National Clothesline, September 2010
In this issue…
Ban in the balance. The City of Philadelphia’s plan to restrict the use of perc and to completely disallow the use of
n-Propyl Bromide as drycleaning solvents came under attack from several
quarters at a public hearing last month. The city’s Air Pollution Control Board will review the proposal and comments before
making a final ruling at its Sept. 29 meeting.
Teeth for tariff. A new federal law could give the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection more tools to crack down on schemes to evade
tariffs on wire hangers and other imported steel products.
Born to clean. Eric Severson wasn’t quite born in his parents’ drycleaning plant, but it was their first stop after leaving the hospital where
they took photos of him in the call office. “I don’t know if it was karma, but it probably was my destiny at that point in time,” he said. “Every day for the rest of my life would practically be spent at Geneva Cleaners.”
A wider net. Drycleaners in the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound, TX, may find themselves drawn
into a local controversy concerning air pollution from gas drilling operations
after a town council member said he wants to include drycleaners in air quality
tests.
Demographic advantage. The Age Curve could be good news for drycleaners, says James Peuster, but to
benefit from it will require a change of mind set.
See and remember. Senior executives are taught that what we hear, we forget and what we see, we
remember. If you rely on communication to build your business, this tidbit of
information should be of some interest to you, says Bill Bishop.
The current issue in its printed format, including all advertisements, is
available as a pdf download (28MB) here.
California cleaners may be stressed by the recession and regulations on their
businesses, but they presented an upbeat and forward-looking face at the
California Cleaners Association trade show in Long Beach last month. To be
sure, the 73 companies that comprised the Fabricare 2010 exhibit made for a
smaller show than previous years at the same venue, but they enjoyed a steady
stream of visitors to their booths throughout the two-day run.
Cleaners faced with removing perc from their operations due to state regulations
had an opportunity to talk to vendors of several of the alternative solvents.
Representatives from well-established GreenEarth and the hydrocarbon solvents
were on hand as was a newer entry, DrySolv with its n-propyl bromide
drycleaning solvent and, back after a hiatus, Rynex, which is now being
produced by a company out of Albany, GA. Also back after an initial appearance
at last year’s Clean Show was Xeros, Ltd., a company that is developing a water-based system
that uses thousands of tiny beads to clean the clothes. They said they have
worked out the bug of recovering all the beads and expect to have a working
machine available in the next year.
Combine that with the latest in finishing equipment, computer systems, supplies
and other services and attendees were presented with a complete set of building
blocks to construct a better future.
