National Clothesline

After toiling in the drycleaning industry for over 75 years, Arsen Kashkashian, Sr., was laid to rest after passing away on Jan. 12.

Even at the age of 97, he continued to work as president of Frankford Associates, the largest drycleaning

and laundering machinery distributor in Philadelphia.

Originally, he was advised by his own accountant against starting the business, but he opted to venture forth, figuring he knew a thing or two about surviving against the odds.

Born in Turkey in 1909, he had to learn about hardship at a young age. Though his father and grandfather were wealthy owners of a big import/export business, the family had to flee from the Young Turks government to Constantinople in 1914.

After the family moved again, this time to France, he spent his formative years acquiring tailoring skills, which proved to be useful when he immigrated to the United States at the age of 19, just before the Great Depression began.

While his family had been successful in Turkey, Mr. Kashkashian was virtually alone and penniless in a strange country and barely spoke any English. Making matters worse, jobs were scarce.

“About four days after I came into the United States, my cousin asked me if I wanted to go to work,” he recalled in an interview for National Clothesline in December of 2004. “He took me to downtown Philadelphia, 15th and Chestnut. It used to be a clothing house — a big one — called Jacob Reed & Sons. It was the biggest clothing company in Philadelphia. I went to work there as an alteration man.”

Mr. Kashkashian felt fortunate to have acquired skills from Italian masters who knew their craft seamlessly.

“You got to be A-1 to get a job in foreign places from the big shops,” he explained. “When I was in the big shop, I was an A-1 tailor and that’s why they accepted me. When you come from the other side, you either are going to swim or you’re sunk.”

Instead of sinking, he began building a reputation, which was the main reason he was hired a little later by the local owner of Rainbow Cleaners. The Armenian tailor soon expanded his knowledge and skills to include anything related to drycleaning. Six months later, he opened his own cleaning store: Frankford Cleaners.

“Originally, while I was on Frankford Avenue, I used carbon tetrachloride,” he recalled. “I had that spot for about two years. Then, the carbon tetrachloride bothered my system. I started to throw up and everything. The doctor told me if I wanted to live, I’d better quit that job.”

Instead of dropping out of the industry, he changed locations and switched to petroleum solvent.

Occupying a 12,000-sq.-ft. building on Torresdale Avenue, Mr. Kashkashian realized he’d have to get a lot more cleaning work to make it efficient. He flooded the region with pickup stores. Soon, Frankford Cleaners became one of the largest cleaners in the Philadelphia area.

“By 1940, I had 48 stores and the plant where I am now,” he said. “I was young and energetic at the time.”

While accomplishing much by working long, hard hours, the young man also attended night school and listened closely to his customers to gain a better grasp of English.

Being able to communicate with customers helped, but there was always one language that appealed to anyone who brought clothes to the front counter: quality workmanship.

“I always tried to give the best possible job among all of the other chain stores,” he said. “I used to charge maybe five cents more. At the time, five cents was big money. I always charged a little bit more, but I always gave a little bit better work.”

During the 1960s, Mr. Kashkashian’s life changed when he wanted to reduce operating costs because he believed he was “paying too much” for his drycleaning equipment, so he decided to go into the drycleaning machinery business.

For a while, he worked as both a cleaner and a machinery distributor, but found that many equipment manufacturers were reluctant to work with him. They didn’t want a drycleaner to be able to buy direct from them.

Undaunted, Mr. Kashkashian earned the trust of one distributor at a time and the business grew. Eventually he chose to go exclusively into the machinery business.

In the past 40 years, Frankford grew to become a leading drycleaning and laundry distributor in the Philadelphia area. According to the business’s founder himself, the formula for success was always simple.

“It’s just like anything else,” he said. “You have to do a good job. You cannot neglect the customers and try to say, ‘I’m one of the good ones.’ You’ve got to make sure you give them their dollar’s worth.”

As the scope of Frankford grew over the years, so did Mr. Kashkashian’s family, many of whom continued his tradition at the company, including sons, Nick and Ron, and grandsons, Nick, Jr. and Eric.

Because Arsen Kashkashian had so much fun working side by side with his family, he never hesitated to remain employed full time even when he was 30 years past retirement age and beyond.

“I come in every day and enjoy having the boys and the grandchildren here working,” he explained. “I have a good time. What do I want to retire for?”

Last year, Mr. Kashkashian was honored with a citation from Pennsylvania House Speaker John Perzel for having been in business successfully for over 75 years in the state.

He is survived by children Arsen Kashkashian, Esq., Nicholas Kashkashian, Ronald Kashkashian, and Ardelle Clarke; and grandchildren Arsen III, Valerie Tamaro, Juliet Seidner, Nicholas Jr., Eric, Beau Bradley and Katherine Clarke.