee the stains”) contrasted with his praise for the seriousness with which conference delegates clearly took their responsibilities. As a garment maker, he found the style and the content of the conference particularly impressive.

Michael McLaughlin from MCL Technical Services had organised a visit by Guild members to Glenisla’s factory and described the considerable range of fusing and finishing equipment that this manufacturer used to make the formal dress outfits.

He said that cleaners needed to have every professional skill to be able to achieve the same finish standard as this garment maker.

McLaughlin’s description of the use of a series of blocking presses to form the jacket’s shaped shoulder joint proved particularly interesting for his audience.

Solvent system

Marco Boccola from ILSA Dry Cleaning Machinery, Italy, examined how the balance between the popularity of the various solvents was changing.

He noted the growing popularity of hydrocarbon and pointed out that hydrocarbon machines outnumbered perc machines at Expo Detergo 2006 and said that perc now accounts for only 25% of ILSA ‘s new business.

However, this was not the full story as Ilsa had noted problems with hydrocarbon when cleaning coloured polyester garments, leading to unexpected dye bleeds that could affect lighter shades of polyester. Polyester/elastomer blends caused even more problems.

To avoid such difficulties, Ilsa has developed the Ipura Jet Cleaning system, which sprays hydrocarbon solvent onto the load while the drum is rotating and removes the soiling from the vapour during the drying phase.

This requires novel detergency but avoids the need for distillation and also the problem of colour bleeds.

Expert finishing advice

Roger Cawood from SDML had plenty of advice for the audience as he examined techniques for finishing difficult garments such as silk ties, ruched gowns and shaped jackets. He reported that formers could heat fabrics to 100C but the best rotary cabinets would only reach 70C.

He recommended the use of multi-formers, which can be heated to 120C and, in skilled hands can produce extremely good results but stressed that good vacuum cooling was essential.

Cawood is an advanced level trainer for the Guild and he has helped many cleaners to fill gaps in their knowledge as well as introducing some to completely new ways of working.

Saving energy

Ever-rising energy costs affect all textile care businesses so inviting Alex McGivern of Energy Saving Scotland to address the conference was another example of the agenda’s practical approach.

McGivern described the work of the Energy Savings Trust and explained how it was taking the lead in helping both launderers and drycleaners to reduce consumption.

He expects the Climate Change Levy to rise from 0.47 to 0.485p/kWh for electricity and from 0.164 to 0.169p/kWh for gas in 2011.

He reminded delegates that the Scottish Government is still providing interest-free loans of up to £100,000 to the textile care sector for energy saving projects that have a payback of up to four years. The savings will pay for the loan.

Mike Taggart, chairman of the Scottish branch of TSA, detailed the benefits of being a member of the organisation. He stressed that as small businesses face increased pressures they need an association that can argue their case before government bodies.

Underlining the benefits, Murray Simpson gave an inspirational talk on TSA’s vision for the industry’s future and listed some of its achievements – proving the laundry industry’s case for a discount on the Climate Change Levy, reducing the SED registration fee and guiding drycleaners through the complexities of the solvent regulations. Such achievements illustrate that this trade association is proving invaluable to its members and the textile care industry as a whole.




Privacy Policy
We have updated our privacy policy. In the latest update it explains what cookies are and how we use them on our site. To learn more about cookies and their benefits, please view our privacy policy. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy unless you have disabled them.