National Clothesline

Members of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists held their annual three-day meeting in San Diego, CA. John and Chuck Horst of Margaret’s Cleaners in LaJolla, CA, were hosts for the meeting that focused on the latest in bridal trends and marketing strategies for 2004.

Bridal gowns on loan from designers Mika Inatome, Christos, and Casablanca formed the backdrop for a presentation by Karen Levine, vice president of WeddingChannel.com, Nielsen’s top-rated wedding website.

“Today’s brides value tradition,” said Levine, “but look for ways such as designer Inatome’s colorful embroidery on a traditional white gown to make the wedding uniquely their own.”

Other featured speakers included

Michael J. Linett, a nationally-known photographer who also travels on behalf of Fuji Film; Ken Grippi of Dependable Cleaners in Boston; Martie Duncan, executive vice president of WeddingPoints.com, a bridal customer loyalty program; and Chuck Horst.

Officers and members of the board of directors elected at the meeting include Marty Wade, Clothing Care, Hampton, VA; Mark Phillips, Frontenac Cleaners, St. Louis, MO; Peter Delgatto, Knight Cleaners, Arcadia, CA; Tom Ryan, Wedding Gown Specialists, Ann Arbor, MI; Malcolm MacGregor, Browns Cleaners and Tailors, Ottawa, ON; Sasha Ablitt, Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners and Launderers, Santa Barbara, CA; Jack Barth, Barth’s Cleaning Center, Orangeville, ON; Wayne Edelman, New York, NY; Joseph Hallak, Jr., New York, NY; Phyllis Hughes, Caring Cleaners, Daytona Beach, FL; Chris Maxwell, Westside Cleaners, Jackson, TN; Judith Rose of Vogue Cleaners, Mill Valley, CA; and Mark Witt, Arcadia, CA.

Retiring members of the board are John Horst and John Geer of Anthonys Cleaners, Cincinnati, OH.

President Marty Wade noted that “Personal service was a recurring theme throughout the conference, and that is what members of our association always offer brides. Brides know they can trust us because we allow brides to inspect their gowns and because our association’s trademarked MuseumCare gown preservations feature completely acid-free wedding chests, the best possible storage system available.”

Members of the association, a not-for-profit trade group represented in 500 cities around the world, specialize in cleaning both new and old gowns.

In a blind test of four national gown preservation services conducted by National Bridal Service, the Association’s trademarked MuseumCare preservations were judged cleanest, provided the safest packaging environment, and offered the most comprehensive worldwide guarantee.

MuseumCare preservations are also Endorsed by the Association of Bridal Consultants and recommended by more than seventy gown designers and manufacturers.

Biz Builder Services held seminars for customer service and production managers at the Holiday Inn in Naples, FL, and the Holiday Inn in Orlando, FL.

Alan Robson, principal of Biz Builder Services and National Clothesline columnist, conducted the full-day management seminars, “Developing Management Skills.” The seminars are designed to address day-to-day employee issues such as improving customer service through better communications between departments; reducing costs by installing incentive systems; and administering company rules and regulations. Each attendee sets goals for improving the overall performance of their employer companies.

Future plans include management seminars for small business owners which will focus on improving financial performance; understanding your financials; establishing production standards; and installing incentive systems.

For information about attending or having managers attend a Biz Builder seminar, call (941) 408-8819 or e-mail: seminars@bizbuilderonline.com. Future seminars will be held in Orlando, FL.

Jeff Dunn has joined Machinex, which serves the Greater Cincinnati, northern Kentucky and Mid-Ohio laundry and drycleaning markets with equipment and technical assistance.

Dunn has 15 years experience in the industry in the North American and in overseas markets. He began at American Laundry Machinery and later became the export manager for laundry and drycleaning products. In 2000, he joined Alliance Laundry Systems when they purchased Ajax. He managed the Midwest and east coast region for Ajax as well as two provinces in Canada.

Dunn was also responsible for sales of the GeneSys Liquid CO2 Drycleaning System that ALS developed.

At Machinex, he will join Tony Clark and the service and parts team.

