2021 Fourth Quarter Newsletter
Greetings from ARCS Board of Directors!
Here we are getting ready to wrap up another year! This year ARCS saw the return of in-person classes with the Dye Strip Class and Intermediate Wash Class. We had a successful show at The Experience in Las Vegas. We recently had an incredible trip to Chicago to view amazing textiles, rugs and wash plants! 2022 is shaping up to be pretty great as well. We are offering the CRS class, the Dye Strip class, a fantastic Annual Convention in St Louis along with some other great events that are in the works. Continue reading for a recap of the Chicago trip, upcoming education highlights and an overview of the plant renovation at Certified Clean Care.
Membership Dues
Thank you to all of our members! We appreciate your continued support!
Chicago Trip Recap
By: Jordan King
After many months with limited educational travel, I was excited to learn that ARCS would be putting together a short trip to Chicago. The trip would allow those attending to visit some industry colleagues & view some very exclusive textiles & facilities.
Our tour began with an extensive lesson in Saltillo serapes at Thomas McCormick’s art gallery near Fulton Market. Here Tom was most gracious in rolling out his entire Saltillo collection of some 40 textiles for us to view, handle, and discuss at length. Tom gave a short presentation on how his love for these textiles began and shared of his travels in the Southwest United States & Mexico to uncover more information of this lost form of weaving.
Tom has written & published 2 definitive works, as he has uncovered much of what is currently known around these textiles. Those of us in attendance were able to purchase these books for our own collections.
Our next stop was to visit Teddy Varndell’s antique textile mill. This mill began operations in the 1920’s. We had the opportunity to see the machines at full tilt. It was like stepping back in time, many of the machines were made of wood & cast-iron frames. Teddy gave an indigo dyeing demonstration that was very informative.
Above Image – Manufacturing double-corded selvedges for the rug repair industry
The machines in Teddy’s mill process mainly woven goods that are 6 inches or less in width. He has ability to manufacture machine fringes, single & double-corded selvedges, & as well as others. Teddy has been tinkering with these machines to learn what they can and cannot do since his acquisition of the mill a few years ago. Historically, the machines made fancy cords or tassels that would don high-end draperies.
Our second and final day in Chicago we began by visiting Minasian Rug Company. Minasian has been a big name in the retail oriental rug world for many decades, providing exquisite rugs to some very high-end clientele. Minasian also provides expert cleaning & repair of all styles of rugs. Armen & Carney Minasian were most gracious is rolling out some amazing rugs for our group to see. We were able to tour their washing facility as well.
Our tour ended with a stop to Roberto Mora’s cleaning facility where he demonstrated some rug washing for our group. Roberto runs a very nice shop in Glenville, IL providing cleaning & repair of all styles of rugs. Roberto & his wife were very kind to host our group for a quick visit while we were in the area.
To conclude, this trip was truly excellent. The exclusive textiles we were able to see at Thomas McCormick’s & Teddy Varndell’s textile mill were second to none. This was a unique and informative trip to all who were able to attend!
Plant Renovation
Facility Upgrade: Aaron Glazier of Certified Clean Care
For several years we dreamed of having the opportunity and means to upgrade our rug wash facility. When I started with the company in 2013, we were just starting to really get interested in cleaning rugs in a dedicated wash facility. We had already made the change for the most part to cleaning rugs exclusively in our facility as opposed to cleaning in our customers’ homes. We decided that we wanted to grow the rug plant. Luckily, we had a strong customer base and were uniquely positioned in our market to capitalize on the opportunity where others previously had not. We also have owners who are willing to invest money and resources into growing our rug washing division.
We come from a carpet cleaning and restoration background, had all the equipment for those parts of the business and frequently used them and our existing knowledge to clean rugs in our facility. We look back on those days and think how archaic, but that is where we started. We didn’t have the luxury of coming into an established facility with the years of knowledge and credibility that come with a multi-generational business. We tried to grow something from the ground up. Often times we would see videos or photos of some of the amazing facilities around the country and think, “how great would it be to have all those wonderful tools at our disposal?”
With any change comes challenges and growing pains. The old adage “There is no comfort in the growth zone and there is not growth in the comfort zone” was our mantra. Each step pushed us further in the direction we wanted but also stepping into uncharted territory. Our shop has made many transitions from one phase to the next. Each phase was both exciting and scary. With each step closer to having our dream facility, we wondered if it would continue to be successful.
We made some small investments in our shop and purchased a rug Badger, Kirby Vacuum with adjustable height, a wooden frame wash floor covered with a pond liner, a sump pump, and a movable drying rack. With a few fans and little knowledge of rugs we extracted rugs using our carpet cleaning equipment and chemistry. To say that we had no idea what we were doing is an understatement. We made a lot of investment in equipment but not much in training. I remember when our previous owner came back from a conference, he had purchased Ellen Amirkhan and Aaron Groseclose’s book from their Master Rug Cleaner training. He gave me the book and told me to read a little bit each day. I would dedicate an hour or so each day referencing the book and looking at the rugs in our shop. I learned how to clean rugs from that book. I learned how to identify white knots, tufted rugs and what to look for in pre-inspection.
With greater knowledge, we knew we needed to up our game. A few years ago, we added a drying room with forced heat, tumble duster, pressure washer and wash tub. This year, we purchased a 16’ rinser/wringer, ripped up our shop floor, poured new concrete with a slight grade and tied the centrifuge and wringer drains to the new drain system in the wash floor. We installed air lines in a few places in the shop and next month plan on pouring a white epoxy finish on the shop floor. We still have a lot more changes to make, but when we look back, we see the major improvements we made to get where we are today.
In the process of trying to identify what the goals were with adding equipment, we thought about profit margins, labor cost, efficiencies and inefficiencies, growth plan and a number of other things. We did a lot of planning on a white erase board, changing, adding, subtracting and together creating another design. We reached out to a number of our friends in the rug cleaning industry that we met through various conferences and asked their opinions. We finally settled on our design and gave it to our contractors to make it happen.
We are still working to get our shop where we want it to be but, in the meantime, we are utilizing the space and layout. Perhaps we will see the inefficiencies and make changes if needed, but for now, we are settling in with our newest phase of our wash facility. We are grateful for all of our friends who have been willing to take a phone call and consult with us each step of the way. There is still a lot to learn but we will continue to grow, get better at our trade and implement changes.
Spring Education
The Certified Rug Specialist class is a five-day, advanced rug identification seminar. Aimed at those who are already competent in basic rug ID and looking to take the next step, this class arms students with the tools to improve and expand their readily apparent rug identification skills, as well as provide them with the skills to identify those rugs which may not be so obvious.
Practical Dye Removal for the Rug Washer (Indianapolis, IN)
Ben Knause leads a two day intensive, hands-on dye correction class that introduces chemicals and techniques used to remove dye run and dye stains commonly used in wash plants around the world. Participants get ample time to experience wash floor stripping, spot dye removal, and fringe color correction with reducing agents and oxidizers. As a bonus, attendees leave with a general formulation guide to the products used during the event and a list of various suppliers.
For safety and accordance with the CDC health guidelines, a mask will be required and social distancing will be practiced for all live events.
Save The Date: Annual Convention
Earn IICRC Credits by attending any ARCS event.
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A.R.C.S. | info@rugcarespecialists.org | www.rugcarespecialists.org
