Acting President    
Nav Bains
Fleetwood Drycleaners
604-597-5792

 
Vice President
Nav Bains
Fleetwood Drycleaners
604-597-5792

Past President
Jim Carras
Neifer Installations
604-588-6030

Directors
Vickie Borkovich
Greystone Cleaners
604-587-0016

Roy Stevens
Roy Stevens Tri Cleaning Ltd.
604-738-1323

Scott Dricos
West Van Lions Gate
604-926-3277

Frank Wagner
Wagner's European 
Fabricare Cleaners
604-952-6677

Trevor Hein
Envirogreen Textile Care Systems
604-278-8400

Executive Director
Pat Bond
604-587-5719


BC Fabricare Association
16 - 9168 Fleetwood Way
Surrey, BC   V3R 0P1
604-587-5719
bcfab@shaw.ca

DIRECTORS' PROFILES

Wagner’s European Fabricare Cleaners

 

Wagner’s guarantees perfection or it doesn’t charge

In 1998, just a year after Frank Wagner had immigrated to Canada, a restoration firm called his Tsawwassen drycleaning outlet looking for a subcontractor to handle fabric restoration.

    Was Wagner their man?

    As restoration firms around Vancouver’s Lower Mainland have since discovered, yes. Wagner is a fourth-generation drycleaner originally from Wuerzburg, Germany, about 150 kilometres southeast of Frankfurt. Before immigrating to Canada he managed the U.S. Army’s drycleaning and laundry plant in southern Germany.

    “I was raised in the industry,’ said Wagner. “When I was growing up I would spend my evenings and weekends bagging thousands of orders by hand.”

    The family fabric and garment dyeing enterprise was founded in 1841 by Johann Valentin Wagner in Kitzingen, Germany. At the peak of its success three generations later, the business, with 130 drop-off locations in northern Bavaria, employed 50 people in a main plant and four, full-service drycleaning outlets.

    Frank attended an exclusive textile school in Austria, where he learned about the chemical composition of fabrics as well as the dyeing, printing and manufacturing process. He also completed a three-year apprenticeship in drycleaning and laundering in Germany. Frank was named the program’s top student.

    His mother Elisabeth, who has a Masters Certificate in Drycleaning, the highest trade certification in Germany, was the first member of the family to immigrate. She opened a drycleaning store in Tsawwassen in 1995 and today co-owns with her son Wagner’s European Fabricare.

    In 2000, with the help of two employees, the family opened a 1,600-square-foot fabric restoration warehouse in Delta. As of 2005, that space had expanded to 5,500 square feet. There are 25 employees.

    “The challenge in this business,” said Frank,“is deciding if we can restore something and how. Because if I accept a job and it’s not done perfectly, I don’t charge for it.”

    Wagner is also active in the business community. A past president of the B.C. Fabricare Association, he was the recipient of the Delta Chamber of Commerce Rising Star award in 2005.

    The Wagner’s warehouse is in the Tilbury Industrial Park, Unit #34, 7621 Vantage Way, Delta, B.C. V4G 1A6. Tel: 604-952-6677; the retail storefront, run by Elisabeth Wagner, is located in the Tsawwassen Town Centre Mall, 1261 56th St. Tel: 604-943-3030. More information is also available on the website: www.wagnersfabricare.com.

 

Jim Carras

  

Born in 1956 Jim started his first business at the age of 20.  In order to accomplish this, Jim found it necessary to sell his beloved Yamaha 350.  Jim and his partner worked hard as sign erectors.  Among other things, Jim and his partner were responsible for replacing the old round coke a cola signs with the new improved rectangular ones.  While the business was enjoyable Jim felt it was not really the direction he wanted to go.  So the business was liquidated and they each moved on. 

Jim moved on to kitchen cabinets.  After marrying his lovely wife Sharon in 1980 Jim again decided to make a career change. 

In 1981 Jim joined Neifer Installations as a junior technician.  While working at Neifer Jim attended night school and received his gas fitter ticket.  In 1994 Jim’s father-in-law Ernie decided it was time to retire and gave Jim the opportunity to purchase the business.  So in September 1994 Jim and Sharon learned firsthand what it is like to own and operate a business.

            Jim continued his service work and began selling products of several solid manufacturers and supervising the installations of this equipment.  He also does plant layout work for new and existing owners.

            Lines that Jim sells and services include Fulton Boilers, White and Wells Conveyors, Firbimatic Cleaning machines, Edro integrated ozone washing machines, Pony, Forenta and Hoffman presses, Braun washers, dryers and extractors, and Rema vacuum systems.

            Jim became a member of British Columbia Fabricare Association (BCFA) as an allied trade’s representative, and then became a Director, Vice-President and eventually President. 

            These days you will find Jim working hard with his wife Sharon and oldest son Nick.