The Model Difference
Three specialized brands. One family. Nearly four decades of doing this the right way.
Most people don't expect what's behind the Model name.
They see a dry cleaner. A uniform company. An apparel provider. What they don't see, until they look closer, is the full operation that powers all three. One family. One headquarters. One shared processing plant with enterprise-grade technology, certified quality experts, and integrated systems built to guarantee that every order is accurate, on time, and exactly right.
Model is not a franchise. It is not a chain. It is not a national corporation managed from a boardroom hundreds of miles away. It is a family-owned operation, led by five brothers, rooted in Charleroi, Pennsylvania since the 1980s, and built on a simple principle: care for your customers, your community, and each other like family.
That is the Model Difference. It is not a tagline. It is the way we operate, every day, across every division.
Three Brands. One Powerhouse.
Model operates three specialized divisions under one roof. Each serves a different customer. Each solves a different problem. But all three share the same infrastructure, the same quality standards, and the same family leadership.
Model Cleaners
Pittsburgh's largest family-owned dry cleaning operation. Ten retail locations across Western Pennsylvania. Home and office pickup and delivery with text-based scheduling. Professional garment care for individuals, families, and organizations. Over 60 years of dry cleaning heritage refined by the LaCarte family since 1986. Eco-friendly cleaning powered by GreenEarth Cleaning, a patented silicone-based system that is non-toxic, gentle on fabrics, and produces no hazardous waste.
Model Uniforms
Managed uniform rental and facility services for businesses. Weekly route-based delivery of clean, inspected, branded uniforms, plus floor mats, restroom supplies, and workplace safety products. Processing plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio serving thousands of commercial and industrial customers. Every garment tracked through the MAC Tracking System from the moment it enters our facility to the moment it returns to your team.
Model Apparel
A uniform fulfillment company that helps businesses source the right products, brand them with their logo through in-house embroidery, heat transfer, or screen printing, and build a private online store where employees can order with spending controls and approval workflows. National fulfillment capability with all decoration performed in-house at our Charleroi facility.
Three different businesses. Three different customer needs. But when one team handles the cleaning, the branding, the tracking, and the technology under the same roof, the quality does not just hold. It compounds.
Technology That Works For You
Model has invested heavily in systems designed to do one thing: remove the problems you should never have to deal with. Missing garments. Inaccurate orders. Slow turnarounds. Unclear invoicing. Communication gaps. Our technology addresses every one of them.
The MAC Tracking System
The MAC Tracking System is Model's proprietary garment tracking infrastructure. MAC stands for Model's Automated Complete, and it is built on RFID technology embedded directly into every garment we service.
Every garment carries an RFID chip. When soiled garments arrive at our plant, they pass through scanning portals that instantly identify and log each item. As garments move through cleaning, inspection, and mending, they are tracked at every stage. After processing, our automated sorting system reads each chip and routes garments to the correct customer bundle with zero manual sorting errors. Before any delivery leaves the building, a final verification scan confirms that every item is accounted for.
If anything is missing, the system catches it before it reaches your door. Complete orders, every time. Not as a goal. As a guarantee.
MAC also tracks the age and wash history of every garment, enabling proactive replacement scheduling before quality drops. For flame-resistant garments, where safety properties degrade with repeated washing, this tracking is a safety function, not just a convenience feature.
Automated Assembly and Processing
Our plant uses automated conveyor systems to assemble and package orders. Operators scan each clean garment and place it on a moving conveyor line. The system automatically groups items by customer order and routes completed orders to a dedicated accumulation line, keeping your items together and separated from every other account. An automated bagging system packages each order with a printed label, ready for delivery or pickup.
This system processes thousands of items per shift without stopping. The result is speed, accuracy, and consistency that manual sorting simply cannot match.
Real-Time Customer Portals
Every Model client has access to a customer portal that provides real-time status and history for orders, deliveries, and invoices. For apparel clients, the portal includes admin dashboards with employee-level spending limits, order approval workflows, and full user management. No phone calls. No emails chasing updates. The information is there when you need it.
