Graduates Complete DLI’s 386th Hands-On Drycleaning Courses

LAUREL, Md. — The Drycleaning & Laundry Institute reports that 15 students graduated from its School of Drycleaning Technology’s Introduction to Drycleaning Course and 17 graduated from its Advanced Drycleaning Course, both conducted in October. DLI’s Introduction course lasts five days and the Advanced course runs for 10 days.

In these courses, students learned about:

Sorting loads for dry cleaning
The science of dry cleaning
Fibers and their characteristics
Fabric construction
Cleaning silk, stain and other fabrics
Soil and cleaning theory
Operating a drycleaning machine
Stain removal chemistry and procedures
Removing coffee, ink, grease and other stains from clothing
Pressing pants, coats, blouses, ties, pleated garments and skirts
Using tensioning equipment to improve finishing quality
Using bleaches without damaging fabric color
Distillation procedures
Understanding the differences between solvent types
Wet-cleaning wool, silk and more
Designing a drycleaning plant with the most effective workflow

Latisha Robinson, plant manager with Dependable Cleaners in Denver, attended the Advanced Drycleaning Course. “My boss attended (DLI’s School) earlier this year,” she says. “When she came back, she told me this information would help me help my girls and help us serve our customers.”

Robinson says DLI’s courses helped her learn best practices and more efficient ways to help customers. “I was kind of thrown in, like one of the managers said this is how you do this, this is how you do that and the rest, you just wing it or figure it out from experience.” DLI’s structured courses mix classroom learning with hands-on learning experience to help cement best practice procedures.

Matt Nemec with St. Croix Cleaners in Stillwater, Minnesota, took both courses to better understand the drycleaning business and position himself to someday take charge of his family's cleaning business.

“Stain removal is very exciting. We’re learning so much here, it’s unreal,” Nemec says. “I got some great ideas to take back. (DLI Director of Training) Brian Johnson has a bunch of great ideas and insights on business. He’s helping out so many people, it’s awesome. I would say my favorite part of the courses is, honestly, just stain removal — seeing the stains disappear. It’s a really good process, and he does a great job with that.”

Adriana Lopez with 3rd Generation Cleaners in Chico, California, also attended both courses: “The courses are great because they are interactive, you know, hands-on and everything. I heard the courses were great and having the ability to enhance my knowledge is so wonderful.”