industry apparel industry workwear uniform service successor ronald d. croatti founded 1936 founder the croatti family headquarters wilmington massachusetts united states number of locations 230 facilities area served united states canada europe key people ronald d. croatti president & ceo products uniforms workwear protective clothing services uniform rental laundering mending embroidery pickup & delivery facility services scheduled maintenance revenue us 1.45 billion fy 2015 1 operating income us 200 million fy 2015 1 net income us 124 million fy 2015 1 total assets us 1.53 billion fy 2015 1 total equity us 1.24 billion fy 2015 1 number of employees 12 000 subsidiaries unitech uniclean unifirst first aid group website www.unifirst.com unifirst corporation is a uniform rental company based in wilmington massachusetts united states that manufactures sells and rents uniforms and protective clothing . unifirst employs more than 12 000 people and has over 230 facilities in the united states canada and europe including customer service centers nuclear decontamination facilities cleanroom locations distribution centers and manufacturing plants . 2 3 4 5 contents 1 history 2 products and services 3 subsidiaries 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit unifirst was founded in 1936 by the croatti family 6 under the name of national overall dry cleaning company . 7 the company began in a horse barn that had been converted into a makeshift laundry and its equipment consisted of a single washing machine and a delivery truck . it served boston area factory workers and other laborers whose heavy soiled work clothing needed to be cleaned frequently . 7 the national overall dry cleaning company was incorporated in massachusetts on october 6 1950 . 8 in the 1980s unifirst was sued by residents of woburn massachusetts in a class action lawsuit . the residents alleged that unifirst along with two other firms had released pollution that had leaked into the water supply and that this was a cause of increased instances of leukemia in the town . unifirst settled with the residents without going to trial for a sum of one million dollars . 9 this episode was featured in the non fiction book a civil action by jonathan harr . 10 as of 2009 unifirst s enivronmental record has improved ; it has received awards for its water treatment processes from the missouri water environment association and the water and wastewater utility special service division of austin texas among others . 11 in 1991 ronald croatti became the chief executive officer of the company . he continued his rise in 1995 when he became the company president and again in 2002 when he became the chairman of the board . 12 in 2011 unifirst featured in an episode of the reality television series undercover boss . 13 products and services edit unifirst supplies uniforms and protective clothing as well as restroom and cleaning products such as floor mats mops air fresheners and soap . 6 14 products that it manufactures in house include work shirts work pants outerwear and flame resistant work apparel . 14 it also manufactures a majority of the garments it places in rental programs . 14 subsidiaries edit unifirst subsidiary companies include green guard unitech services group and uniclean . green guard is a corporate supplier of first aid equipment ; 15 unitech provides laundering and decontamination services to the nuclear industry ; 16 and uniclean supplies clothing and services related to cleanrooms . 6 17 unifirst also has a canadian uniform rental subsidiary called unifirst canada . 18 see also edit anderson v. cryovac inc. for suit by residents of woburn massachusetts references edit a b c d e edgar filings unifirst corp . united states securities and exchange commission . unifirst corp unf . reuters . retrieved october 18 2012 . about unifirst . unifirst . retrieved april 7 2012 . unifirst declares regular cash dividends . the street . january 11 2011 . retrieved april 7 2012 . xnys unf unifirst corp annual report 10 k filing . morningstar . retrieved january 19 2015 . a b c laurie pasiuk 30 april 2006 . vault guide to the top business services employers . vault inc. pp. 111 112 . isbn 978 1 58131 402 1 . retrieved 8 april 2012 . a b history of unifirst corporation . fundinguniverse . retrieved january 19 2015 . moody s investors service may 1984 . moody s industrial news reports . moody s investors service . p. 3804 . retrieved 7 april 2012 . marshall e 1986 . woburn case may spark explosion of lawsuits . science . 234 4775 418 420 . doi 10.1126 science .3764418 . issn 0036 8075 . elisa bergslien 15 may 2012 . an introduction to forensic geoscience . john wiley & sons . pp. 437 438 . isbn 978 1 4051 6054 4 . retrieved 7 april 2012 . unifirst wins awards for green laundering processes . american laundry news . january 12 2009 . executive profile ronald d. croatti . bloomberg businesseek . dishman lydia january 7 2011 . undercover boss how unifirst keeps margins up on uniforms without losing its shirt . cbs news . retrieved april 7 2012 . a b c unifirst corp unf . reuters . retrieved may 5 2015 . green guard . green guard . retrieved april 8 2012 . unitech services group . unitech services group . retrieved april 8 2012 . uniclean cleanroom services . uniclean . retrieved april 8 2012 . unifirst canada . unifirst canada . retrieved may 3 2015 . external links edit official site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title unifirst & oldid 741262075 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangecompanies based in wilmington massachusettscompanies established in 1936clothing manufacturerscleanroom technology1936 establishments in the united states navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 26 september 2016 at 11 34 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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