Best Cleaners is an award-winning cleaner serving customers across five locations in upstate New York. Founded in March 2005, they offer both wet cleaning with Miele equipment and dry cleaning (using eco-friendly solvents). All cleaning is performed at its main processing facility in Schenectady. The other locations are drop stores serving walk-in and delivery customers.
Best Cleaners needed new equipment they purchased a Miele PW 818 45-lb. washer and PT 8507 steam-heated dryer.
“We tried other brands of washers, but the results were very different from what we experience with the Miele equipment,” said, Melody Conklin, director of operations. (The machines were originally installed in their Latham, N.Y. location, then relocated to Schenectady in April 2020.)
Conklin says the Miele washer is used most often for silks, wools, garments with contrasting colors – navy blue and yellows; black and white
– and garments with faux leather. They achieve particularly good results washing contrasting colors. And while Best Cleaners employed wet cleaning prior to the switch, adding the Miele washer “allowed us to do it better,” Conklin says.
Installing Miele equipment also helped Best Cleaners reduce their carbon footprint. As co-owner Catherine McCann explains, the Miele washer allows them to choose a water-based option over dry cleaning solvents for many more garments than can be cleaned even with standard wet cleaning. Plus, commercial washing puts less water and fewer phosphates down the sewer – on a load-per-load basis.
The cleaner also enjoys energy savings, although it’s difficult to calculate the value in relation to other recent energy-saving moves, including upgrading all lights to LEDs. “Based on the shorter clean cycle of the Miele washer, I am confident we’re achieving electrical savings,” McCann says.
Flexible and Efficient – The Miele Advantage
Best Cleaners is very pleased with the Miele equipment. So much so, that they recently purchased and installed two more washer / dryer sets. Conklin says she loves the variety of programs, and that the equipment is very easy for her employees to use.
She points out that the dryer provides the ideal moisture retention to avoid shrinkage, and garments need very little finishing. Adding that she has an all-in-one Miele machine at home, Conklin notes, “Needless to say, I am a fan.”
Rush orders and smaller loads are cleaned more efficiently in the Miele equipment, as opposed to dry cleaning. “Between the two cycles, it has saved us quite a bit of time and energy,” Conklin says.
In a predominantly male-oriented industry, McCann proudly notes that her staff is 70-75% female. That includes their official dry cleaner, Kristen Martinez, who shared some thoughts on the Miele equipment.
“The Miele machines offer so many programs that you can really clean any fabric, and it takes less time than one dry cleaning cycle for both machines,” said Martinez. “It’s great for smaller loads that we don’t want to run through the dry cleaning machine or rush orders that come in after work. It’s very spacious; it looks small but holds more.”
McCann touts the versatility of the Miele technology. “Miele allows us to customize how we’re taking care of garments more than we had before,” she says. “It’s user-friendly, uses less water, and is gentle on garments. It’s pretty darn good.”
To learn more about how wet cleaning with Miele washers can help your laundry business, speak with a Miele Professional at 866-781-5053.
