National Clothesline

At the Clean Show in 2003, I thought about featuring in a column the new products that were introduced for shirt marking, processing and packaging. The idea fizzled, because I didn’t see anything new that pertains to my little corner of the world. I tried again this year and this time there turned out to be an interesting array of new things.

When I had a shirt plant, one of the biggest challenges that I was never able to master perfectly was making sure that shirts that needed to be boxed actually did get boxed rather than being mistakenly sent out on hangers. The most common fix for this is to apply a self-adhesive BOX sticker to the invoice, or simply write the word BOX plainly on the invoice.

For some reason — and therein, the challenge — this didn’t work all the time. Shirts are often tagged at a different location, in a different buttonhole, if the customer wishes for boxed shirts. This didn’t work so well either. If the tagger forgot this detail, nearly all hope was lost of folding the shirt. The latest best attempt at fixing this potential customer disappointment is the buttonhole tag introduced by Cleaner’s Supply.

I say stock up on these and institute a procedure that dictates that an employee staple a strip of these on an invoice or quick-tick that calls for boxed shirts.

When the shirts are marked in, the tagger inserts one of these into the second button-hole of each shirt in the order. I’m guessing this is the most fool-proof way yet to curb this potential annoyance.

From the “Why-didn’t-someone-think-of-this-before” department, how about a left-handed iron! Cleaner’s Supply’s exclusive all-steam iron needs a steam-electric version, however, as I do not approve of all-steam irons for shirts. Still, what southpaw presser wouldn’t appreciate this in your drycleaning department?

I must mention a product that I introduced to Cleaner’s Supply even though it isn’t just for shirts. I’m flattered that they have it among their 85(!) new products. I have made Neanderthal versions of this for clients all over the country. Now you can buy this slick product that creates a virtual graph as the pressers produce. At a glance, you can compare their productivity.

Do yourself a big favor when you introduce this in your plant: The plastic clips — well known to many drycleaners — have one hole and one claw. The hole is not for the hanger, the claw is. If the hole is used for the hanger, the inspector will need to lift every hanger off the rail to remove the clip. This is a waste of two or three seconds and a huge annoyance.

If the claw is merely pushed into the side of the hanger by the presser, the inspector only needs to twist the plastic clip in order to remove it. This is quicker on both ends.

If you liked the little Twist-Tie trick that I showed you in June, you may have a use for Twist-Ties on a roll that you simply cut to length. And speaking of that column that I wrote about holding orders together, Howard Tiss from Des-L called me after that column was published to tell me that he was introducing something along those lines at Clean.

What Des-L has come up with is a product called the Separator. It’s kind of like a tape worm in that it has small segments.

Each plastic segment has a hole in it. If you have an order of three pieces, you simply tear off three segments and put a hanger through each hole. The manufacturer’s objective is to keep collars from getting crushed together by keeping the hangers comfortably apart.

When I employed drivers to deliver shirts, I am sure that they would have appreciated the EZ Carry Handle. Cleaner’s Supply is selling this beefy handle that is designed to facilitate carrying a large number of hangers and orders. This is ideal for loading a truck and unloading at a drop store.

And at those drop stores, there is often a need to sort shirts by color or date due or starch preference. Iowa Techniques, forever inventing products for drycleaners and shirt launderers, has come up with a net bag stand that will make this a snap. This is a very simple stand that holds three net bags in the open position.

Many shirt plants charge more for golf shirts and other pull-over knit shirts. Sometimes they charge two or three times more than a regular dress shirt. You can really enhance the packaging of this popular shirt by using Lieberman’s Shirt Savers. These are plastic extensions that snap onto the ends of the hangers to prevent hanger marks in the knit shirts.

This is a great idea, but better still, these can be custom-imprinted with your store name and logo!

This ought to make you memorable to your customers any make any premium that you charge for these shirts a non-issue. Lieberman is also offering new buttons. You can now buy those thick buttons that you see on some shirts now. Lieberman has these in all sizes as well as a full range of colored buttons.

Clean 2005 in Orlando was an impressive show. Going to a show like this is all about being among the first to learn about cutting edge equipment and products. I wasn’t disappointed. See you at Clean 2007 in New Orleans!