In an industry that has seen increasing consolidation as large national chains absorb their smaller, independent competitors, Roscoe is not only holding its ground as Chicago’s last independent industrial supplier – we’re thriving.

This year, our sales growth has continued to outpace expectations.

How are we doing it? Without taking anything away from our incredible sales team, there’s no question that some of the big national uniform suppliers are doing some of our marketing for us. Many of our new customers are fleeing their previous providers as much as they are turning to us. Chronic problems with uniform shortages and lackluster customer service are an enormous disruption for business owners.

But at Roscoe, we’re not satisfied with just doing a better job for those customers who have been left frustrated by the big national providers. That, unfortunately, is a low bar in many cases.

We are excited to be heading to the Big Easy this week for the Clean Show at the Morial Convention Center.  Billed as “the main event for the laundering, dry cleaning and textile services industry,” Clean 2019 provides an opportunity to learn about the latest products and trends in our industry.

At Roscoe, we're committed to keeping up with state-of-the-art practices in all aspects of our business, with a particular focus on customer service, environmental responsibility and continuous improvement.

The event, which runs June 19-23, will include opportunities for us to learn about advances in processes for using less water, among other environmentally focused practices.

“We’re interested in the latest technology around water re-use and filtration systems to reuse water and enhance sustainability,” says Roscoe President Jim Buik. As chairman of the industry trade organization, the Textile Rental Service Association (TRSA), Buik has made promoting good environmental practices throughout the industry a focus of his term.

At Roscoe, we don’t throw around terms like "perfect bundles" and "state-of-the-art" lightly.

We've been perfecting our processes for decades, honing old-fashioned standards for customer service while staying at the forefront of a technological revolution that has provided us with unmatched speed, accuracy and efficiency.

We didn’t do it alone. Along the way, we’ve engaged the toughest safety, quality, and productivity consultants we could find to scrutinize our processes, hold us accountable, and set the bar higher for continuous improvement. We’ve earned our reputation for safety, for environmental responsibility, for hygiene standards and for customer service the only way that counts: by putting ourselves – sometimes literally – under the microscope and opening our processes to the highest standards of evaluation.

Textile Services Magazine, a publication of the uniform industry group TRSA, takes a behind-the-scenes look at Roscoe's new sorting system, detailing the company-wide effort behind our installation of the sleekly efficient German Kannegiesser ETECH system last year.

The story, which appears in the July/August issue, recounts the painstaking work done in preparation for the most modern sorting system in the industry, including modifications to our 100-year-old building and the dismantling of the old system – much of it done by our own team members, and all of it done without any interruption of service.

At Roscoe, we're celebrating 97 years in business today and that is a lot to celebrate.

Nine plus decades have passed since two young entrepreneurs in 1921 recognized a booming city's need for someone to launder all of those work clothes. So we'll start there. Below are 97 reasons we are celebrating today.

2 Entrepreneurs

Our founders George C. Buik and John P. O'Connell, whose processes may have been dramatically different, but whose pioneering spirit still drives us today. Today, Buik's grandson Jim oversees a facility that employs state-of-the-art technology to deliver unparalleled efficiency, accuracy and customer service.