CHICAGO — After a strategic pause to realign with event schedules on the world stage, The Clean Show is set to make its return in two weeks at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando, Florida.
Running Saturday, August 23, through Tuesday, August 26, this year’s show promises to be the largest and most dynamic gathering the textile care industry has seen in years.
Clean 2025 will be demonstrating new technologies designed to meet the needs of serving a changing customer base. It will also offer attendees educational sessions and the chance to network with their peers to share ideas and information.
Greg Jira, group show director for Messe Frankfurt, the event’s organizer, has been pleased to see the growth of this year’s show from the 2022 event in Atlanta.
“We are already outperforming Atlanta’s final,” he says, “with more than 350 exhibiting companies already confirmed and 9,000 visitors expected. Atlanta’s final was a bit over 180,000 square feet (of exhibit space sold). We’re currently at 210,600 square feet. So, we are far past the Atlanta final.”
The event starts on Saturday at 8 a.m. (all times Eastern), with distributors having exclusive access to the show floor and the first educational sessions being presented. Gates will open for all attendees at 10 after a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony, and the show will run until 5 p.m. Show hours will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday and Monday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
During its four-day run, The Clean Show will provide complimentary shuttle bus service to and from multiple downtown hotels. Shuttles will run from designated boarding spots to the OCCC every 15-20 minutes, from 7 until 11 a.m. on Saturday, and from 7:30 until 11 a.m. the remaining days. Shuttles will run from the OCCC every 15-20 minutes from 3 until 6 p.m. Saturday-Monday and from 1:30 until 4 p.m. Tuesday. (For the full schedule, along with loading and unloading points, view the shuttle schedule on the Clean Show website.)
An Industry Transformed
Mary Scalco, CEO of the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI), notes that the industry attending Clean 2025 looks fundamentally different than it did even a few years ago.
“The industry’s evolved,” she says. “They’re looking at the challenges. The importance of convenience to the consumer hasn’t gone away — that’s only increasing. The labor market is still very tight. So, how do I get around that when we’re a very labor-intensive business? What can I do to make that less so?”
This shift in mindset, along with the lower number of drycleaning businesses because of retirements, consolidations and closures in the past few years, has created what Scalco calls “a better attendee” for the show.
“I think they are the more well-heeled operators who have survived the pandemic,” she says, “and they’re not resting on their laurels. Whereas before the pandemic, many were saying, ‘OK, I’m comfortable. I’m doing what I need to do.’ And then — bam! — they got hit in the face.”
The result, Scalco believes, will be an attendee base more focused on meaningful investment and genuine improvement, rather than casual browsing.
“The exhibitors don’t really care if they have 100 people standing around them and nobody’s buying anything,” she notes. “They’d rather have 50 people where everyone buys.”
Strategic Location Choice
Orlando’s selection as the host city reflects both practical and strategic considerations. As one of the few venues in the United States capable of providing the steam infrastructure required for large-scale equipment demonstrations, Orlando, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Atlanta are in The Clean Show’s rotation of viable locations.
“Orlando has not been visited (by The Clean Show) since 2005,” Jira says, “but it is one of the venues that our predecessor, John Riddle, was able to convince to create a steam zone for the show.”
Beyond infrastructure, Orlando offers unique advantages for the textile care industry. The city’s massive hospitality sector provides many opportunities for plant tours and real-world observations of commercial laundry operations at scale.
“The associations could do plant tours much easier in that area,” Jira says. “It was really geared to the commercial laundry aspect just because of the pure tourist volume size in the area.”
Recognizing Innovation
A new Clean Show feature is the Innovation Awards, presented to honor exceptional performance in the fields of research, new products and technologies, as well as applications for the textile care industry. These awards, according to Messe Frankfurt, “have been designed to make cutting-edge developments visible, promote unconventional thinking and intensify dialogue between researchers, manufacturers and users.”
The 2025 Innovation Award categories include:
- Best New Application
- Best New Product
- Best New Technology for Sustainability
- Best New Technology for Automation
“The Clean Show has always been a platform where the latest innovations in the industry are highlighted,” says Kristy Meade, vice president of technical textiles and technology shows for Messe Frankfurt. “This year, we are putting a spotlight on those companies leading the way with the introduction of the Innovation Awards. We are excited to bring an array of award categories reflecting a wide range of advancements in products, technology and services from the entire textile services industry.”
Technology and Automation Trends
The equipment and technology on display at Clean 2025 will reflect the industry’s response to ongoing labor challenges and efficiency demands, Jira says, including a growing interest in automation and AI-driven solutions.
“I’ve seen a steady growth in past years with automation-type services,” he says. “They’re taking an advancement now into actual AI thinking.”
Energy efficiency and environmental considerations are also prominent themes.
“Getting better loads with less water and reclamation of wastewater,” Jira offers as examples, “and even better lighting efficiency in both drycleaning and coin laundry establishments, going all the way up to the factories.”
Come back Tuesday for the conclusion, where we’ll examine the educational opportunities of the show, and ways to make the most of your time before, during and after the event.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
