PR Without the Panic
How to Get Media Coverage
By Linley McConnell
If you had told me a few years ago that I would regularly be invited onto national television to talk about ‘laundry,’ I would have been skeptical. Like many dry cleaners, I assumed media coverage was reserved for big brands, famous founders, or companies with expensive PR teams. And yet, today, “Laundry with Linley” (me) has become a regular on Canadian TV, averaging at least one national television segment per month!
This month, I aim to demystify public relations and demonstrate how to build a media list and pitch your business in a way that feels manageable, repeatable, and realistic for your dry cleaning business.
Turn First-Time Customers into Loyal Regulars in 3 Visits
By Francis Flair
Most operators get excited when a new customer walks through the door. New ticket. New name in the system. New chance for business. But here’s the real question: Do you have a plan for turning that new customer into a regular? Or do you just hope they come back?
In dry cleaning and laundry, it’s not the first visit that grows your business. It’s the third. If you can make the first three visits feel easy, friendly, and consistent, you’re no longer “one of many” options. You start to become their place. Here is a simple framework forthinking about those first three visits and what to do at each one.
America’s Best Cleaners affiliates awarded exclusive category leadership in The Home Trust International
America’s Best Cleaners (ABC) announced its selection as the exclusive textile and garment care partner for The Home Trust International, the world’s most prestigious invitation-only network for luxury home services. The partnership establishes ABC’s CoutureCareTMcertified affiliates as the designated experts for all textile, home furnishing, and apparel preservation needs for The Home Trust’s elite global clientele.
2026 Associations Directory
Our 2026 Associations Directory is now live and there has never been a better time to join an association. It’s a great opportunity for individual operators and suppliers to make connections, share ideas, and together, make the important decisions that will shape the industry for years to come.
This year’s directory includes listings for Canadian, International, and American industry associations.
Find the one that best suits your business here.
CONFERENCES & EVENTS ABOUND
Save the Date!
Now that you’ve got your 2026 calendar nicely centered on your desk, it’s time to add some important dates. Plan now to up your game by attending one or more conferences or events this year and learning from others how to improve your business and yourself.
We keep our Conferences & Events page up to date, but here are a few we want to call your attention to:
DLI March Lineup
Focuses on Skill Development, Marketing, and Member Connection
The Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI) and its regional partners continue their 2026
momentum with a March lineup of skill-building programs, expert-led education, and high-value
networking opportunities designed to help garment care professionals strengthen operations,
improve customer experience, and drive business growth.
SEE LIST OF COURSES ON OUR CONFERENCES & EVENTS PAGE
DL EXPO WEST 2026
The Southwest Drycleaners Association (SDA) and the California Cleaners Association (CCA) are announced the return of the Drycleaning & Laundry Expo West (DL Expo West), scheduled for March 27–29, 2026, at the Irving Convention Center in Irving, Texas.
Laundry Summit — Vancouver
The Laundry Summit is coming to Vancouver, April 1, 2026, and will be bringing together laundromat owners, operators, and investors from across Western Canada for a high-impact, one-day event focused on real growth, smarter decisions, and scalable operations.
ALM 2026 Impact Conference
Scheduled to take place March 2-5, 2026, at the distinguished Marriott Grand Resort, in Point Clear, Alabama, ALM’s IMPACT conference will bring together thought leaders and professionals to share insights, discuss the latest trends, and explore new opportunities for their laundry and linen operations.
TCATA 2026 Management & Educational Conference
The Textile Care Allied Trades Association (TCATA) has announced “Summit of Possibilities” as the official theme for its 2026 Management & Educational Conference, taking place August 2–5, 2026, at the historic Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina.
SEE DETAILS FOR THESE ON CONFERENCES & EVENTS PAGE
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FEBRUARY ARTICLES: Social Media Stars
How to Win the Web Wars
SERIES: Social Media Stars
By Becca Anderson
Websites—and the people who access them—have changed a great deal in recent years. Have you and your website kept up? Do you even know who is the first reader of your site, and how important it is to give them what they are looking for? Don’t become invisible.
