By the time she was 11 years old, growing up in Northern California, Christine Morrissey was pretty sure that she wanted to pursue the family business. She spent a lot of time with her grandfather around the shop, then known as Textile Conservation Specialists, learning about textile cleaning, conservation and restoration.
"It was kind of fun just hanging out, putting hangers together... you know, doing the things that kids do at drycleaners," Christine recalled. "I'm very into the family thing. I like the idea that drycleaner businesses have historically been a mom-and-pop kind of business. It's a good way to be together, work together, grow up together and learn."
At 16, Christine had already learned plenty working full time at the cleaners while going to school. At that point, she was completely aware that she was going to take over the business someday.
The family first entered the industry about 66 years ago when Christine's grandfather, "semi-retired" from the Navy, decided to take up the trade of textile conservation. "The business was targeted mostly toward the museum business. They were extremely specialized," she said, adding that they worked "mostly on historical pieces."
Over the years, the family business expanded to include specialized drycleaning. "Drycleaning wasn't really a forté, but it was a really good income maker for them because they only did very, very high-end clothing. They were very expensive," she recalled. "Most of their clients were celebrities, royalty... very few people that you would think of as a 'common consumer.'"
Christine's parents also helped out with the business, but they had other interests, as well. "They really didn't have an interest in trying to run it," she explained. "So, what ended up happening is they kind of micro-managed it over the years and got into other fields."
Christine, however, had a plan. She would be her grandfather's protege. "I started taking classes in conservation and doing a lot of self-study, doing some internships," she explained.
In addition to majoring in Communications at California State University, Hayward, Christine attended conservation classes all over the world, including England and Switzerland.
Everything Christine did was in preparation for running the family business some day. "I knew our name was very solid," she said. "I knew we didn't have any competition and I knew that I wanted to see it grow beyond that. I wanted to see us become international."
It was important to Christine's grandfather, however, that she explore other options. "He told me, 'You need to always know that you can work for somebody else if things didn't work out for you,'" she explained. "It's a good lesson because many people fall into family business and they either work very hard for it or they don't work at all, and the people who work hard for it usually keep it. People who don't work hard for it usually lose it."
So, Christine worked hard for it by working for three other cleaners trying to learn different approaches and soak it all in. The experience also gave her a whole new perspective on her plans for growing the family business.
"When we were small, we could afford to be very choosy," Christine said. "I figured if we started to grow, there were going to be employees, there were going to be things that I would not be able to control and that I needed to remember that."
By 1980, the lessons paid off and the company went in a new direction.
The company had always received a lot of requests for wedding gown cleaning, so the next step was for the company to service gowns and sell archival products for preservation. "We decided to form National Gown Cleaners and very discreetly start marketing our services to the public," Christine noted. "It just went crazy. We had always done gowns. It was just more or less that we changed the name in 1980 to be more specific. We really hit the ground and were just really overwhelmed with the response."
On any given day, National Gown Cleaners receive shipments of garments from all over the world. The company has sales offices in Taiwan, Japan and Switzerland. "In a week, we'll see somebody's great grandmother's gown, a lot of turn-of-the century things that people walk in with, a lot of brand new wedding gowns that are couture, one of a kind dresses," she said.
Christine loves the customer service aspect of the business and finds it fascinating to work with so many historical garments.
"You learn a lot about history with these types of customers and the kind of projects that you do," she said. Recently, she worked on a rug that somebody's family had carried across the prairie with them. "They took all of the garments of all the family members and made the rug out of the recycled fibers from the garments," Christine said. "It's those kinds of things that are very interesting. I really like the idea that there's lots of interesting things going on a daily basis."
Working with fancy gowns and historical textiles is a delicate process, so National Gown Cleaners employs around 60 full-time employees.
"The liability is so incredible," Christine stressed. You always make sure that you have at least two or three different people giving you opinions on a piece before you take action. There's an extensive amount of testing. We have laboratories -- small labs on site. We do extensive lab testing on a lot of things before we clean, especially historical textiles, because the colors aren't stable a lot of the time and things can't be replaced."
