National Clothesline

Since introducing its e-mail newsletters one year ago as a free service to members, the combined IFI’s Hot Press and Heads Up! For This Garment e-mails have become one of the International Fabricare Institute’s more popular services.

IFI launched the bi-weekly e-mail newsletters June 27, 2003. From the beginning, the association’s goal has been to present pertinent news and information to save members time, money, and perhaps a few headaches.

From garment alerts to government regulations, news stories to new services, the Hot Press has delivered “news too good to wait.”

Likewise, the Heads Up! e-mails provide members with timely and potentially claims-saving garment alerts.

As the program begins its second year, IFI will begin sending e-mail communications to members weekly. While new issues of the two newsletters will continue to be produced bi-weekly, starting this month, IFI will alternate the weeks that IFI’s Hot Press and Heads Up! garment alerts go out so that members will receive new content on an every-week basis instead of every two weeks.

“This will help us engage our very busy members even better and remind them of the work IFI is doing on their behalf every day,” Hot Press Editor Jay Calleja said. “The interactive nature of e-mail has been a huge plus.”

IFI members have had a lot to say about the e-mail newsletters, and several have e-mailed suggestions that IFI has incorporated into the Hot Press/Heads Up! broadcasts, including the idea of staggering their release.

“I like the Hot Press releases. They give a quick ‘snap shot’ of what is happening, and it’s a fast read. Keep it up!” Mark Folzenlogen, president of A-One Dry Cleaners in Cincinnati, OH, wrote to IFI.

“All in all, the Hot Press is a good publication. I especially find the Heads Up! For This Garment very helpful,” Johnnie Duda of Midtown Dry Cleaners in New Philadelphia, OH, wrote.

After he began receiving the two newsletters, Paul Mandeville of Mountain High Drycleaners, Lakewood, CO, remarked, “Now this is another reason why IFI is worth paying for.”

“IFI’s Hot Press and Heads Up! e-mails have been an unmitigated success. The feedback we’ve gotten from members has been tremendous,” IFI CEO Bill Fisher said. “And the fact that we’ve implemented suggestions e-mailed in shows that members are helping drive the content. Members who aren’t getting this free service truly are missing out.”

The e-mail newsletters have proven their time-sensitive value on several occasions. The first Heads Up! For This Garment featured Liz Claiborne Coats made with components that could not withstand the recommended care process.

“We cleaned this exact coat yesterday, and it bled on us,” e-mailed Allen Wright, owner of McMinnville Alpine Dry Cleaners in McMinnville, OR.

An announcement in the October 17, 2003 edition led a member’s employee to apply for—and eventually win—a role in the The Learning Channel’s show Faking It. The episode featuring Kristyl Meyerhoefer debuted May 23.

Perhaps the best example of the effectiveness of this rapid communication system was February 27 when a special edition of the Hot Press was launched, four days after a regularly scheduled issue had gone out.

IFI learned the CBS Evening News would air a story that evening on drycleaners and how they purportedly “may be picking [consumers’] pocket[s].” IFI sent an alert to members that afternoon about the broadcast, and IFI’s Fisher, who was out of town, issued a statement from the IFI Five-Star meeting in Las Vegas. While the broadcast itself ran unaltered, statements from Fisher were included with the Internet version of the report.

“It’s taken a lot to reach this point [the anniversary], but the work has been worth it,” Fisher said. “We will continue in our endeavor to make IFI’s members the most informed people in the industry.”

The Hot Press and Heads Up! services are only available to IFI members who have supplied IFI with a working e-mail address. For information about membership, call IFI, (800) 638-2627.