More than just Social
Making an excellent social media post
SERIES: Social Media Stars
By Becca Anderson
In the first installment of this series, I talked about how website searches and rankings have changed drastically in the last few years as AI has become more involved. In the same way, the value and viewability of your social media posts has also evolved from the quest for being viral, to a demand for understanding.
Websites that Work—Example 1
SERIES: Social Media Stars
By Becca Anderson
In this series, I have explained guidelines for successful websites that meet the criteria for selection and recommendation by AI and search engines today. But what does such a website look like? And how labor intensive is it? Let’s look at one company that has put thought and effort into structuring its website to bring it to the top of local searches.
JANUARY ARTICLES: Behind the Tech
All month long we’ll be taking you BEHIND all the tech you saw and experienced last year. Who are the people who bring you that tech? What motivates them? Where was that machine of yours born? Stick with us and find out.
Behind the Tech at Jensen
Today’s machines have computer screens, QR codes, buttons and lights, access panels for maintenance, and conveyor belts to move the load from Point A to Point B.
Every machine also has a team of people behind it that brought it to life. Here are two of them.
Behind the Tech at GreenEarth Cleaning
GreenEarth’s technology did not start with a machine – it started with people. Technicians standing in dry cleaning plants, listening to operators explain what actually makes a dry cleaning business run and flourish were vital to equipment design and product development.
READ IT HERE…
Behind the Tech: Inside the Milnor Factory
Series: Behind the Tech
If you’ve never been to a factory that produced the equipment you run every day, you’ve missed a treat. Pellerin-Milnor took us behind the scenes so you can get an idea of what goes into the indispensable equipment in a plant.
New Year, New Columnist!
Join us in welcoming our newest columnist, Jeff Moak of Superclean Laundromat in Ajax and Cambridge, ON (east and southwest of Toronto respectively.) Jeff is an enthusiastic entrepreneur who has a passion for the laundromat side of the industry, and he will be sharing his journey with you each month.
Who is he?
Jeff grew up in the laundromat of his grandfather (you’ll read more about that in his first column) and has expanded to two locations with two more in the works. As a third-generation operator, he has seen the industry changing, and is enthusiastic about the changes in technology. He also loves the renewed enthusiasm he senses in the industry, and the new ideas that are entering the market.
Jeff’s current locations offer pickup and delivery. “We’ll be spinning that into its own entity in the next two months,” he said. It will operate under the name Saaf – Laundry Delivered. He’s also the founder of Claro – Modern Laundry Solutions, a consulting/development company helping people build and modernize laundromats. “We focus on payment solutions, laundry equipment sales (Electrolux/Wascomat) and consulting,” he said.
Jeff likes to share what he’s learned and to listen to what others have profited from. He’s appeared at industry events speaking on a wide range of topics, most recently at the Laundry CEO Forum and the CLA Wash-Dry-Fold Workshop.
We’re excited to have him join our team of columnists and anticipate lots of great ideas from his corner each month. Stay tuned!
Life in the Laundromat Lane
By Jeff Moak
I’m happy to be writing my first column for Fabricare Canada magazine. To kick off the new year, I want to reflect on how the industry has evolved through a technology lens, shaped by growing up in laundromats with my grandfather.
READ IT HERE…
Smart Machines
By Kevin Marois
It’s amazing that the latest equipment doesn’t make coffee for you and do your taxes while you’re waiting for a load. What can they do?
The new dry cleaning machines are fantastic. They have much better control over the cleaning process. You can have a cycle for every kind of garment and every type of soil. They save water and steam. They get better solvent mileage.
Are Robots Taking Over?
By Linley McConnell
Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are advancing faster than most of us can comfortably keep up with, and while it’s tempting to think these changes are still years away, the reality is that in some places, they’re already here. This month, I want to explore how robotics are already showing up in our industry and what is worth paying attention to as we think about the future of our operations.
READ IT HERE…
Behind the Tech: Your people are your first concern
By Francis Flair
Everywhere you turn, someone is talking about new machines, new software or new systems. New presses. New POS. New route apps. New auto-texts. All of that matters. But behind every machine and behind every piece of tech, there is still one thing that decides the customer experience: your people. If the people using the tech are tired, checked out, or feel unseen, no machine in the world can save the experience.
READ IT HERE…