Machinex serves the Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Mid-Ohio laundry and drycleaning markets with equipment solutions and technical know-how, representing manufacturers of boilers, drycleaning machines, drycleaning finishing equipment, washer-extractors, dryers and accessory items.

Now celebrating its 50th year in the industry, the company is located in Sharonville, OH, a suburb of Cincinnati, at 11445 Rockfield Ct. 45241. The phone number is (513) 771-4020.

Sanyo Electric Techno-Clean, GreenEarth Master Licensor for Japan, sponsored a five-day tour of Southern California and Nevada for 30 Japanese drycleaners in February to introduce silicone drycleaning to key Japanese drycleaners.

While in California, the group was hosted by Deborah Davis, owner of Cleaner By Nature in Santa Monica, and Amin Amersi, owner of Hollyway Cleaners in West Hollywood.

Dean Kubani, environmental analyst with the City of Santa Monica, said, “Deborah Davis is a pioneer in her industry. I am proud to see one of Santa Monica’s cutting-edge businesses being emulated in other parts of the world.”

Ikuo Shiigi of Sanyo, the tour leader, said, “The cleaners were impressed by the quality of the work they saw at the operating plants, particularly with the hand of the garments processed in GreenEarth.”

This tour was Sanyo’s first promotional event as master licensor for GreenEarth Cleaning in Japan.

Magic Wardrobehas received an Ontario Global Traders Award from Ontario Export Inc., an Ontario government agency. The Magic Wardrobe system lets customers drop off and pick up clothing 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The awards are presented annually to small and medium-size businesses for economic development.

The company received its award, an honorable mention in the Innovation category, at the Eastern Division of the Ontario Global Traders Award and Export Forum held April 1 in Belleville, ON.

The innovation award recognizes a company for excellence in the advancement of leading-edge technology.

Dave Clarke, president of Magic Wardrobe, said the award “shows that Magic Wardrobe is in for an exciting future. We are looking forward to expanding pour sales in Canada and abroad.”

Magic Wardrobe machines have shipped to locations in Canada, the United States and Japan and are in use in a police station, large office buildings train stations, gas stations and department stores in addition to drycleaning plants and dry stores. Japan alone now has 24 machines installed — most of them in subway stations.

Wascomat has appointed Florida Laundry Systems, Inc. (FLS) as the authorized Wascomat laundry equipment and parts distributor for the Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Collier, Lee, Martin, Okeechobee, Brevard, Indian River, Glades, Charlotte, Hendry, St. Lucie and Palm Beach.

FLS is owned and managed by Ira Gottlieb and Stuart Klein, who have over 40 years experience in the laundry business with 15 in the South Florida market.

FLS maintains a large Wascomat laundry equipment and parts inventory for coin, on-premises laundries and the non-polluting wet-drycleaning equipment industry. It also provides laundry design, service, installation and maintenance services for rehab and retooling existing coin laundries and provides turnkey new modern self-service coin laundries.

The company maintains an extensive inventory of parts for all major brands and water heaters, changers, carts and vending supplies for self-service laundries.

FLS is located at 5149 NE 12 Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL; phone (954) 928-0950; fax (954) 776-0478.

The Board of Directors of the Textile Rental Services Association of America (TRSA) named Roger Cocivera as its new president and CEO at its April 2 board meeting in Charleston, SC.

Cocivera was named interim president in January after serving as TRSA vice president of industry affairs since May 2002.

Cocivera said he intends to give TRSA members a continuing high rate of return on their dues dollars through educational programs, publications, government affairs activities and more.

He began his textile rental career in 1951 washing trucks and sorting linen. He became a partner in Penn Coat & Apron of Allentown, PA, his first employer, where he spent 50 years building the business, that eventually expanded to include Penn Linen and Penn Healthcare.

Throughout his professional life, Cocivera has been active in TRSA committees and programs. In 1988, he helped found and still teaches at the TRSA/UTSA annual Production Management Institute. He also actively participates in TRSA/UTSA’s Maintenance Management Institute.

In 2001, Cocivera was honored with a TRSA Member Achievement Award.