National Clothesline

A pretty neat place. That was the first impression 19-year-old job-seeker Bill Fisher had of the International Fabricare Institute (then known as the National Institute of Drycleaning). It was neat enough, evidently, to stick around for 40 years — and counting.

Fisher completed his 40th year of service at IFI this past summer and marked his tenth anniversary as CEO of the institute in August. As he began his fifth decade at IFI, Fisher reflected on the past and his hopes for the future in an interview in IFI’s Fabricare magazine.

He had completed a year of school at the Pennsylvania Military College when he decided to accept a job at the “neat place,” working as a lab technician by day and going to school in the evening.

It proved to be more than a summer or fill-in job. He worked as a lab assistant, research engineer, development chemist and research coordinator in those early years. His dedication was such that by 1976, he was named director of Silver Spring operations and, in 1980, he became administrative assistant to the general manager. His title grew to assistant general manager and vice president in 1986.

Throughout those years, as IFI’s go-to guy on legislative and regulatory issues, he tangled with federal regulatory agencies on a number of fronts.

EPA raised concerns about the carcinogenic potential of perc and attempted to reclassify it as a more serious cancer threat. The agency also instituted regulations for disposal or hazardous waste from drycleaning plants, adding an entirely new aspect to the drycleaning plant owner’s job description. Congress passed the Clean Air Act and drycleaners were among the first industry groups to have their obligations under that law spelled out by EPA. Wastewater disposal issues arose, giving rise to concerns about soil and groundwater contamination.

OSHA wanted to revise its regulations for drycleaners, too, by lowering perc exposure limits. Fisher and IFI played a key role in a lawsuit that put the brakes on that move in which the agency proposed to declare perc a human carcinogen.

And then there was the FTC, constantly mulling changes in its care label rule, often putting the interests of consumers and garment makers ahead of drycleaners.

Fisher was at the forefront of all those battles.

Finally, in 1995, he was named CEO. When he took the top job, IFI was reeling from declining membership and its finances were precarious. One of his first actions as CEO was to ask members, both current and past, how IFI could better serve them. To that end, he publicized his home telephone number so people could reach him at any time, day or night. Truth be told, though, he would as likely be at IFI headquarters during off hours as at home.

“The first five years of being CEO for me were all about catching up and struggling to keep the doors open,” Fisher recalled in Fabricare magazine.

As things have stabilized at IFI, Fisher has been able to work on building for the future. In a momentous move last year, IFI left its home of 30 years in Silver Spring, MD, and moved into new quarters in Laurel. It was a chance for Fisher to wear yet another hat in his IFI career, this time a hard hat, as he worked hands-on not only in the design and layout of the new facility but also in actually assembling it.

At this summer’s Clean Show, he announced another major initiative by IFI, the Award of Excellence program. Under this program, IFI will recognize and promote those cleaners who meet standards that set them apart from run-of-the mill cleaners, hoping to make clear to the public that there are many good cleaners out there and helping to find them.

“Times are hard for drycleaners right now and that means times are hard for us,” Fisher said in the Fabricare interview. “But things work in a cycle, and I can honestly say that the ship is headed in the right direction and that we’re on the way to better days. I strongly believe the Award of Excellence program will play a role in bringing the industry around, and by extension, that will bring IFI to a new level as well.”