Executive class / Gary Fine, President, Parkers Custom Clothing Care

Added at 6:08pm, Wednesday August 12th 2009

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Where does your job take you?

Meetings in Canada and the United States – Calgary, Montreal, Washington, Los Angeles, Kentucky, and so on.

As a dry cleaner, are you careful about packing your clothes?

I fold carefully. There are a few easy things to do: If you have a shirt or sweater, if you put a piece of tissue paper between the folds, it doesn’t come out so wrinkled.

If you know you are going on a trip ahead of time, you can go to the cleaner’s and ask them to give you your shirts folded, instead of on a hanger, which I usually do. I use plastic dry cleaning bags – that is really good for packaging your clothes and keeping the wrinkles out.

Do you fold or roll?

Some shirts I will roll; lots of stuff I will fold them in three along the crease.

What happens if you get a stain while you’re on a trip?

If you are careful, you can try and blot a stain with a cloth napkin – not a paper napkin. I don’t recommend people use soda water because you can cause a chemical reaction. The best thing to do is get the main stuff out, put it in the dirty laundry bag and get a hotel to clean it. You shouldn’t leave it too long. In an emergency, if you are stuck, you could use something like a Tide stick, but I really don’t like doing that stuff. Of course, I am in the dry-cleaning business, but I would rather let a professional do it.

Do you have favourite hotels?

Brown’s in London and the Savoy in Florence. They are run by Rocco Forte. A little bit smaller, but nice hotels, good service, and a concierge who can direct you to great restaurants.

Do you typically try to fit in a museum or attraction on your trips?

I always do. And I like to walk around and see what people are doing. I’m not a great shopper, but if I am in Europe somewhere, I look at the stores. Because if you look at the fashions, it gives you an idea what you might be cleaning the next year.