Elmer (Bill) Jones founded the family-owned business in Chicago in 1936 and it is now run by his widow, Ruth and his daughter Nancy Jones.
Bill Jones was working as a salesman at Westlake Press when he noticed that a customer had abandoned his printed drycleaning posters. Jones asked the owner if he could buy the posters and then sold them to local drycleaners. This proved successful and so Jones launched his own company and posters remained one of the company’s most popular products from then and right through the 1960s.
Posters featured the latest models from various fashion houses, such as J H Collectables and Burberry.
Foster-Stephens now concentrates on the textile preservation and produces archival storage boxes and garment bags. Foster-Stephens showed its first wedding gown box, the white Keepsake Pak, to the drycleaning industry in 1947 and later added the Blue Keepsake Pak. Both became best selling products.
