– History

Robert Devaney, head of a dry cleaning plant that processes more than 2,000shirts every day has worked hard to produce the perfect shirt. This is why herecently spent $60,000 on new pressing machines that neatly press 200 shirtsper hour, each ironed as if by hand. Devaney got his start in the dry cleaningindustry more than 30 years ago. He was pursuing a degree in speech pathologyat Northeastern University when his father convinced him to join the familybusiness. The father and son team purchased the Weymouth-based Dry cleaning byDorothy in 1976. Later, Devaney founded the Fresh n’ Clean and Lapelsfranchises and opened 42 stores in five states. Both franchises have been sold.Devaney’s latest business endeavor, The Cleaner Spot has already establishednine locations on the South Shore, and looks to extend franchise businessopportunities. The Weymouth plant employs 35 people and processes items fromthe three corporate-owned Drycleaning by Dorothy drop-off stores and TheCleaner Spot franchises.

- How casual dress trends have affected dry cleaning

Casual dress has heavily affected the dry cleaning industry over the lastdecade. The volume of clothes needed to be dry cleaned has greatly reduced. Theindustry has created new methods and equipment to handle casual dress. When apair of khakis are pressed, for instance, it’s different than pressing a pairof wool slacks. Often, khakis are needed to be wet cleaned instead of drycleaned, which makes them harder to press and finish. There are actuallymachines that grab the bottom of the pants and pull them down, helping to givea better press. Undoubtedly making that press much more popular with casualclothing. Casual dress has become more popular over the years, but doesn’t meanyou should sacrifice a professional look. Meaning if you want to dress inkhakis and a polo, but still desire that professional image, it’s best to havethose items professionally cleaned and pressed.

-Changes due to pollutant regulations

Environmental Protection Agency regulations have given us additional costs.Additional education and new equipment were also needed. Equipmentmanufacturers were needed to create more efficient equipment – equipment thatdidn’t harm the atmosphere. In our industry, they are referred to asclosed-loop systems, so instead of releasing the odors into the atmosphere,pollutants are all self-contained. This process also made cleaning much moreefficient, so that less of the chemicals could do the same volume of clothing.In addition, after the dry cleaning process is completed, a hazardous wasteresidue is left behind. Dry cleaners must then take that waste and put it intobarrels, and then have it professionally removed. The newest thing in drycleaning is environmentally friendly systems, but even plants that claim tohave an environmentally-friendly process use chemicals that are consideredpollutants. There’s actually no such thing as a completelyenvironmentally-friendly dry cleaner, unless they personally washeverything.

- The Perfect Shirt

You won’t see any difference in quality if you bring a sweater into 10 drycleaners …And you can’t take a stain on a silk blouse to five dry cleaners, sothis difference is very hard to see. But generally, what greatly sets drycleaners apart Is the quality of their shirts, which is easily noticeable. Youcan very readily see any obstructions made to a shirt, therefore shirts are thecompetitive grounds between dry cleaners. 99-cent shirts are all over theplace, leaving customers very attuned to the cost of shirts. For this reason,shirts are cleaned on mass production equipment. They are actually processed atabout 100 or more shirts per hour, as opposed to a dry cleaning item that’shand-ironed and pressed is only done at around 15 or 20 an hour. You couldalways make the perfect shirt if you had time to hand press every shirt, whichdoesn’t happen anymore because of inefficiency and high price, until a newcompany (Japan’s Sankosha) developed a machine that can still turn out 150 to200 shirts an hour – but as perfect shirts.

-What sets The Cleaner Spot apart

The whole dry cleaning and tailoring economy works on incentive, allowingDevaney to realize that no one cares about the business more than the owner,which is why every franchise of The Cleaner Spot is managed by the owner. Theowner is always there, working 40 to 50 hours a week, so that you’re guaranteedthe ultimate in service. The owner specifically inspects every piece that isprocessed through that store so you are ensured to get the best quality. Ourdrop stores are small, 1,000-square-foot stores that we are able toconveniently locate anywhere. Dry cleaning is a business based on convenience,typically drawing customers that live and work near by, enabling us to targetspecific communities. Large dry cleaning plants are typically not allowedanymore in heavily populated areas because of chemical and environmentalproblems.

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