Profit from shirts

Providing a higher level of professionalism

1 January 2009



New high-tech equipment can turn what was once a labour-intensive, low-return job into something the drycleaner wants to actively market, says Kathleen Armstrong


An increasing number of drycleaners are offering a fully finished shirt service to their customers. They find it has gradually become an important part of the business, particularly in the role it plays in keeping customers in regular contact with the shop and encouraging them to bring in other items to be cleaned.

Kate Bartram from Mailwash in Birmingham recently installed a Pony MG405 machine that includes a collar and cuff press and dolly with blower.

“It’s incredible,” says Bartram. “It has changed the whole feel of the shop. One person can now get the shirts done in around 3 – 4 hours. It saves on drying, there is less chance of tags going missing and it’s so much easier.”

Before installing the machine, Bartram and her two colleagues used to press the shirts by hand, averaging only around 20 shirts an hour because of frequent interruptions. When a load of shirts came in, they were seen as job that had to be done rather than welcomed, and it was difficult to keep up with demand.

Now, with the machine in place, Mailwash promotes the service, offering 10 shirts for £15, including free pick-up and delivery. For most customers, shirts go out packed in bundles of five on wire hangers and wrapped in 120-gauge poly. Hand finishing is charged at a premium.

Shirts are also a big part of the business at London’s Kensington Dry Cleaners, which processes around 700 – 800 shirts a day on its Sankosha double-buck shirt finisher and double-buck collar and cuff machine.

The pressed finish gives the shirt a perfect appearance, says Kensington’s Dave Pires, which is very important for the customers.

The shop charges £6 for five shirts and customers tend to bring their shirts in on a weekly basis in lots of five. The company also has three vans for free pick-up and delivery. The big advantage of the service, says Pires, is that customers often bring in their drycleaning at the same time, resulting in a bigger return for the business.

Fantasy Dry Cleaners also sees its shirt finishing service as a key way of bringing in higher margin business. The company recently moved to a new factory where it has installed shirt finishing equipment from BMM Weston.

The BMM Weston Lightning, says Dominic Gold, finishes 90% of shirts beautifully but each is still inspected individually to ensure it is finished to standard. “No machine will take every type of shirt,” says Gold. “A standard buck will only take a standard shirt properly, so larger shirts and ladies’ shirts still need a hand finish.”

Despite the economic downturn, shirt services are growing. Some customers are choosing to have their shirts hung rather than folded because it is cheaper but the impact of the financial squeeze has yet to really be felt. Indeed, many drycleaners and suppliers says they are busier than ever.

Gold has noticed, however, that a lot of customers have become more environmentally concerned and are asking for less packaging.

So the company has responded by trying to cut back on some of the cardboard and cellophane used for folded shirts, but this has to be balanced against making shirts look too manhandled.

Purple Label in Abingdon, Oxfordshire offers a complete hand-finished shirt service with free pick-up and delivery. Shirts are hung on plastic hangers rather than wire hangers and around 20% are folded – mostly for customers who are frequent travellers and need to have their shirts folded, ready to pack.

Purple Label’s Louise Rampe says the business used to have a second-hand blown machine but the amount of touching up that was needed did not make it worthwhile, so it reverted to hand-finishing.

Using customer records stored on the EPOS system, the business contacts customers who bring in drycleaning but haven’t yet started bringing in their shirts and offers a 15% discount off their first shirt service to encourage them to become regular users of the service. Business is growing, says Rampe.

“It’s not one of the most profitable items because of the hand finish but it brings in other business,” adds Rampe. “It provides weekly contact with customers.”

Laundry services, including shirt finishing, now make up around half of many drycleaners’ businesses.

Jonathan Gray from Firbimatic thinks there’s room for it to grow. Those who don’t offer a shirt service are likely to suffer, he thinks. And EPOS is essential if the drycleaner wants to do a professional marketing job.

“It’s important to know what the customer brings in on a regular basis and when they stop bringing it,” he explains.

Investing in the right equipment is also key. Firbimatic recently struck a deal with YAC Systems – YAC is part of Fuji Star – and has expanded its range of shirt finishing equipment to include the distribution of YAC’s pressed shirt systems in the UK.

The company’s YPS301 front split loading single body system will process up to 70 shirts an hour. It is combined with the YPS601 double stretch collar and cuffer, with built-in vacuum, which can press two sets of collar and cuffs at one time. For those with less volume and/or less cash to spare, Firbimatic also distributes Barbanti shirt finishers in the UK. The Barbanti 482 shirt finisher and 510 collar-cuffer can provide a blown finish at a rate of 40 – 45 shirts an hour.

Making real profits

If a drycleaner selects the right machine for its business, taking into account volume, location, space and the quality of finish required, real profits can be made, says Jimmy Holt from Parrisianne. Even with the more expensive pressed finish equipment, the cost of processing can be well under 50p a shirt.

