Since the beginning of my cleaning career, I have wanted to learn as much as possible to ultimately offer the best cleaning experience to customers in Shropshire, as it was woefully lacking. I already had vast experience in the carpet trade as a fitter and general carpet knowledge. Still, upholstery had so many pitfalls and disasters waiting to trip the average cleaner up I decided way back I had to become top of my game in this particular field of cleaning.
Over the years, I found minimal experience within the upholstery cleaning industry. I remember my 1st training courses thinking id never touch a sofa or fabric again for fear of destruction! Or sofas spontaneously combusting in front of my eyes, which stuck with me for a long time. This type of feeling seemed reflected across the industry in the offerings available for clients who wanted their upholstery cleaned.
Delicate fabrics we’re an even bigger problem! For things like heavy cotton, linens, velvet made from viscose, and the like, cleaners would literally run away from and politely pass on the phone. It wasn’t mainly the cleaner’s fault; the scare stories from the courses would make you want to run a mile!
My goal was to become a fine fabric specialist in Shropshire and offer customers a way to clean some delicate fabrics correctly and without fear of destruction. Over a few years, I attended many fabric courses, and all lacked a real chance to clean these sensitive fabrics and leave feeling confident. Further down the line, I met Julie Roberts, a highly regarded professional trainer and a delicate fabric connoisseur. From here, my confidence grew over the years, and Im now believed to be one of the most highly trained fine fabric specialists in Shropshire and beyond.
Fast forward to 2022. Sadly, Julie passed away some time ago, leaving the industry with very few trainers in all things carpet and upholstery related. With no new blood coming through training-wise, I was approached by Cleanspec Cumbria Ltd, a cleaning supplier who had run Julie's courses before her passing. With the help of the very talented Lee Breen from Fabricmaster Eastbourne (another highly expert cleaner), we produced the most interactive and comprehensive course available to date. The study took over two months to write from scratch and the accompanying PowerPoint. From years of dull classes, we knew our course had to be the most interactive available and give the cleaners a chance to touch, feel and clean sensitive fabrics we’d been so scared of for such a long time.
Whilst it’s not something I would naturally put myself up for, it feels right in my career with my experience behind me to start offering dedicated fine fabric courses to upcoming technicians. A big thanks to Cleanspec Cumbria Ltd and Lee Breen @ Fabricmaster and Jenny Long for putting together a truly fantastic bespoke course that fellow cleaners can learn from.
You can book the course here
https://www.cleanspec-cumbria.co.uk/training-courses/introduction-to-carpet-cleaning-and-fine-fabrics
