Where to find a good drycleaner
With the ink barely dry on the documents,
the first applicants had already signed up last month to
participate in the International Fabricare Institute’s Award of Excellence program.
IFI hoped to gather even more applicants
at the Clean Show in Orlando after the program is formally
introduced to the industry and would like to have more than 300
in the program within the first year.
The goal of the Award of Excellence
program is to help consumers separate the wheat from the chaff
among drycleaners. Only cleaners who meet certain criteria
would qualify to display the award. Meanwhile IFI will promote
the program among consumers and the media, making it easier to
answer the perennial question, “Where can I find a good
drycleaner?”
In a conference call with industry trade
press editors June 14, IFI CEO Bill Fisher said he is
frustrated by the persistence of substandard cleaning plant
operations that have made the industry a target for a number of
media “stings” that cast a dim light on
cleaners’ abilities and created to a perception among the
public that all cleaners are alike — and not very good.
Fisher said that he has been waiting for
a “cleansing of the industry” to take place, with
the poorer operations going out of business and the better ones
surviving. But that has not happened.
“We must do something to
differentiate the good cleaners from the bad,” Fisher
said.
Cleaners who qualify for the Award of
Excellence will display a 20" x 28" framed poster
(pictured on this page) that proclaims the cleaner’s
technical competence, commitment to customer service and
environmental responsibility. The “pledge” also
offers free national flag cleaning and a money-back service
guarantee.
To display this award, the cleaner will
have to meet criteria that back up the claims by demonstrated
performance in professionalism and community service,
continuing education and training and extended education or
certified testing. Each of those categories offers various
methods to attain points, and a cleaner must gain 30 points to
meet the program’s minimum standard.
Out of those 30, 10 come from three
required criteria: current membership in a qualified national
drycleaning association; completion of a stain removal
proficiency test and completion of the IFI Cleaning Performance
Test.
An additional 32 points are available in
the Professionalism and Community service category. They
include one point each for membership in a Better Business
Bureau, Chamber of Commerce or merchants’ association or
participation in a qualified management group, two points for
having a community service program such as Coast for Kids;
three or five points for having additional Cleaning Performance
Tests in the course of a year; and 20 points for having a plant
evaluation by an IFI or National Cleaners Association
evaluator.
Continuing education and training points
can be earned by use of approved training video, attending
approved seminars, or having approved in-plant training using
an approved self-study course. Each of these could be worth one
or two points depending on the specific program.
In the extended education or certified
testing category, five points can be earned for earning
certification as a professional drycleaner, professional
wetcleaner or environmental drycleaner or attaining the New
York Department of Environmental Conservation award.
Attending resident courses at IFI or the
Southwest Drycleaning Association School would earn 10 or 20
points, depending on the length of the course.
In short, a cleaner would have to earn 20
points from a menu that offers 103 possible points in addition
to the 10 required criteria points.
Fisher said it shouldn’t be too
hard for good cleaners to qualify since they are already doing
the types of things the program requires.
“I bet anybody at the Clean Show
would already have 10 to 15 points on top of the required
10,” he said, due to the fact that the better cleaners
tend to attend the Clean Shows. “I expect that most of
the cleaners we talk to on the floor of the show will already
have 20 to 25 points.”
Basic requirements
The first of the required points is
membership in a bona fide trade association. Fisher said that
means a trade association that has permanent staff, offers
education and technical help to members, provides back-up and
support and is aware of all environmental requirements. Fisher
said that as far as he knows, only IFI and the National
Cleaners Association meet that standard.
The second required criteria is
completion of a stain removal proficiency test. In this a
cleaner will be challenged to remove six “not easy”
stains from white silk. Five of the six must be removed with
one chance for a second try.
The Cleaning Performance Test is a
standard test that IFI has offered for years.
The required criteria must be maintained
and updated annually. Annual renewal of the award will require
six additional points from the other categories with at least
three from one of the education categories.
Program costs
The initial cost to cleaners during the
first year of the program will be $398. This includes a $240
application fee plus the stain removal and Cleaning Performance
tests and, once all the requirements are met, the wall poster
and store decals that proclaim the cleaner’s Award of
Excellence.
Cleaners who get in on the ground floor
will do so at less cost since the price of initial
certification will increase to $600 in the second year and $800
in the third. Recertification would cost about half of the
initial fee, Fisher said.
Wider recognition
Backing up the program will be a newly
created Clothing Care Council which will serve as an advisory
board an be composed of eight to ten representatives from
textile producers, garment makers, customer service, the media
and related education areas. Board members, who are yet to be
named, will offer advice on how to make the program effective.
IFI will also push for recognition of the
program in national and local media. Press releases will be
sent to local media outlets to announce the Award of Excellence
cleaners in the area and cleaners will receive Award of
Excellence material to use in their advertising.
IFI will also try to get media attention
for the program by challenging television stations and
newspaper that have done drycleaner “stings” to
test the proficiency of Award of Excellence cleaners. One
possibility, Fisher mentioned, is to send a sample of the stain
removal test swatches to reporters asking: “Can your
cleaners get these stains out? Ours can.”
IFI will also place stories promoting the
program on the national PR Newswire.
“Good cleaners have been saying to
us, ‘You can help by getting me more customers,”
Fisher said. “This program is in response to that. We
think the way to do that is to create a very visible, explicit
indicator of competence and adherence to standards, which is
why we’ve created the Award of Excellence
program.”
Cleaners who were not at the Clean Show
who want more information about the program can call IFI, (800)
638-2627.