Meet the GBPAP18’s outstanding PTC showcases: OUR Dry Cleaners (Canada)

For the coming period, we will present you week by week, the most outstanding PTC showcases that were officially nominated for The Global Best Practices Awards Program 2018. The profiles of these companies are also present in the WOPCOM platform, which you can access here.

OUR Dry Cleaners (Canada)

One of the most famous market experts on fabricare in Canada

Our Dry Cleaners is a modern fabric care and fashion care company with 75 years of textile care industry experience. Continuously updated equipment, innovative systems and skills training allows the company to successfully continue to strive and thrive in the market providing full service for all textile care needs. Active participation in the professional organisations of the drycleaning industry keeps best practices knowledge current.
Adopted processes take care of the earth and the textiles, whether wet cleaned with tension finishing or drycleaned with K4. The Sosei water conditioning system reduces detergent consumption up to 40% and eliminates a rinse cycle saving water in the wetcleaning process. State of the art equipment incorporates new innovations in the industry and utilizes cutting edge technology and crafts in the plant. Motto: ‘At Our Cleaners Fabric Care is State of the Art, and Press Finishing a Craft”.

Quality Focus

Quality is job one. This message is conveyed to customers by displaying certificates and awards in the lobby and the information center with a complete set of “DLI Book of Knowledge”. Quality control focuses on five integrities: Fibre, Cleaning, Structural, Fashion and Final Inspection. Every garment is checked for buttons, repairs, sequins/ appliques and then accessed for either drycleaning or wetcleaning. All garments are pre-spotted and post-checked for stain removal and then forwarded to finishing where they are sorted into three stations (pant, silk and wool/top) which are fully equipped to handle all pressing and finishing requirements.

Technological Innovations

The HLK-60 Solvent K4 machine provides the highest level of solvent mileage. Only environmentally friendly pre-spotting chemicals are used in both drycleaning/ wetcleaning, and laundry processes. Only environmentally safe cleaning agents are used. The range of tensioning equipment returns wetcleaned items to pre-processed dimensions and crispness.

One of three stations, fully equipped to handle all pressing and finishing requirements

Customer services

From the moment a customer walks in, they see the care taken as each garment is carefully invoiced into the POS system with details of any stains or any other customer needs and is processed at the tag-in counter. Here the items are assessed for the following five integrities:
1. Fibre integrities
2. Cleaning integrities
3. Structural integrities
4. Fashion integrities
5. Final inspection/packaging.

This same meticulous process is applied to the customers’ entire wardrobe and household cleaning needs, including blankets, comforters, duvets, drapes, pillows, and outsourced shoe repair, carpet care, and blind finishing care.

Sustainability

The K4 machine has a spill prevention tray, and is closed loop preventing air pollution. All water lines to equipment are fitted with back-flow prevention valves to avoid contamination. The waste container is stored on a designated spill tray and is sealed to prevent any spills. The equipment has a prevention maintenance schedule adhered to strictly on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. The plant floor is epoxy finished to prevent contamination or seepage. Adherence to all cleaning and drying recommended cycle timing and optimized load sizes gains maximum efficiency. Loads are pre-sorted by color and fabric/fibre for optimal cleaning efficiency (poundage rate of 3500 lbs./1 gallon of solvent). The same criteria are applied in the wetcleaning and laundry department. All waste from distillation treatment of contact water and all waste is safely stored and recycled by a licensed waste hauler with voluntarily adherence to a complete solvent management system.

Providing the Best Fashion Care Service

Our Dry Cleaner strives to be, and markets the message of: a) Your fabric care expert, b. Barrie’s fine fashion care center, and, c) Wedding gown specialists. Regular promotions of services are done with advertising signs and all the staff continually promotes special discounts and promotions to customers, resulting in an experience rate of 70% usage of our promotions. In addition, major retailers also recommend the company services to their own customers. Membership in professional organisations and promotion of their logos helps expand the reach and enhance the brand image.

Excellence Acknowledged

By keeping current on the latest trends and fabrics developed for the fashion industry, Our Dry Cleaners’ reputation has spread and been acknowledged with numerous awards received for environmental advances, plant design and quality and service, including: 1) Merit Award for Plant Design – American Drycleaner Magazine 2010, 2) P4 level – Ministry of Environment, Ontario, 3) Green Cleaners Council – 4 leafs, 4) Sanitone – Master Drycleaner, and 5) Barrie Chamber of Commerce Award – Environmental Stewardship.

History

Our Dry Cleaners is located in Barrie, Ontario Canada. Continually striving to be the best quality drycleaner in the market, they attend all major trade shows and seminars on a regular basis. Knowledge and skills are continually updated through memberships in DLI, IDC, and Green Cleaners Council. Various journals and publications are required reading for every associate. Regular staff training meetings include discussions of new fabrics and fashions. Visits to other dry cleaners in a cost group enhance knowledge of the fashion care industry.