Content about executive director

COMMERCE, Calif. — The SoCal Cleaners Association (SCCA) will host Improving Your Customers’ Experience and Your Bottom Line, a presentation by Christopher White, executive director of America’s Best Cleaners, during the association’s upcoming March 20 meeting.

White has more than 25 years of experience working in the dry cleaning industry and has risen “to the very highest level in the profession,” SCCA says. He has extensive knowledge of textile cleaning and finishing techniques and is recognized as an industry leader in operational systems, database management, staff development and team building.

He will discuss developing an exceptional client experience by catering to specific needs of clients through individual services provided by the front-end team, and how to develop these needs into specific “nudges” that increase the client’s overall experience while also increasing the bottom line.

SCCA says takeaways will include:

CHICAGO — In February, after 14 years of study, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named perchloroethylene a “likely” human carcinogen in its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. And after more than two decades of increasingly stringent regulation on the industry’s solvent of choice, the announcement seemed like the final nail in perc’s coffin.

Ironically, the decision actually protects perc’s position in dry cleaning, at least for the time being. “Everyone has the misconception that the category perc is in has changed,” says Faye Graul, executive director of the Halogenated Solvents Industry Association (HSIA). “It has not changed at all. The report says perc is safe for use in dry cleaning.”

EPA expressed no concerns about consumers wearing clothing cleaned in perc, and the IRIS report could ease the drinking-water standard required for environmental cleanups. And with a recent, recessionary lull in regulatory activity, only co-located facilities and plants in California and a few other areas see the possibility of a full phaseout ahead.

ROCKVILLE, Md. – Ownership and administration of the Certified Rug Specialist (CRS) certification program has shifted to the Association of Rug Care Specialists (ARCS). The board of directors of the Restoration Industry Association (RIA) recently voted unanimously to make the transfer.

“Given the RIA’s focus on the restoration sector, our board unanimously agreed that it is in the best interests of the rug care industry to transition this program without cost from our organization to the Association of Rug Care Specialists,” says Timothy Shaw, RIA executive director. “We know the CRS will be in good hands with ARCS, and we eagerly anticipate seeing the certification program grow under ARCS’ leadership.”

The CRS is the nation’s only certification program to focus on the study of Oriental and specialty rugs with an emphasis on the history of handmade rugs, rug identification, cleaning and repair techniques, and potential cleaning problems based on a rug’s origin and construction, according to the associations. Only 65 U.S. rug care specialists hold the CRS certification.

With just under a year to go until the ribbon-cutting, the 2011 Clean Show has sold more than half of its available exhibit space. The show is set to take place June 6-9, 2011, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

WASHINGTON — Representatives of the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI), MidAtlantic Association of Cleaners (MAC) and Korean Drycleaners Association (KDA) recently appeared at a hearing of the District of Columbia’s Committee on Government Operations and the Environment to defend perchloroethylene against a proposed ban. The Human & Environmental Health Protection Amendment Act of 2009 would ban the use of several chemicals in the District of Columbia, including perc.

The idea of metal press pads was one Morris Rosenthal had while in the laundry business. Every Saturday, the pads needed to be changed because they were made of cotton and burned out in a week’s time. He went to the local hardware store and bought some steel wool, formed some padding and put them on the presses. Presto — the pads lasted for weeks.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Southwest Drycleaners Association (SDA) says that in spite of a weak economy, its Cleaners Showcase 2008 trade show is winning the most enthusiastic response in years.

Set for Friday, April 4 through Sunday, April 6 at the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington, Texas, the show is a near-sellout, SDA says. More than 200 exhibit spaces have been reserved by 95 industry exhibitors.

TRENTON, N.J. — In an incredible show of solidarity, more than 120 members of the industry convened in New Jersey on Friday to deliver testimony against a proposal from the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to ban perchloroethylene use in drycleaning completely by 2021.