Editorials

Cleaners, both as individuals and collectively as an industry, lost a friend, mentor and advocate last month with the death of Stan Golomb. Stan loved the industry and all the people in it. In particular, he loved two types of drycleaners: the big successful ones, and the small struggling ones: the successful ones because he always believed he could learn something from them; the struggling ones because he believed he could teach them something. With this attitude, he became an important conduit between the “haves” and the “have-nots” in the industry — and many of today’s “haves” will tell you that Stan guided them from the struggling category into the successful one.

He was born into the industry in 1924, just a few months after his father had entered the business in Massachusetts, and as a schoolboy he started a career which, over the next 70 years, encompassed almost every facet of the business. His service to the industry was interrupted only by his service to his country during World War II. Long after he could have retired to a life of leisure he kept at it, doing whatever he thought he could, despite failing health, to help the industry and the people in it.

For many years, he wrote a monthly column for National Clothesline, “On Marketing.” There won’t be a hole in the pages of this publication where his column appeared; we will fill the space. But there will be a hole in our heart while we go forward without him. Fortunately we can rely on the memories of the good things he gave us. Yes, there was the sound business advice in which Stan applied his gift for seeing the simple truth through a fog of confusion. More important was his approach to life and his attitude towards people: always upbeat, certain that problems can be solved and better days will be ahead if we are willing to learn from and help each other. Thanks for everything, Stan.

Last year, IFI’s International Textile Analysis Laboratory examined about 13,000 damaged garments and household items sent in from member cleaners looking for answers. Of those, only 11 percent (1,438 items) of the problems turned out to be the responsibility of cleaners. Meanwhile, customers caused damage 35 percent of the time and manufacturers proved to be the most common culprit, generating 45 percent of the submitted mishaps.

Of course, cleaners who are aware that they caused garment damage are not very likely to spend the money to have IFI analyze it for that purpose. So, the numbers don’t really shed any light on how many mistakes the industry makes as a whole. However, they are still quite useful because they suggest what kinds of mistakes cleaners are prone to commit.

Of the 1,348 garment problems caused by drycleaners in IFI’s ITAL findings, 235 of those, or 16 percent, would have been prevented if the cleaner had simply followed care label instructions. Of course, the labels aren’t always correct. Many garments can be successfully cleaned by a method not included on the care label, but cleaners should be certain before proceeding. It is a risky venture that can often result in an unnecessary claim.

Another common problem for cleaners was redeposition (accounting for 20 percent of cleaners’ mistakes). For the past ten years, redeposition has been a persistent problem for the industry even though it is an easily correctable one. IFI recommends that cleaners can avoid such problems by following a few simple steps, such as using high quality detergent, loading washers to only 75-80 percent peak capacity, allow pre-spotted items time to dry, and maintain filters adequately, just to name a few. Other cleaning fiascoes could have been prevented if some cleaners had simply brushed up on their skills by attending a few refresher spotting seminars. Over 200 problems were the result of spotting and bleaching errors by fabric care specialists, proving once again that there is no substitute for education and experience.

In all, well over half of the damaged garments shouldn’t have even been sent to IFI’s lab. Mistakes may well be inevitable After all, nobody can satisfy 100 percent of their customers 100 percent of the time. But that only means that everybody still has room for improvement. Now that cleaners know their most common problems, there is no excuse not to try to prevent them.