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The Marketing of Jennings and Dry Cleaning

haring the good news about organization of retail, on‐the‐premises dry cleaners in New York. New
inventor Thomas Jennings and Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and part of Pennsylvania. This and
Shis Dry-Cleaning invention is, other Associations that popped up supplied businesses with marketing
and was, a marketing adventure in its tools to promote their company and the industry.
own right. Early on it was typically In the 1930s, the California State Fire Marshal produced a short
noted in classified and the occasional film to show in theaters called More Dangerous than Dynamite,
print ad from tailors and the like. showing a homemaker cleaning clothes in a tub with white gasoline,
Word of mouth regarding this ingesting fumes, her children ingesting fumes, and a fire in which she
“miracle” machine and method is horribly burned (showing her covered head to toe with white plaster
spread and over time, leading to a in a hospital bed) and at the end of the film, is
demand to have this cleaning method shown to be featured in a newspaper, alive, but
available for the homemaker. “withered and scarred for life.” This tragic
According to www.frontiersin.org, story is interjected with industry film showing
“The first dry-cleaning operations in Marketing signs – a state-of-the-art dry-cleaning company with
the United States (U.S.) date back to from BeCreative360 all sorts of safety bells and whistles in place.
the 1800s when people washed fabrics With the dangers of dry cleaning, businesses
in open tubs with solvents such as took to any way possible to promote the safest
gasoline, kerosene, benzene, turpentine, way to care for your finest clothing: go to a pro-
and petroleum and then hung out fessional.
to dry.” As the industry boomed, dry cleaners
To say this was dangerous is an marketed their message in just about every way
understatement. At the turn of the possible, including strong signage, advertising,
20th century, the U.S. started using printing on their hangers, on the bags placed over cleaned clothes, and
specialized machines for the dry- more. Pick-up and delivery, 1-Hour Cleaning, drive-through shops,
cleaning process in order to contain and more help to keep the industry on its feet.
the dangers of the chemicals. In 1911,
a book titled The Practical Dry Still Celebrating Today
Cleaner, Scourer and Garment Maker In 2018, BeCreative360 (a mar-
became the “Bible” for dry-cleaning shops with the how-to’s and keting firm for dry cleaning and other
guidelines for running a successful business. It was presented first at the specialty shops) established the first
1911 Convention for the National Association of Dry Cleaners. annual National Dry Cleaning Day, a
There was also a publication for dry cleaners that started in the new holiday falling on March 3 of
mid-1800s called the Practical Dry Cleaner and later another called every year. National Dry Cleaning
Information that offered ideas, innovations, and more to those involved Day celebrates the day Thomas
in the industry. Information was promoted as the “ONLY magazine in Jennings, an inventor and abolition-
the United States that is edited by a practical ist leader, filed a patent for dry-
dry cleaner, dyer, and chemist. All recipes scouring on March 3, 1821. This
are tried before publishing.” Within its new holiday, quickly embraced by
pages were advertisements for dry cleaners across the nation, is
Studebaker Delivery Wagons, The gaining in popularity year after
Berwyn Steam Dye and Cleaning year, with a multitude of marketing
Works, a classified for a course on tools and graphics offered for free to
“How to Remodel Hats,” and dry-cleaners across the country.
Taylor-Made Garment Hangers. Also, an online business called
Individual shops were heavily Laundry bag selling on Etsy for $18.95. Thomas L. Jennings ourhistoryisdope.com is selling a range
“This is a nice piece of advertising the bag is in
supported by organizations such good condition there is a slight smudge next to the Long Sleeve Tee selling of casual wear that features Black
as the Neighborhood Cleaners “S” in Kansas. This bag is cotton and measures for for $28.99 at inventors over time, including Thomas
Association. The N.C.A. is an approx. 20 ½” wide and 27 ½” long.” ourhistoryisdope.com Jennings.

An Excerpt from the Article “Taken to the Cleaner’s”
by Louis Botto in The New York Times, August, 1975

o, where have the likes of the du Ponts, Rockefellers, Deweys, cleaned and pressed shirts, and commiserating over the passing of one
Roosevelts, Harrimans and Lehmans sent their dry cleaning and of his most illustrious customers—Ari Onassis. “He always sent us his
Slaundry? These illustrious families, plus Lee Radziwill, Richard silk shirts when he was in town. He said we were the only ones who
Rodgers, Mrs. Gilbert Miller—and when they’re in town—Frank pressed them correctly. We charged him $5 a shirt.
Sinatra, Rex Harrison, Gregory Peck, Robert Cummings and Peggy “The Johnson used to send us their towels from Washington,” Mr.
Lee, have for years patronized the Budge‐Wood Laundry Service, Inc., Karten continues, “and the Kennedys their linen when they were in the
housed in a gargantuan plant in the heart of Harlem. White House. F.B.I. agents would come by to check the finished work
There, 600 skilled workers toil to do the kind of specialized cleaning to make certain that there were no incendiaries in the tablecloths.”
and hand‐pressing that their fastidious clientele has demanded since the The Budge‐Wood name appears only on the Harlem plant and on
business was founded in the nineteen‐thirties by tennis champions trucks that pick up laundry and dry cleaning. “We have about 30 shops
Donald Budge, Sidney Wood and Frank Shields. in New York,” says Mr. Karten, “and one in Connecticut, under such
The current owner of BudgeWood, Alexander Karten, proudly names as Fleur‐DeLis and Certified. But all our work is processed in the
escorts a visitor around his plant, pointing out Rex Harrison’s finely Harlem plant.”

22 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles