National Clothesline

The FabriCare Foundation believes that the old phrase “taken to the cleaners” has been uttered enough. Now, the organization is in the process of taking a new message to the public. At the start of this year, the Foundation launched a national publicity campaign designed to promote excellence in drycleaning.

Making inroads against the overall negative perception of cleaners will take some time, but the Foundation members are meeting the challenge one step at a time.

“We kicked off our drycleaning industry educational efforts during the first quarter of 2006 by launching our e-newsletter, First ImPRESSions, ” FabriCare Foundation President Dan Martino noted. “This monthly e-mail marketing tool is filled with valuable tips and campaign updates and is available to all industry members who sign up on our web site at www.fabricarefoundation.org. ”

Getting information out in mass quantities is one of the staples of the Foundation ’s plans. In January, Tiffanie Williams & Co., the promotional agency hired for the campaign, began pitching the idea to consumer publications of running a regular clothing care “question-and-answer” column in the regions where FabriCare Foundation board members live and work.

To date, they successfully attained three such columns that answer commonly asked questions on seasonal clothing care for consumers.

President Martino gained the interest of The Kenosha News and Don Fawcett of Dependable Cleaners persuaded The Patriot Ledger. Chris Allsbrooks, who works as an IFI garment analyst in addition to being a spokesperson for the Foundation, is credited for obtaining a column in The Washington Times.

Of course, in order to make it easier to build up consumer support for the industry, the Foundation has also worked on gaining a support from drycleaners themselves.

In February, Tiffanie Williams and Kirsten Whitten from Tiffanie Williams & Co. educated attendees of IFI’s Five-Star Management Seminar about the progress of its publicity campaign.

“This meeting was highly successful in communicating our mission and messages and attracted outstanding support from industry members, ” Martino said. “As a result, four large industry suppliers generously offered to distribute FabriCare Foundation brochures to help build support and raise funds in support of our cause.

“We’d like to thank Trudy Adams of Cleaner’s Supply, John Jordan of Fabritec International, Kevin Weir of Liberty-Pittsburgh Systems, and David Dawson of R.R. Street for their support. We will be printing more brochures and working with them in the coming months to help spread our message and gain support. ”

The Foundation continued to rein in more positive headlines during March when Tiffanie Williams & Co. asked Chris Allsbrooks to engage in a question-and-answer session with Mary Lou Andre, founder of Organization by Design, Inc.

The purpose of the interview was to collect information for Andre’s forthcoming book, The Perfect Fit, which is scheduled to be on the shelves in bookstores in March of 2007.

One major topic of discussion between Allsbrooks and Andre included how consumers can become responsible in taking proper care of their clothing.

The Foundation’s publicity campaign continued to pick up steam in April when the group sent out a national consumer press release on “Clothing Care for Casual Wear” which emphasized spring and summer fashion trends and the ease of looking professional both on the front nine at the golf course and the frontline at the office.

Also during the month, the Foundation completed a contract with Scout Productions, the award-winning media and entertainment company responsible for producing numerous film and television products, including Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

In fact, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy filmed an episode at King Cleaners in New York City on April 27, focussing on the story of a young man who is conducting his medical residency and the importance of making time for his wife, despite a very hectic schedule.

In part, the episode will examine the significance of caring for “quality” clothing and the convenience of utilizing the services of a professional drycleaner in order to accommodate a busy lifestyle.

The episode is scheduled to run in the fall of 2006. Once aired, it will then be used as a video news release (VNR) to be sent to television stations nationwide for additional media exposure.

Hoping to capitalize on the show’s popularity and gain more attention in the media, the VNR will promote drycleaning services to the younger generation.

The Foundation plans to work on the project during the summer months so it will be ready in time for the early Fall for the back-to-school, back-to-work season.

“It is necessary to educate consumers about the benefits of going to a professional drycleaner and the importance of making drycleaning decisions that are based on service, dependability and results, ” Martino said.

“We hope that more drycleaners will work harder to meet the standards of excellence set forth by organizations such as FabriCare Foundation, the International Fabricare Institute and the National Cleaners Association.

“I’d like to encourage more drycleaners to become certified cleaners and join the prestigious Award of Excellence program so that, together, we can raise the bar for the entire industry. ”

For questions or more information about FabriCare Foundation or how to get involved with the effort, visit its web site, www.fabricarefoundation.org, e-mail Martino at danmartino
@tds.net, or call him at (262) 694-7545.