National Clothesline

The launch schedule is set for the Southwest Drycleaners Association’s 97th annual convention in Houston, TX. The event will take off from March 4-7 at the George R. Brown Convention Center, offering plenty of fun and educational activities for cleaners.

The convention center is located at 1001 Avenida De Las Americas.

First on the four-day itinerary, SDA will host an executive committee meeting at 10 a.m. on Thursday before teeing off with its golf tournament two hours later at noon.

More association business is planned for the next day when SDA hosts a breakfast for its board of directors at 7:30 a.m., followed by a board member meeting at 8: 30 a.m. Both are for invited guests only.

Attendees will have another option that morning: a hospitality breakfast at 9 a.m. Later in the day, IFI Chairman Jim Cripe will preside over the annual General Membership & Awards meeting from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

The convention’s first educational seminar, “State Fund,” has been set that afternoon from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Coinciding with that event will be a three-hour optional tour of Houston’s art world that will run to 5:30 p.m., allowing cleaners one hour of down time before SDA throws a welcome reception from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Things won’t slow down on Saturday. The day will begin at 7 a.m. with an SDA Past President’s Breakfast. Admittance is by invitation only.

At 8 a.m., astronaut John Blaha will deliver a one hour discussion outlining his “Major observations of a 17-Year NASA Career.” Blaha has logged over 7,000 hours of flying in 34 different aircraft and was a scientist on the Russian space station. He has also served time as a pilot on two space missions and as a commander on two more.

The exhibit hall will open its doors for the first time at 9:30 a.m. that morning and visitors will be able to walk the aisles until 5:30 p.m.

At 6:30 p.m., SDA will give industry members a chance to meet and greet at a get-together at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Afterward, the association will host an evening of dinner, dancing and socializing.

On Sunday, the final day of the convention, IFI Garment Analyst Chris Allsbrooks will start the ball rolling at 8 a.m. with a seminar entitled “There’s a Monster at My Counter!”

She will disclose ways to handle difficult, even nasty customers, helping counter personnel to convert negative customer service situations into positive ones, leading ultimately to repeat business and increased sales.

One hour later, guest speaker Margery Loeb will focus her seminar on “Families in Business.” She will look at the complexities of mixing business with family and how to prepare for the next generation’s succession into ownership, emphasizing that the best family businesses recognize passing down values, not just assets.

The exhibit hall will be accessible afterward at 10 a.m. and stay open until 4 p.m.

SDA’s headquarters hotel, the Hyatt Regency Houston, is located at 1200 Louisiana St., only minutes away from the convention center. A special discounted room rate of $113 per night for single/double occupancy has been reserved for convention attendees. Additional nightly rates of $138 triple occupancy and $163 quad occupancy are available, as well.

To make reservations, call the hotel at (713) 654-1234 and identify yourself with SDA. The deadline for the secured rate is February 12, 2004.

That date is also the cut off for SDA’s pre-registration special prices. The cost for a package to attend the membership meeting, the State Fund seminar and unlimited access to the exhibit hall is $5 for members and $7 for non-members. After February 12, the cost of the package goes up to $10 for drycleaning plant owners/employees.

All non-exhibiting allied trades pay $100 for the same package.

SDA also has a complete registration package for attendees that includes the following activities: spouse hospitality, general membership meeting, welcome reception, dinner and dancing on Saturday evening, two days of unlimited exhibit hall access and entrance to all of the educational seminars.

The cost is $99 prior to February 12, 2004. After that date, it goes up to $125 per person.

Tickets to individual functions may be purchased, as well.

For more information on the convention, including how to make reservations at overflow hotels, call SDA at (210) 826-4684.

The International Fabricare Institute will hold a special election in January to fill the director position for District 6. The spot is left vacant following the resignation of Linda Ferguson who had completed almost half of her elected term.

District 6 covers the eight-state territory of: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

IFI’s bylaws normally call for an election to take place at a regular or special meeting by the district’s stakeholders; however, since the association’s affiliate organization — the Southwest Drycleaners Association — has no upcoming meetings scheduled, IFI has opted for a special balloted election to be mailed out in early 2004.

In a press release, IFI explained that it would be difficult to assemble a meeting on short notice “given the time of the year and the distance many members would have to travel to attend.”

Therefore, anyone interested in running or nominating a candidate need only to contact the District 6 nominating committee, which consists of IFI Chairman of the Board Jim Cripe, (254) 773-5601, and SDA President Danny Renteria, (210) 735-3331.

The deadline is December 31, 2003.

Leather cleaning training will be back in session again with the Royaltone Leather Cleaning Academy offering several few two-day courses next year.

The first class of 2004 will take place Feb. 5 and 6, with additional courses scheduled for April 1-2 and June 10-11.

The courses will all be held at the Royal Cleaners Suedemate Leather Cleaning Plant in Tulsa, OK.

Chief instructor Frank Lucenta will guide the learning process by offering both classroom teachings and in-plant hands-on demonstrations.

Cleaners will gain knowledge on how to make the leather and suede cleaning process more efficient and profitable. Everything from spotting to finishing will be covered.

The two-day program costs $400 per person, which includes the fees for each student’s course instruction manual, which is available in English and Korean.

Those who attend will be allowed to bring in a couple of their most difficult suede or leather garments that will be cleaned at the Royal Cleaners Suedemate facility.

Once the class is completed, each student will earn a course completion certificate. If any graduates require additional help later on, there is a free hotline service available at (800) 331-5506.

Because class size is limited, early enrollment is recommended. For more information, including how to make hotel reservations at a local hotel, call (918) 622-6677 or (800) 331-5506, or visit the Royaltone web site at www.royaltone.com.

Drycleaning and spotting with hydrocarbon will be the topic of discussion in a seminar slated for Saturday, December 6 at the Intex Distributing Company located at 1624 East 4th St. in Austin, TX.

The instruction will be provided by Kenney Slatten, who will demonstrate DF2000 cleaning and stain removal procedures.

Also present will be Gerald Henke and Intex staff members, along with R.R. Street managers’ Steve Matthews from California and Jim Ridge, sales manager of the office in San Antonio, Texas.

The class will begin at 8:30 a.m. and run until noon. Books and swatch samples of stained materials will be provided.

For more information, contact Intex at (800) 322-7131.