The laundry and dry cleaning show, Twin Clean Showcase, filled a hall at the Australian Technology Park (Sydney) with steam and the whirring sound of commercial and industrial washers on constant cycles as exhibitors demonstrated their goods and services. Held from 29 to 31 August, it was the first international trade exhibition for the industry of its size in Australia, with 40 exhibitors, 80 companies represented and 340 total registered delegates – 120 of those for the conference which included 4 keynote speakers and a day of workshops.
The event was organised by the Drycleaning Institute of Australia (DIA), a national association for drycleaners, represented in every state and territory. Following the restructure from a federation style to a single entity association, a number of initiatives had been undertaken, such as the launch of the Laundry Industry Forum (LIF) in April this year. This organisation is an association for laundromats and small commercial laundries, which prior to this were unrepresented. “LIF will be run from the DIA office and will have its own activities and events although there will be cross over with DIA events,” explained Philip Johns, DIA’s CEO and chairman of the event organising committee.
“To raise the profile of both DIA and LIF, it was important that a major event was undertaken to draw the two quite separate markets together and to show both the operators and suppliers in this market the benefits of working together,” he added. “DIA and LIF are sponsors of Twin Clean Showcase and jointly organised and ran the event.”
Twin Clean Showcase was the first ever laundry and drycleaning exhibition in Australia to display working equipment and demonstrations and was held over three days with more than 700 people passing through the doors. The conference program of speakers was held over two of the days of comprising of 15 separate information sessions presented by a host of international and local speakers. Topics ranged from customer service trends to business systems, on line presence and accreditation.
“Despite the many challenges in organising this first Twin Clean Showcase, the support and encouragement from suppliers ensured the event would not only proceed but be a success,” revealed Johns. “Twin Clean Showcase will return to Sydney in 2018.”
