'Belle' drive brings in 1,500 prom dresses.(AROUND THE INDUSTRY)

American Drycleaner, June, 2005

Quincy, Mass.-based Anton's Cleaners says it helped collect more than 1,500 prom dresses as part of the recent "Belle of The Ball" charity drive. With its promotional partners, Anton's collected, cleaned and helped give away the dresses at an April 30 "boutique" held at Simmons College in Boston.

"Local women have been incredibly generous with their donations," says owner Charles A. Anton. "Many gowns were only worn once and were sitting in the backs of closets collecting dust. Some of the dresses, though, appeared never to have been worn, and still others were quite obviously just purchased by individuals because they still had their tags on them. [They] just wanted to donate to the drive."

At the invite-only boutique, personal shoppers led by...