America in 1969: Our Birth Year
In 1969, brothers Barry and David Putegnat founded Service Uniform. The third generation to follow in the footsteps of the family laundry business started in 1906 by their grandfather, the Putegnat brothers carried the passion for service to their new uniform rental service.
While today Service Uniform is the first and only company with the technologically-advanced Blue Chip System®, when the company was founded in 1969, there was a totally different atmosphere. Richard Nixon was the President of the United States in 1969, we put a man on the moon, and the very first Woodstock Festival attracted more than 350,000 rock-n-roll fans. It was a time of free thinking where young entrepreneurs were abandoning the traditional career path of working in the family business or finding THE job they would keep until they died. Young people were taking destinies into their own hands and starting their own businesses.
The climate of the uniform industry was much different in 1969 as well. For most service businesses, uniforms represented a type of hierarchy, with different colors and patches signifying rank. Conversely, the men’s business suit was considered a uniform for high-end businesses and sales departments across the country. While men were wearing business suits and working in high rises, women were still working as secretaries, asked to come to work in nice dresses and heels.
In the 1960’s, home washers, dryers and wash-and-wear fabrics made it easier for workers to wash their uniforms at home, and thus the retail laundry and dry cleaning businesses took a dive, forcing laundry businesses to come up with new ideas, thus, uniform rental companies started springing up all over the country.
When the Putegnat brothers came on the scene with the Blue Chip System® the industry was revolutionized. Instead of an inaccurate paper trail of uniform tracking, technology now aided in the collecting, washing and delivery of uniforms, making it better for the customer!
