LIBERTYVILLE – The International Drycleaners Congress, a worldwide organization committed to sharing best practices through international people-to-people diplomacy, has selected the Chicago area for its 2025 conference.

The three-day event will be held Sept. 10-12 at the Sheraton Suites in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, featuring educational seminars headlined by successful companies as well as providers of strategic equipment and services. IDC members range from independent companies like Zengeler Cleaners of northern Illinois, side by side with large “chains,” such as CD One Price Cleaners.

Speakers for this year’s conference include Norman Way, vice president of Richmond, Virginia-based Puritan Cleaners with 13 retail locations and 14 home delivery routes.

Another presenter is Heath Brolin, a 32-year industry veteran and owner of Sparkle Cleaners in Tucson, Arizona. Sparkle Cleaners has 16 retail locations, 5 home delivery routes, supported by a single centralized production facility. Heath is a consultant to Metalprogetti, a leading industry equipment provider, and will share his expertise in automation and plant layout design.

The conference also features presentations by Chicagoland-based companies. Tom Zengeler, president of Zengeler Cleaners, the Midwest’s oldest and largest family-owned cleaning company, will discuss their commitment to community organizations and events, and how that commitment translates into customer loyalty and longevity. Zengeler is recognized for leadership throughout the industry, having previously hosted a “best practices” exchange program in Japan for IDC. He is also a valued member of Management Concepts and a 25-year member and is the immediate past chairman of the exclusive Round Table of Dry Cleaners and Launderers.

Following Zengeler’s presentation, the group will tour all seven Zengeler Cleaners retail locations, where they can see the practical application of different processes. These include Metalprogetti’s Giulietta system at the company’s Northbrook location, along with state-of-the-art Sankosha finishing equipment at both the Libertyville and Northbrook processing and retail locations, as well as the implementation of Sankosha workflow processes.

For information about this year’s International Drycleaners Congress conference, visit idcgroup.org, call Tom Zengeler at 847-272-6550, ext. 14, or visit zengelercleaners.com.