Parrisianne markets Sankosha shirt finishing equipment. At this year’s Texcare fair in Frankfurt, the company’s offering was expanded when the ALP550E single-buck shirt press and ALP600E collar and cuff press were launched in the EU, as part of the Ajax by Sankosha range.

Designed to help make it more economically viable for those entering the shirt processing market and who may be processing only 200 – 300 shirts a week, the ALP550E provides most of the features of the more sophisticated Sankosha models but without some of the extra options offered by the higher priced machines – for example, it does not have as many options for steaming times. The ALP550E will process around 35 – 40 shirts an hour and the system can be leased for less than £100 a week.

At the other end of the scale, earlier this year Parrisianne also launched a Sankosha double-buck shirt press, the LP170E, which combines all of the features of the LP570E single-buck shirt press into a double-buck system.

“Hand finishing means the first three hours of each day are spent with two people pressing shirts,” Holt says. “But with a good machine, one person can do the job in 3 – 4 hours. With the right package and the training we provide, an unskilled person can reach up to 40 – 45 shirts an hour in 2 – 3 weeks.”

To justify investment in a hot head finishing machine, suppliers recommend regular volumes of around 400 – 500 shirts a week. For those drycleaners processing only around 200 – 300 shirts a week, a system that provides a blown finish such as the Sankosha DF550E multiform finisher is probably more suitable – and it can also be used to process other garments.

BMM Weston provides both types of machines. The Versaform V3 is an updated unit, which Tony Dickens says will provide the versatility to do any garment. Introduced at this year’s Texcare, it has not yet been installed in any drycleaning premises in the UK – the focus to date has been on shirt manufacturers – but Dickens says that BMM Weston intends to offer it as an alternative to the more expensive pressed finish machines.

He points out that because it can do other types of garments, including blouses, polo tops and lab coats, the equipment will spend less time sitting idle if the drycleaner’s shirt service volumes are relatively low.

BMM Weston also offers a range of dedicated shirt machines, including the NT1 all-in-one single-buck shirt press, which Dickens says is the only system currently on the market with the body, collar and cuff all in one machine. “It takes up the least space of any shirt machine,” he adds.

For those with higher volumes, the double-buck NT2 rotary system comes with two options for the collar and cuff – a collar and cuff pleater or the conventional triple head press.

Trevil’s Trevistar shirt finisher has a new shoulder module, which was presented at Texcare this year, to improve the drying of the yoke area. Corinna Mapelli says the Trevistar can process 30 – 55 shirts an hour with only a small amount of touching-up needed.

The Trevipress collar and cuff unit has been designed so that the upper hot heads remain in the cabinet while the three collar and cuff bucks slide in and out, increasing operator comfort as the hot parts of the machine are not exposed.

The collar and cuff unit can also come with a built-in boiler, which will also feed the Trevistar.

For a wider range of garments and smaller shops, the company also offers the Princess Ultra. It can be used as a primary shirt unit but can also handle lab coats, blouses and suit jackets. Trevil systems are distributed in the UK by Berkshire-based Drytech.

Electrolux’s finishing range includes the F4VA1 shirt finisher and F3AB2 collar and cuff press. The shirt finisher uses hot air blowing to inflate the shirt and dry the fabric and can process up to 40 shirts an hour.

Up to nine programs can be stored, allowing adjustments to the process according to moisture retention and fabric type.

A more compact version of Renzacci’s most popular machine, the Pony MG405 with collar and cuffer, was brought out in September, enabling it to fit more easily into smaller spaces. The 405 provides a blown finish for around 35 – 40 shirts an hour and can process both damp and dry items.

The accompanying CCP collar and cuff press comes with the option of a built-in boiler or can be used with a central steam boiler.

The company has also launched a shirt folder in the UK. The Pony PCM08 can process around 40 – 50 shirts an hour and has been designed as a compact piece of time-saving equipment. It measures 1,300mm high and less than a metre wide.

Renzacci offers an easy-entry scheme for those who are making their first investment in shirt finishing equipment. At £25 a month for the first 11 months, it allows companies who are trying to build up their business to invest in advertising, buy a delivery van or put other strategies in place to increase shirt volumes. Promoting the business is crucial, says Jason Alexander from Renzacci, echoing the sentiments of others who believe that there are huge opportunities for those who make a proper investment in shirt services.

“There is so much that can be achieved,” he says. “But drycleaners need to become business people, become professional and do everything they can to stand out from the crowd.”

He laments the fact that many drycleaners are not grasping the opportunity and promoting it. But, he says, if they do, they will be rewarded. “The shirt service will grow as more people become aware of it – and then it will become a habit.”


Trevil Princess Ultra Trevil Princess Ultra


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