ATLANTA — Late this month, the 2022 edition of The Clean Show will open here at the Georgia World Congress Center, bringing together self-service laundry owners/operators and other textile care professionals for four days of networking, education and business development.
Each edition of Clean—formally the World Educational Congress for Laundering and Dry Cleaning—draws thousands of people from around the world to see and learn about the newest and most technologically advanced products the industry has to offer.
Scheduled for Saturday, July 30, through Tuesday, August 2, it will be the first Clean Show since 2019; the every-other-year event was delayed an additional year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Part 1 of this preview covered the show basics, including exhibitors, show hours, education session schedule and more. Let’s conclude:
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
This 2022 event will be the first Clean Show managed entirely by Messe Frankfurt, which acquired it in late 2018. The Frankfurt, Germany-based company—among the world’s largest global trade show organizers—is no stranger to the textile care industry, for which it has produced the Texcare line of shows and events in Germany, China and elsewhere for many years.
Messe Frankfurt retained Clean Show veteran Riddle & Associates to run the 2019 event in New Orleans. Don’t expect there to be a lot of changes with this edition.
“Clean has a long, long history of successful events … We will introduce some new technology,” says Greg Jira, Clean Show director for Messe Frankfurt North America. “There’ll be a different level of show graphics. But you know, as the saying goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Our goal is to bring the same great experience that the exhibitors and attendees have grown accustomed to over the years.”
Trade shows help bring together the different aspects of the industry: end-users, distributors, suppliers and manufacturers, he adds.
“With such a broad audience to gather in one place, participants are able to schedule meetings, negotiate orders, explore collaboration opportunities and attend educational sessions,” Jira says.
“Having the whole industry concentrated in one place at one time allows for unparalleled networking opportunities. A chance encounter on a trade show floor, hotel lobby, shuttle bus, these are all places that business can happen. One exhibitor once told me, ‘Hey, business happens at the pub, too.’”
“The Clean Show has proven to be an invaluable opportunity for our industry to come together for more than 40 years,” says Brian Wallace, president and CEO of the Coin Laundry Association, one of Clean’s five partnering associations. “In 2022, I believe that the value will be even greater in light of both the unprecedented disruption of COVID-19 as well as the seemingly frenetic pace of change occurring in the laundromat industry since the last show.
“Not only will attendees have the opportunity to benefit from the hours of formal educational sessions but also the important connections with peers during the numerous networking events. Clean 2022 will tell us all a lot about where we are today and where we’re going in the near future. The excitement level is sure to be at an all-time high!”
After two-plus years of virtual meetings and feeling isolated, Textile Care Allied Trades Association (TCATA) President John Silverman believes Clean 2022 will be the event the industry has been yearning for, he tells sister publication American Drycleaner.
“My expectation is everybody’s going to be super excited to get together — just getting out there and talking to people that have like-minded problems and solutions,” he says. “I think that expectations for that are very high right now.”
On a personal level, Silverman is looking forward to seeing friends he hasn’t seen in a couple years: “These are friends and customers who I don’t get to see regularly, including industry friends. Without everyone traveling, it’s been really tough to keep in touch, so I’m looking to make connections.”
It’s been a while since the last Clean Show, and you can expect a bit of a wait until the next one: resynchronizing international trade show schedules thrown off by the pandemic means the next edition of Clean will be in three years, 2025, in Orlando, Florida.
What does Jira hope someone attending Clean 2022 will take from their experience?
“The sense of community is very much typical,” he says. “That the industry is still standing after COVID, and it’s poised to find a new, successful path forward in the coming years. I want that to be a great takeaway.”
Miss Part 1 of this article? You can read it HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].
