INDIA
Srinivas Rao, general secretary of the DLAI (Drycleaners and Launderers Association of India), explained to LCNi how textile care operators in India are affected by Covid-19 and how they are dealing with the situation.
He said: “India, like many other countries, is going through tough times due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the laundry and drycleaning industry has taken a huge hit in terms of almost no business due to intermittent lockdowns and an increase in Covid positive cases by the day.
CORE GROUP: The core group of the Drycleaners and Launderers Association of India with general secretary Srinivas Rao in the centre is pictured right
“However, DLAI is using every opportunity to engage its members by regularly conducting training sessions with many national and international industry experts and speakers from equipment and chemical companies.
“The Learning Series went on for almost two months and was conducted online. It received a huge response from the fraternity and covered topics ranging from different washing and drycleaning methods to stain removal techniques, understanding of fabrics, new equipment with different technologies, business outlook post-Covid-19 and adoption of new hygiene standards when handling Covid-19 infected linen and garments.
“DLAI issued guidelines to its members from time to time regarding handling of customer garments from start to finish during this time. They were able to also display the guidelines in their outlets to encourage both utmost customer satisfaction and repeat business.
“DLAI also released advertisements in a couple of cities in widely circulated newspapers explaining that laundry and drycleaning is safe to increase the customer confidence.”
DLAI is India’s first national level association working towards bringing the fraternity of launderers and drycleaners under one umbrella. It was formed in February 2019 and has around 1000 members.