Because they work with invaluable items, National Gown doesn't rush.
"People are so used to this one hour approach or one day return that a lot of times that's our biggest obstacle here because we don't do anything faster than three months to clean and preserve, six months to do a restoration, or one to two years to do an extensive restoration," Christine said. "The fastest thing that we are going to process here is a wedding gown or a Christening gown and that takes three to four months. That's fast for us."
Certainly the work can be challenging, but it can also be very rewarding. "You get all of the elements of humanity there because you get the emotional part, the history, the challenge as far as being a cleaner," she said. "You also get the reward when it works and there's nothing better than that."
Some advice that Christine would offer drycleaners is not to jump quickly into the field of gown cleaning. "It's very scary for me now because I'm seeing a lot of drycleaners turning into 'professional gown cleaners'," she said. "There are people who have a good background to be able to do this, but what scares me is -- being around so long and having grown up in the business -- I have been able to see what works and what doesn't work and why it doesn't work.
"I think a lot of drycleaners are being seduced by making extra money. I'm the first one to say I'm a capitalist. I'm not against making money. But, I think if you want longevity and you want history, then you can't take the short road."
Christine also advises cleaners to be properly insured. "Insurance is of utmost importance," she warned. "Problems happen. Improper insurance can be devastating."
Having to run a demanding business certainly keeps Christine working long hours, but, fortunately for her, she doesn't have to sacrifice family time.
Christine and her husband of 13 years, Shawn, have two sons, Matthew and Kyle, who spend a lot of time with her even though she has a hectic schedule. While most people in her position have to choose between working all the time or being with their kids, she can do both.
"It's great because they're kind of living the life that I did," she said. "They go to private school, then we pick them up and they come over to the office and they've got their own little world here. They've got a refrigerator and games. They come over here after they do their homework and they get to play. They also help out."
It is important to Christine that her children experience what she did growing up. After all, she was able to gain perspective by being exposed to as many different approaches and philosophies as she could.
"We try to always make sure that they understand why we're doing what we're doing and how that benefits them," she said. "So, the psychology has been like what I grew up with. My father is Polynesian and my mother is American, so it's really an interesting concept how the cultures come together and how it works. How it worked for me is that I got the best of both worlds."
Now she is trying to give her own children the same advantages in life by letting them see firsthand how a business really works.
"I think that having my kids understand all the work that we do, they get to see and understand the benefits of that. They get a good education because we can afford it. They also learn that you've got to work hard to have those benefits.
"It's not like I am coming home and they're only seeing me visit the ATM and take money. They actually see me take the money from the client and pay the bills. They understand the philosophy of hard work."
A new web site for the International Drycleaners Congress (www.idcnews.org) provides information about the organization and its activities.
The site is designed to be useful for prospective members and the general industry, as well as current members. Details about the upcoming convention and tours and a wrap-up report from last year's convention, held in Australia, are available along with the history of IDC, it mission and policy statements. A membership application is also available.
The site also features a listing of the current officers and regional vice presidents with their e-mail addresses.
Complete information about the upcoming convention in Arizona is posted along with photos of the various destinations for the pre- and post-convention tours and links to relevant web sites.
IDC contracted with Becca Anderson to build and maintain the site. A freelance writer and web designer, she also built the web site for the trade journal Fabricare Canada (www.fabricarecanada.com).
Wayne Wudyka, a southeast Michigan drycleaner, joined with Service Brands Inc. of Ann Arbor, MI, to launch the Certified Restoration Drycleaning Network. CRDN's goal is to bridge the gap between drycleaners and the insurance industry in working on insurance restoration services.
Wudyka, who began developing the concept in 1993, is president and CEO of Huntington Cleaners in Huntington Woods, MI where he has built a system for finding insurance restoration clients and delivering restoration drycleaning services.
Noting that "Restoration drycleaning has been done for years in a fragmented manner," Wudyka said CRDN will provide training for drycleaning and marketing support to the insurance industry."
