Clarendon Hills cleaner presses on

“I can just look at something and tell if it can be cleaned,” she said. “Ninety percent of wedding dresses are dry clean only. They’re just like any other fancy dress. You put them in the delicate cycle and they come out beautiful.”

As owner of Clare-Hills Cleaners and Shirt Laundry, Foreman has found even ornately beaded wedding dresses are no problem.

She also knows her customers, and their garments.

“Eighty-five percent of my customers are regulars or repeat customers,” Foreman said.

Foreman inherited the company from her father-in-law, who originally founded the business in 1955. It started out as a coin laundry, taking in commercial laundry for supplemental income. The laundry obtained its first dry cleaning machine in the 1980s. Kathy Foreman started working there in 1989.

“I just happened to marry into the business. It was a beautiful part-time job,” she said.

It’s no longer a part time job. Foreman’s day generally starts when the shop opens at 6:30 a.m., although she likes to leave by about 2 p.m. She averages about 70 to 80 hours per week operating the shop with the assistance of her sister-in-law and her niece. Her son also helps out whenever he’s home on a break from school, and her husband does repair and maintenance work.

“I am the company. I am the business,” said Foreman.

Being located across from the Clarendon Hills Metra station guarantees a lot of business from commuters.

“I get a lot of traffic in the morning,” she said.

Foreman is careful about following the cleaning instructions on a garment’s label. However, if something goes wrong and a garment is ruined, Foreman’s reputation makes it easier for customers to obtain compensation if and when it is needed.

“Any good store will give you a store credit or be nice about it,” she said. “They have the receipt and they know me so it’s no problem getting an exchange.”

Foreman also takes aim at a complaint at many cleaning establishments: that women are routinely charged more. At Clare-Hill Cleaners and Shirt Laundry, fees are dictated by whether the shirt fits on the press or whether Foreman has to press the shirt by hand.

“If a woman’s shirt fits on the press, I charge the same price as a man’s shirt,” she said. “On the other hand, I get a lot of boys’ shirts this time of year because of graduation, and those shirts don’t fit on the press.”

Foreman has invested in top of the line equipment, including her present dry cleaning machine, which is a high end model and only two years old. The fact that she owns the building makes it easier to run the business as she chooses.

“There’s no rent and there’s no hassle. You can walk into my shop and see my press,” she said.