Business View Magazine - April 2016 93
Ohio was also the home of the Martinizing Dry Clean-
ing Company. Martinizing was a revolutionary clean-
ing process pioneered by a New York chemist, Henry
Martin, in 1949. At the time, dry cleaning was done
with flammable solvents, so the plants were locat-
ed remotely from the storefronts. Customers would
drop off their cleaning “in town” and the garments
would travel to the production facility to be cleaned
and pressed, and then returned to the store several
days later for pickup. By using a non-flammable sol-
vent, the use of which was discovered by Martin, dry
cleaning plants could now be located much more con-
veniently, and the process could be carried out in a
much timelier manner. The use of this non-flammable
solvent was adopted throughout the industry and revo-
lutionized the business as facilities could better serve
their customers and provide much faster turn-around
on the orders. Operationally this has been termed “on-
site cleaning” (as opposed to the “remote” cleaning of
the past). Godfrey’s grandfather was an early user of
the process when he opened his original Comet Clean-
ers store in Norwalk, Ohio, in 1957.
By the 1960s, the elder Godfrey had moved back to
Arlington, Texas. Godfrey’s father, Jack Sr., was the old-
est of four children and grew up in the dry cleaning
business, as did Jack Jr. “It’s kind of in our blood,” says
Godfrey. In 1967, Godfrey’s grandfather incorporated
as Jack Godfrey & Sons, and continued to evolve the
business. “He was the first person to put cartridge fil-
ters on a dry cleaning machine, which is used in every
dry cleaning store, today,” Godfrey recounts. “And my
grandmother was first to put an iron attachment on a
press.”
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Comet Cleaners
WHAT:
Franchisor of drycleaning stores
WHERE:
Headquarters in Arlington, Texas
WEBSITE
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