National
Clothesline
When Polish immigrant Joseph Gershon
started Arrow Fabricare Services in 1914, he called his
business “Gershon Tailors” as the young man had
fostered a strong reputation in Kansas City, MO, for his
exceptional skills with needle and thread.
However, when Joseph opted to change the
name a little later, he placed the word “Arrow” in
the title as it was an extremely popular shirt brand at the
time. Joseph’s brother, a shirt salesman, had suggested
the name and it just seemed to fit well.
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“I characterize myself as kind of a
perfectionist,” he said. “I guess I get bored with
everyday business. I have to always take on a new challenge so
it is never boring around here.”
The company has certainly had its share
of challenges over the years, especially since Bruce began
working full time in 1974. At that time, the company had about
a half dozen employees, most of whom were family members. A lot
has changed since then.
“We had a major remodel of the
original building in 1978,” Bruce noted. “We put a
new front on it and we finished connecting the building to the
cleaning plant. Back in the old days, the cleaning plant was in
another building out back, across an alley. Half of that had
been enclosed before I got here. The other half was enclosed in
the ’78 remodel.”
Then, in 1979, the family bought a
7-Eleven building across the street that could be used for
employee parking as the company grew.
In the following year, the Gershons added
on a 2,400-sq.-ft. vault for storing furs. The business always
seemed to need more and more space. It had certainly come a
long way since Bruce was growing up around the plant with his
father, Bob.
Bob Gershon returned from serving the
U.S. Air Force in World War II in 1947 and began working
immediately at the family business. Now, almost 60 years later,
he has not slowed down; he still works with his son every day.
When Bob first assumed more of the
day-to-day responsibilities, Arrow took in a lot more laundry
and drycleaning work and cemented a reputation for great
service and quality.
The family also developed a good
reputation inside the industry, as well. In fact, Bruce’s
uncle, Melvin, came up with a few important innovations that
helped all drycleaners.
“My uncle actually invented two
things in the time he was here in this plant,” Bruce
said. “One of those things was the foam press pad. After
a 17-year run with the patent, Qualitex bought that out.
“The other thing he had invented
— that they really didn’t patent but was
adopted and made widely used by Cissell — was the
electric thumb switch on a steam iron. It was an idea that my
dad had from his time in the service working on airplanes. Back
in those days, they had pedals on the floor to make the steam
come out of the iron. My dad said to my uncle, ‘Why
couldn’t we have a switch right on the iron that you
could operate with your thumb?’ They rigged it
up.”
Not long after, Melvin Gershon left Arrow
to pursue a career in engineering. Bob, however, remained and
eventually taught the business to Bruce, who has been
continuously expanding and remodeling the plant for the past 30
years.
In 1994, Arrow added about 4,000 sq. ft.
of space to its distribution and check-in area to accommodate
for its expanding retail routes.
A decade later, the company added another
6,300 sq. ft. to its leather and fur department. The Gershons
also purchased Blanc Blume Fine French Laundry which now houses
the fire restoration division of the company.
Overall, Arrow’s resources are
divided into two buildings totalling over 44,000 sq. ft. in
area. The company also has as many as 80 employees, depending
on the season.
As for the services it offers, it’s
difficult to find one in which Arrow does not specialize. The
company provides leather and fur cleaning and repair,
alterations, gown preservations, fire restoration, mail order
cleaning and other unique and interesting services.
“We do cleaning and repair of
turnout gear and bunker gear,” Bruce said. “You use
special chemicals. A lot of the work that we get from the fire
department is of a hazardous nature.
“You have to go through testing to
be able to work on the Crosstech moisture barrier [in
firefighter uniforms] because it is very essential to the
performance of the turnout gear to protect firemen,” he
added.
While Bruce admits all of the diversity
can make the business “more interesting to
operate,” he is quick to point out that the
company’s focus remains simple.
“The emphasis today in our business
is on quality,” he said. “We’re studying
different ways to improve our quality and training. We want
people to come to Arrow and feel like they are going to a place
where they can get answers. Our customer service reps know how
to talk to them intelligently about the jobs they
bring.”
Quality is an attribute that the Gershon
family has instilled in Arrow for a long time. These days, they
can simply show customers their IFI Award of Excellence
certification if they require proof of their abilities, but,
not so long ago, the company relied more on word of mouth.
In fact, word of mouth helped the company
attract a large share of celebrity customers, including Bill
Cosby, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver, Warren Beatty,
Cher, Judith Light, Ralph Lauren, and others.
There’s a lot of pressure that
comes with working on expensive garments owned by a famous
clientele — especially leather items — but Bruce
just believes it’s all a part of his job.
“With leather cleaning,
there’s no paint by numbers,” he explained.
“The art of the job is to put that garment back the way
it originally looked and felt. We’ve become known as the
cleaners that will take on most any job.”
Some jobs can be more intimidating than
others, as Bruce learned a few years ago when Joy Philbin
stained a really fine and expensive leather jacket while
filling in for Kathy Lee on her husband’s show, Live with
Regis and Kathy Lee. A guest chef had prepared a cooking sauce
to be used with leftovers, and, unfortunately, some spilled on
Joy’s garment during the show.
When her secretary called around New York
looking for a good leather cleaner, one name frequently popped
up: Arrow.
“They Fed Ex’d the leather
jacket to us,” Bruce said. “My father called and
spoke to Joy and while he was speaking to her about the jacket,
Regis got on. My dad engaged Regis in conversation and he just
got a kick out of my dad, who is a schmoozer. The next day, on
the show, Regis started talking about this leather jacket and
his conversation with my dad.”
Things then kind of snowballed. Regis
went on and on about the stained leather jacket and the
cleaners who were trying to get it out. Meanwhile, a local
network affiliate wanted to shadow Bruce as he cleaned the
famous garment. It became an ongoing media spectacle.
When Bruce finished the garment, he was
asked to send it back overnight. Regis wanted to open it up
live on the show. Bruce was pleased with the way it came out
and the “grand opening” on the show became another
dose of positive publicity.
“It was amazing,” he said.
“You can’t put a price on that kind of
exposure.”
Back in the early 1990s, Bruce got
involved with another celebrity in a business venture that
proved to be a daunting project.
“I got a phone call from a fellow
that worked at Polo Ralph Lauren,” he said. “He had
worked in their care area and got promoted to a six-member
design team for a project that Ralph wanted — producing a
vintage clothing line called Double RL (RRL).”
For a span of a year and a half, Arrow
stayed open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, working on ways
to make brand new blue jeans and other accessories look like
old clothing.
“We actually did the production
here,” Bruce noted. “The design team came up with
the idea of introducing wood stain into the petroleum solvent
to come up with a look that was very authentic and
vintage.
“We did nearly half a million pair
of blue jeans all at our plant. We did gloves. We did shirts,
all kinds of things. We tried so many crazy different things to
leather. It was an overwhelming project.”
The clothing line is no longer around
today, but Bruce has found plenty of new challenges to keep him
busy and his company on the cutting edge.
Arrow Fabricare Services earned a
prestigious “2005 Cornerstone Award” for their
impressive expansion efforts a couple of years ago. American
Drycleaner also honored them with a Special Honor for Best
Renovation in the magazine’s 2005 Plant Design Awards.
More changes occurred recently when Bruce
had a Metal Progetti system installed. With such technology,
the plant’s efficiency has been amazing.
“I fell in love with the concept of
having the ability to permanently mark in our customers’
clothing with a tiny little unobtrusive bar code,” he
said.
With each improvement, it only makes it
easier for Bruce to keep pointing his company toward the
future. “I’ve been down that road now,” he
said. “I can’t ever imagine going back.”
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