USA
For the past six years, drycleaners across the USA have celebrated National Dry Cleaning Day. On this day, officially declared as such by marketing company BeCreative360 back in 2015, drycleaners are encouraged every year to reflect on the successes of their business and to learn and share the history of drycleaning practices.
Having worked and now marketed within the drycleaning industry for years, current owner of BeCreative360 Dave Troemel believes that this day and pioneering drycleaner Thomas Jennings deserve recognition.“This is a day that has tremendous significance to all of us in the dry cleaning business,” said Troemel. “The drycleaning industry has given so much to us, to our families, and to our communities. It’s our day to reflect and to also acknowledge the man who started it all.”
Thomas Jennings (1791 – 12 February 1856) was an African-American tradesman and abolitionist in New York City who operated and owned a tailoring business. In 1821 he was one of the first African Americans to be granted a patent for his method of drycleaning which was called ‘dry scourin’. With the proceeds of his invention he bought his wife and children’s freedom, then continued his civil rights work.
Bobby Patel, owner of Orange County Dry Cleaner Kona Cleaners, thinks that fellow drycleaners should “pay respects to Thomas Jennings for starting it all and essentially providing us with the successful industry we have today”.
To participate in the occasion this year, marketing agency BeCreative360 has created National Dry Cleaning Day graphics for both social and print. The sharable graphics can be downloaded here or at
www.becreative360.com/nationaldrycleaningdaydownload . The images include several graphics of Thomas Jennings and general graphics of dry cleaning machinery.