In-House Decoration and Production
Model Apparel operates a complete in-house decoration facility. Barudan industrial multi-head embroidery machines deliver precise logo work with tight thread control and color accuracy. Hotronix professional heat press systems handle transfer graphics, names, and numbering with digitally controlled temperature, pressure, and timing. A professional digitizing process converts your artwork into production-ready stitch files.
Nothing is outsourced. Your logo is converted, tested, and applied in the same facility, by the same team, under the same quality control.
Enterprise-Grade Order Management
An enterprise resource planning system connects inventory, purchasing, production scheduling, work orders, and shipping into a single integrated workflow. When an order is placed through a client's private online store, it flows directly into our production pipeline. Accurate stock levels, dependable timelines, and fewer errors at every step.
GreenEarth Cleaning
Model Cleaners is a proud affiliate of GreenEarth Cleaning, the global leader in sustainable dry cleaning for over 25 years. The GreenEarth system uses a patented silicone-based cleaning fluid that is non-toxic, odorless, and extraordinarily gentle on fabrics. It completely eliminates hazardous waste from the cleaning process. Over 600 million pounds of garments cleaned across 6,000+ service points in 40 countries.
Why Model Is the Better Choice
Accuracy
Every garment is electronically tracked from the moment it enters our facility to the moment it is delivered back to you. RFID scanning, automated sorting, bundle verification, and certified quality inspection work together to ensure complete, accurate orders on every delivery. Tech-driven tracking and rigorous quality control reduce lost items, short deliveries, and rework to near zero.
Speed
Everything happens in-house. Cleaning, inspection, mending, embroidery, heat transfer, assembly, bagging, and shipping all take place in our own plants. We do not send your garments to a third party and wait for them to come back. We stock thousands of uniform styles and sizes in our own warehouse, and our on-site decoration department can personalize orders without delay. Integrated operations and local service routes mean faster turnaround than competitors who outsource any part of the process.
Consistency
One team manages the entire lifecycle of your uniform program. The same family company that sources your products also brands them, tracks them, cleans them, inspects them, and delivers them. That means consistent quality, consistent branding, and consistent presentation across your entire workforce. We track garment age and wash counts so items are retired and replaced before they start to look worn.
Control
Real-time visibility into your account is standard. Customer portals show order status, delivery history, and invoicing. Apparel clients get admin dashboards with employee spending limits, order approval workflows, and reporting by department or location. Itemized invoices detail every service and every cost. No surprise charges. No guesswork. You see exactly what you are paying for.
Trust
Model has been family owned and operated for nearly four decades. Five brothers run the company today, continuing the values their father Jack LaCarte built the business on: hard work, family, loyalty, sacrifice, and humility. We are not a publicly traded corporation answering to shareholders. We are a local family answering to the customers and communities we have served since the 1980s. That is why we maintain one of the highest customer retention rates in the industry.
Industries We Serve
Model's three divisions serve businesses and organizations across a wide range of industries. No matter where your team works, Model has the products, services, and infrastructure to keep them outfitted, safe, and looking professional.
Proof, Not Promises
The MAC Tracking System monitors every item through cleaning, inspection, sorting, and delivery. Complete order accuracy is verified before anything leaves the plant.
Five brothers. One headquarters. Multi-generation leadership rooted in Charleroi, Pennsylvania since the 1980s. Not a franchise. Not a national chain.
Through a partnership with Life'sWork of Western PA. Over 3 million hangers recycled annually. Named 2024 Business Partner of the Year.
Through Coats for Kids since 2016, partnering with local schools and the Salvation Army to provide children with clean coats for the winter.
Recipient of the WCCF Charles C. Keller Excellence Award for Corporate Philanthropy.
Patented, non-toxic, silicone-based cleaning. Zero hazardous waste. Trusted across 40 countries for over 25 years.
Member of the Dry Cleaning and Laundry Institute, the industry's leading professional association for education, expertise, and advocacy.
Among uniform service companies in Pennsylvania and Ohio, Model maintains one of the strongest client retention records in the market.
Experience the Model Difference
No matter what your business needs, the Model family of companies has you covered. Let us outfit your team, protect your brand, and simplify your day.
Model Cleaners is a proud member of the Dry Cleaning & Laundry Institute and a GreenEarth Cleaning affiliate.