International Drycleaners Congress Selects Chicago for 2025 Conference

Libertyville, IL, July 23, 2025: The International Drycleaners Congress (IDC), a world-wide organization committed to sharing best practices through international people-to-people diplomacy, has selected Chicagoland for its 2025 conference. The three-day event will be held September 10th, 11th and 12th at the Sheraton Suites in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, featuring educational seminars headlined by successful companies as well as providers of strategic equipment and services. IDC members range from independent companies like Zengeler Cleaners of northern Illinois, side by side with large “chains,” such as CD One Price Cleaners.

Speakers for this year’s conference include Norman Way, Vice President of Richmond, Virginia-based Puritan Cleaners with 13 retail locations and 14 home delivery routes. Puritan Cleaners prides itself on developing its people, creating teamwork that translates into a superior customer experience. Another presenter is Heath Brolin, a 32-year industry veteran and owner of Sparkle Cleaners in Tucson, Arizona. Sparkle Cleaners has 16 retail locations, 5 home delivery routes, supported by a single centralized production facility. Heath is a consultant to Metalprogetti, a leading industry equipment provider, and will share his expertise in automation and plant layout design.

The conference also features presentations by two Chicagoland-based companies. Tom Zengeler, President of Zengeler Cleaners, the Midwest’s oldest and largest family-owned cleaning, will discuss the company’s commitment to community organizations and events, and how that commitment translates into customer loyalty and longevity. Tom is recognized for leadership throughout the industry, having previously hosted a “best practices” exchange program in Japan for IDC. He is also a valued member of Management Concepts and a 25-year member and is the immediate past Chairman of the exclusive Round Table of Dry Cleaners and Launderers.

Another Chicagoland company featured at the conference is Sankosha USA, represented by its President, 35-year industry veteran Wes Nelson. Mr. Nelson led Sankosha’s introduction to the North American market several decades ago, focusing on the company’s mottos of “Customer First” and “Supreme Quality” and how that integrates with its focus on innovation, automation and compassionate customer service. Sankosha is an active member of a multitude of industry groups, including IDC. Wes is currently on the board of directors of Textile Care Allied Trades Association.

Also featured at this year’s conference is the Operations team from CD One Price Cleaners, led by Joanna Vasquez, Michael Jackson, and Daniel Fitzgerald, who together combine for 30+ years of experience in the dry cleaning and laundry industry. Joanna is responsible for onboarding new franchisees and providing training to support both brand new operators and long-term dry-cleaning pros, while Daniel focuses on translating the company’s vision into implementable processes and procedures, and Michael provides real-time support, ongoing coaching and guidance, striving to instill a drive for operational excellence to the system.

A key benefit of the conference is extrapolating information from the presentations into real-world experience by featuring on-location visits to the facilities of some of the presenters. This year’s visits include CD One Price Illinois locations in both Schaumburg and Glendale Heights, as well as the company’s first 24/7 automated location in Elmhurst. On the manufacturing side, the group will visit the North American headquarters of Sankosha USA, home of the company’s warehousing, distribution, administrative and service departments for the North American market, along with their state-of-the-art showroom which can showcase up to ten machines.

Following Tom Zengeler’s presentation, the group will tour all seven Zengeler Cleaners retail locations, where they can see the practical application of different processes. These include Metalprogetti’s Giulietta system at the company’s Northbrook location, along with state-of-the-art Sankosha finishing equipment at both the Libertyville and Northbrook processing and retail locations, as well as the implementation of Sankosha workflow processes.

With its international flavor, the conference agenda includes a session on “World Country Reports,” a series of reports from around the world that focus on the latest developments in the textile care industry. Attendees will be updated on the most recent global trends and the future perspective of a fast-changing industry. This session will do more than simply highlight industry changes; it will also offer potential solutions to address the changes while maintaining a profitable business.

For more information about this year’s International Drycleaners Congress conference, please visit idcgroup.org, or contact Tom Zengeler, President of Zengeler Cleaners (847-272-6550, ext. 14; zengelercleaners.com).