"Clothing, linens and other fabric care items account for almost one-fourth of the household goods listed in insurance claims, more than double the volume for any other category of contents," he said.
His system will include drycleaning establishments leveraging the equipment and other resources they already use for retail sales; developing relationships with insurance adjusters and others who refer business; developing proprietary software to track and bill for restoration services; and perfecting the logistics to retrieve, store and return restoration drycleaning.
Last year Huntington Cleaners billed more than 1,000 restoration drycleaning jobs with more than $3.4 million. The business has achieved double-digit growth for seven consecutive years, due largely to its insurance restoration division.
CRDN will let cleaners "grow their business organically, in a recession-proof segment that offers unlimited potential, while our national approach will drive sales and leads to them in their local area," Wudyka said.
As a national organization, Wudyka expects CRDN to attract the attention of insurance carriers who are looking for a single source.
"No individual entity will have this clout," Wudyka said.
CRDN memberships are open to select drycleaners who can meet standards and guarantees for quality and services. More information is available by contacting Wudyka by phone, (248) 541-6038 or e-mail: wayne@huntingtoncleaners.com. CRDN will also be exhibiting at the Clean Show in booth 1684.Shield Environmental Associates Inc. has announced that Greg Icenhour obtained the Certified Environmental Drycleaner designation from the International Fabricare Institute. Shield is an engineering and environmental consulting and management firm based in Charlotte, NC.
Icenhour is also a second-generation drycleaner with more than ten years of experience in the industry. He currently serves on the board of directors of the North Carolina Association of Launderers and Cleaners.
The CED requires demonstration of advanced knowledge of drycleaning environmental regulations and operating procedures by taking a formal examination.
Shield Environmental can be reached at (800) 395-5220 or on the web at www.shieldenv.com.
J. B. Equipment of Sellersville, PA, has entered into an agreement with Renzacci to import Renzacci machines to the eastern United States.
J. B. Equipment can reached by phone at (877) 522-8582 or e-mail at jimb711@home.com.
An estimated 1,000 people attended an open house hosted by Suprema this spring. Live cleaning and finishing, using a variety of solvents and equipment configurations, was presented along with innovations in drycleaning and finishing equipment.
Now under new ownership, Suprema is investing in its infrastructure and has established a network of regional distributors to sell, service, and support their products. Parts and technical support are now available in the United States from both Worcester, MA and Chicago, IL. Among those present at the open house were drycleaners and distributors from Europe and many other nations who were joined by industry manufacturers who demonstrated their products and services.
Suprema's directors, managers and engineers present at the various events included: Leno Carrer, managing director, Pierre Boreggiani, drycleaning export sales manager, Luca Martelli, marketing director, Allessandro Vitale, production manager, and Max Toschi, parts manager.
Attendees were able to see the large inventory of parts and equipment, participate in training sessions and to speak directly with Suprema's team of technicians,, production managers and engineers. A number of North American distributors were invited by Suprema as guests. States represented included Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia as well as industry representatives from Ontario and the maritime provinces of Canada.
There was technical dialogue and brainstorming about Suprema's new and forthcoming technology and marketing plans. Distributors also toured the Suprema factory where they saw equipment production, assembly, and testing areas. They saw Suprema's extensive parts and inventory department, and finished their time at the factory with a tour of the corporate offices.
Guests were also treated to Italian food and wine under a twin-peaked white tent situated on the ground. Time was made available for exploring the area, including a tour of the Ferrari Museum as well as shopping and picture taking by many in Bologna, Modena, and the countryside.
Suprema is conducting a contest to locate the oldest operating Suprema drycleaning machine in the United States and Canada. The owner of the oldest machine will receive a new one. Other prizes include an opportunity to win a new Suprema, a trip for two to Italy for a week, or a trip to Las Vegas. The drawing will take place at Clean 2001, and the winner of the oldest machine will be announced there as well.
Copyright © 2001, National Clothesline Maintained by: Hal Horning