By John Paul Roggenkamp
To help you make the most of 2021, DLI reached out to leading Human Resources professionals for insight into how to recognize, recruit, and retain great workers. We also asked about bothersome or unproductive individuals’ red flags. Keep reading for quotes from Kendra Hoffman, HR Project Manager at Puzzle PR, and Sandy Seay (via Kylie Luff) at Seay Management Consultants.
Messe Frankfurt has announced that the 2021 edition of The Clean Show will be postponed due to the continued global impacts of COVID-19. The next edition will be held July 30 through August 2, 2022 in Atlanta.
After months of strategic conversations with Messe Frankfurt’s global leadership, partner associations and representatives from the show’s key exhibiting groups, the team has decided that pushing the show and its subsequent edition is in the best interest of the industry as a whole.
The decision will affect at least the next two editions, with Clean 2023 also being moved to now take place in August of 2024.
“Although this has been a tough decision to make, we are confident that moving The Clean Show will allow us to provide the quality experience and return on investment our exhibitors and visitors have come to expect from Clean,” said Greg Jira, Show Director for The Clean Show.
By John Paul Roggenkamp
The explosive rise of the gig economy (which largely hinges upon providing convenient solutions to common challenges), the acceleration of the work from home trend, as well as loosening social standards for formal and business attire are all impacting brands, markets, and – yes – drycleaning. With a deadly virus still active in communities across the country, drycleaners will likely need to adopt a range of convenience-oriented and contactless solutions (such as route-based as well as curb-side garment pick-up and delivery). Wash-dry-fold (WDF) has become a particularly viable option for many drycleaners keen on expanding markets and boosting sales. DLI asked four leading figures in the drycleaning industry for their views on the benefits and drawbacks of the shift to convenience. Some of their insightful responses are presented below.
By: John Paul Roggenkamp
Just as drycleaners were starting to adapt to laundry lockers, mobile apps, social media marketing, and the like – bam! – the entire global economy shuts down because of a virus. Talk about disruption! DLI reached out to four leading minds in the drycleaning industry to ask how they’re adapting to the many changes coming everyone’s way.
Continue reading “Disruption’s Impact on the Industry: Where Do We Go From Here?”
Does the following story sound familiar? A hard working employee—let’s call her Debora—proves herself a great sales producer and a real “go-getter.” When a supervisory position opens up, Debora seems the logical choice for the spot. Who else could better train the staff into a mean, lean selling machine? Debora accepts the promotion with enthusiasm and everyone looks forward to great things.
Alas, the anticipated revenue boom never materializes. In fact, sales start to soften. It’s no secret why: People hate working for Debora. The result is predictable: Productivity falls. Customers flee. Profits go down.
Continue reading “Buddy to Boss: Helping Newly Promoted Managers Succeed”
Inside the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute’s Laurel, Maryland, headquarters is what has been called the CSI of drycleaning. It’s the International Textile Analysis Laboratory (ITAL), a high-tech investigative unit of DLI that works backward to figure out how garments and other textile items compromised in processing met such unfortunate ends, much like crime scene investigations.
Continue reading “How the Institute’s CSI Lab Solves Problem Garment Mysteries”
By Jonathan Bernstein, President, Bernstein Crisis Management Incorporated
Every organization is vulnerable to crises. The days of playing ostrich – burying your head in the sand and hoping the problem goes away – are gone. You can try, but your stakeholders will not be understanding or forgiving because they’ve watched what happened with Volkswagen, Chipotle, FIFA, and Lance Armstrong.
By Harry A. Kimmel III, APR PRSA
DLI Communications Director
Negative comments and reviews flooded a drycleaner’s Facebook account after a local news station aired a segment criticizing the business’ inability to return garments. In the report, a 72-year-old cancer patient described her 25-plus attempts to get her $1,600 fur coat from storage, ending with a report that the owner told her he was “too busy to care” about her coat.
Customers began commenting and spreading rumors on Facebook that the business, open since 1934 and encompassing five locations, would soon be closing. A few negative reviews here and there are to be expected by any business and can be promoted as an opportunity to learn from mistakes as the business projects a resolve to try harder. When a negative news article launches a flood of negativity, including a deluge of people saying they won’t do business with you any longer (on camera and online) the situation becomes a full-blown crisis.
Continue reading “Crash & Burn: What Not to Do On Social Media”
Web interface and mobile app for the Encyclopedia of Drycleaning bring the entirety of DLI’s vast stores of knowledge and research to members’ fingertips.
Members know they can turn to DLI whenever they have a question about any facet of running a drycleaning business. After more than a century of helping operators succeed, the association has witnessed and handled nearly every situation a fabricare professional might encounter—and what’s more, it has researched and written about it.
DLI’s comprehensive reference, the Encyclopedia of Drycleaning, is the repository of that knowledge. Included in Silver-level and higher memberships, the Encyclopedia of Drycleaning is a members-only feature that contains the many thousands of articles, advisories, and other releases DLI has produced over the decades.
Continue reading “DLI’s Drycleaning Encyclopedia Offers Full Knowledge Base”
Your Policy Should Prevent Bankruptcy If/When the Unthinkable Strikes
By John Paul Roggenkamp
Tragedy often strikes without warning. Blue skies can turn grey in the blink of an eye, unleashing torrential downpours. Debris can suddenly block an exhaust conduit, preventing the venting of hot fumes that then somehow ignite. In this piece, we’ll look at how four different drycleaners endured loss and rose from the ashes again – often literally. In three of our cases, having the right insurance was key to them bouncing back from the brink of ruin. Are you adhering to best practices as well as maintaining the right type of insurance coverage to keep the doors open? Continue reading “How Insurance Helped Four DLI Members Recover from Disaster”
