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Intelligencer Article:

EQUIPMENT SANITIZER
Get the smell out of the game

PAUL SVOBODA
The Intelligencer

The traditional hockey glove face wash may never be the same again. At least, if Clive Archer has anything to say about it.

Sure, the old glove-in-the-face routine often delivered to an opponent pinned along the boards may still not feel good, but at least it won't smell as bad if the enemy's mitt has been treated at Archer's Fresh Gear Quinte facility on Oak Ridge Boulevard in the city's east end.

Archer, 41, a former long-time car salesman, still plays rec league shinny three times a week (he's a goalie) and says he has always looked after his equipment properly -right from the age of seven. Unfortunately, not enough players treat their stuff with similar love and care.

That's where Fresh Gear comes in.

"Some of the stuff that comes in is just awful, it makes you want to puke -some moms don't even want to touch it," said Archer. "But hockey is my passion, I always wanted to run my own business and this just attracted me. "

In other words, Archer has a nose for the job "You get some nasty stuff," he said. "But after the equipment has been through the process, it almost smells like Irish Spring soap." Plus, potentially harmful bacteria, the kind that can spawn anything from minor skin irritations to major infections, is removed.

Clive Archer of Fresh Gear Quinte prepares to sanitize a set of hockey equipment, including stinky gloves, at his new facility on Oak Ridge Boulevard.

In fact, the parent Fresh Gear company which originated four years ago in Windsor (Archer is one of 90 franchise owners across North America), claims 99 per cent of bacteria is eliminated through their sanitizing process.

"Today, most hockey equipment is made of synthetic material, and the stuff can get soaked right into the fibres," said Archer. "This system uses an ozone generator attached to a high-velocity fan to kill the bacteria and kill the stink." In a way, it blows the junk away.

The equipment is then sprayed with a water-based solution that Archer said is safe for all but the most severe allergy sufferers. The gear is then hung to dry on racks, repacked and ready for pick-up. Archer said he, can have the contents? of a typical hockey bag -skates, shin pads, shoulder pads, elbow pads, gloves and helmet (and even the bag itself) ready to go in one hour. However, he recommends a longer stopover at his facility to allow for proper drying to occur.

Archer opened for business in May and is already seeing some repeat customers on a regular basis. ''I'd recommend that players get their equipment cleaned every six to eight weeks, or after 15 or 20 ice times," said Archer. "Rep players and juniors might want to do it once a month."

Right now, Archer's facility is strictly for drop off and pickup, but he does have mobile capabilities for tournaments and training camps.

"I have exclusivity all over Quinte -from Napanee, Stirling and Belleville to Prince Edward County and Brighton," said Archer. "Eventually, I'd like to expand to Kingston and north to Bancroft,"

Archer expects to become a busy man over the next couple of weeks with minor hockey gearing up for a new season and he has already approached local junior clubs -including the OHL Bulls -about signing on as regular
clients.

"Those guys are in their equipment every day and it makes sense to keep it clean to extend the life of the pads and avoid any unnecessary infections," said Archer. .

Fresh Gear Quinte can also accommodate football, motocross and lacrosse equipment, firefighting gear and police service vests, said Archer.

QUICK HITS

Who: Fresh Gear Quinte.
What: A chemical-free, environmentally friendly sanitizing system for hockey and football equipment.
How: Belleville franchise owner Clive Archer says a unique process cleans equipment with ozone and a high-velocity fan "that works 3,000 times faster than bleach and is more effective than bleach,"
Where: 7 Oak Ridge Blvd. (613)969-7544
How long: One hour from start to finish, although Archer recommends 24 hours to allow for thorough drying.
How much: Prices range from $39.99 for a full set of goalie equipment to $9.99 for a helmet.

The Shield / EMC Article:

18 EMC. Belleville Edition. September 3,2009

Fresh Gear cleans up and deodorizes

By Michael J. Brethour

Belleville -Clive Archer is taking a fresh smelling approach to business.

Archer, a former Volkswagen salesman for a dozen years, embraced his dream of being an entrepreneur this past May, opening up his east end Belleville home based business called Fresh Gear Quinte.

The business, which is part of a relatively new Ontario based franchise, introduces a service that disinfects and deodorizes bacteria infested sports gear worn in hockey, football and lacrosse.

Always one to enjoy some recreational hockey himself, Archer said that he looked around for a business to clean his hockey gear and found no one able to do it, "Then it hit me; there is a need for this with all the various levels of hockey in this city."

Archer said that sports equipment is a breeding ground for bacteria. "Most throw on their gear for a game then it goes in the hockey bag until they use it next time, sometimes getting a wash but not properly sanitized."

That's where his business steps in with their stainless steel sanitizing unit.

The Fresh Gear C40 forces ozone, with high volume and velocity, straight into the gear, penetrating deep into the dense padding and hard to reach places like gloves and skates. This enables ozone to kill up to 99.99 per cent of the bacteria lurking there. After the process, the freshly sanitized gear is allowed to air out then a freshener scent is added to top off the effect.

Ozonation is a widely used method of eradicating bacteria in drinking water, food preparation, hospitals and health care facilities. ?It?s entirely an environmentally safe process, no dangerous chemicals to the wearer of the gear or the air we breathe.?

Archer said that after battling a prevalent skin infection on his hand in the area between his thumb and index finger, he did some research as to the cause. ?I discovered that gloves and other parts of our sports gear breed bacteria that can cause and maintain skin infections,? he stated. ?So you seek treatment for the infection, but then the next week you put on the same glove or skate and wonder why it doesn't go away.?

He said that recent studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association of a bacteria known as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, have found that infections caused by MRSA appear to be more prevalent than previously believed and are being found more often outside health care settings, such as schools, locker rooms and in high contact sports. ?We estimate that 94,360 invasive MRSA infections occurred in the United States in 2005; these infections were associated with death in 18,650 cases,? says the JAMA article.

Archer said that protective sports gear needs to be properly sanitized every 15-20 uses, ?For some players that might mean every month, for others that means every three months, it all depends on the frequency of the use of the equipment.?

He said he expects the demand for the sanitizing service to increase, with the legions of hockey, football and lacrosse in the area, not to mention firefighter and police gear. The services he offers can be done within the hour if the client is willing to air out the equipment themselves, otherwise Archer stated it?'s usually a 24-hour turnover.

Fresh Gear is patent pending technology and equipment cleaning services are currently available in over 85 locations across North America.

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And a "fun" link (The GM 2010 "Hockey Bags" spot): Click Here