When Gordon Shaw considered changing over to carbon dioxide drycleaning about
eight years ago, he was excited by the fact that he could actually be a pioneer
for the industry. Of course, that
’s not necessarily a good thing.
“Somebody told me pioneers are the ones with all the arrows in their backs,” he laughed.
When Gordon did make the switch and opened up his first Hangers plant in San Diego, he certainly felt like he had a big target on his back.
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Prior to the switch, Gordon had spent 22 years in the industry as a perc-using
cleaner. He first heard about carbon dioxide cleaning during a Clean Show in
1995.
“I remember laughing, thinking that will never work,” he said. “But, I was intrigued enough that every single show I went to after that, I would
always look to see where the CO2 concept was.
”
In 1999, it had become commercially viable. Also by that time, Gordon felt his
business had become stagnant. Frankly, he was bored and wanted to face a new
challenge.
He also wanted a unique marketing angle in order to make money, but the idea of
making the world a more environmentally-friendly place appealed to him, as
well.
“I’m an environmentalist,” he said. “I live near the ocean. I’ve hiked mountains. I’ve climbed Mt. Whitney. I’m not an extremist. I’m not using CO2 out of the goodness of my heart, but that is certainly one of
the motivating factors to do something that, I think, leaves the planet better
off.
”
During a CCA meeting years ago, Gordon recalled hearing Bill Seitz say that
cleaners should not fear change... that it was inevitable and should be
embraced.
Before Gordon bought into the Hangers franchise, he realized he would be doing
some
“big-time embracing,” so he traveled to North Carolina to see the new technology in action. Seeing is
believing, after all. Gordon witnessed the machine successfully clean many
garments, but in the end, it was his nose that he trusted.
“Over the years I’ve done a lot of high school band uniforms, which are typically 100 percent
wool,
” he recalled. “The kids sweat in them and the schools keep them for way too long. They stink. I
was always bummed when I would throw them in the van and go deliver them,
thinking:
‘My God, it stinks in here.’”
When Gordon headed to North Carolina, he brought along some garments to clean,
including a tuba player
’s band uniform.
“We ran loads and when the band uniform came out, it had no smell,” he laughed. “I’m like every other drycleaner. I feel the garments that are hanging on the reel
and smell them.
”
With the lack of odor, he knew he really had a unique selling proposition,
something he has tried to keep doing in almost three decades in the industry.
“That’s part of running a business — to be unique, to set yourself apart for your customers,” he noted.
Back in 1978, when he first started in the drycleaning industry, Gordon set
himself apart by being one of the original discounters.
After earning a business administration degree from the University of Delaware,
he spent four years in the Navy. Most of that time was spent in San Diego where
he settled down after he left the service as a lieutenant.
After that, he “bounced around” a bit trying his hand at selling insurance, then later, water beds. He didn’t like being an employee much and knew he would rather run his own business
someday.
Fortunately for him, during his stint as a water bed salesman, he met a girl
whose stepfather happened to be John Shelton.
“He was one of these original guys who would find somebody young, dumb and
energetic and stick them in a plant and lease it to them for two years and then
sell it to them,
” Gordon recalled. “If you were to look at all of the discount operations in the country, I believe
almost all of them are probably branches that sprung from the original trunk,
which was John Shelton in San Diego.
”
All of Shelton’s franchises were named after cars... Continental, Eldorado, Seville, etc.
Gordon purchased one known as Fairlane. Being named after an automobile model
was appropriate since the original plant also doubled as a gas station.
“The standard gas station in the mid-1970s had two service bays,” he explained. “This particular one had a drycleaning plant in there, so I did discount
drycleaning on the inside of the building, and I sold gas out on the pumps on
the islands. I used to run ads in the Daily Aztec that said:
‘Pump and press at rock bottom prices.’”
Gordon continued to buy and sell locations for years to come. At one point, he
had six Fairlane locations. When he felt the industry was becoming infiltrated
with too many discounters, he switched his angle and became a
“pre-paid” plant.
He also experimented by opening up high-priced designer cleaners to see how they
compared to his low-priced ones. Both seemed to make the same amount of money,
however.
By this time, Gordon grew tired of hearing customer complaints about his “any garment” pricing strategy.
“It used to be they loved the service because it was so cheap,” Gordon said. “They loved the price so much they would put up with whatever service and quality
they got. Then that price became the normal price and their demands became
higher and higher.
”
He switched his plants to a “tri-level” pricing structure and also emphasized three marketing themes: Quality, Service
and Value. Customers were now coming in for reasons other than price, but
Gordon still felt complacent. That
’s when carbon dioxide cleaning became his new frontier.
Even the cleaners who have a unique selling proposition have to figure out ways
to get dirty clothes through the doors. For Gordon, the key to success for
carbon dioxide cleaning has stemmed from smart market positioning.
“Whatever it is you’re selling, you have to find the right people to sell it to,” he noted. “Whether it’s CO2 cleaning or the discount guys, you’ve got to match your product to the right kind of market.”
Gordon has strategically set up his two plants and two drop stores throughout San Diego, capitalizing on customers with high incomes who foster a
genuine interest in the environment. When selling his services, he focuses on
the positives of CO2 as opposed to the negatives of perc.
“The customers’ perception on perc is not good,” he noted. “All I’m doing is offering up a positive solution for something they already perceive.
A drycleaner can swear up and down that perc is fine when used safely, but it
’s not going to change public opinion. All I’m doing is saying, ‘Here I am. I use liquid CO2 and here’s what you can expect.’”
Gordon, never shy to offer up his opinions, is quick to point out the down side
of CO2 to his customers, too.
“The down side is that we cost more,” he said. “We’re pricey. There’s a lot more manual work on spotting.”
To offset such factors, Gordon charges more and, subsequently, delivers more
service to his customers.
“If you charge more, everything else has to be at a higher level,” he said. “It’s kind of like before, in my plant, I was playing AA ball. Now, I’m in the major leagues. Everything is at a higher level.
Not too long ago, Gordon was called up to the big leagues in terms of public
attention.
Media sources have recently looked to go green with a trend of pro-environment
stories and Gordon has been along for that ride. In the past few months, for
example, Newsweek
featured him in a series on MS-NBC.
“It just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun. I kind of like the attention.”
These days, Gordon is plagued with fewer doubters. In fact, many who told him he’d fail have come around.
“Some people have told me they admired what I did and now offer congratulations,” he said.
Looking back to the genesis of the solvent switch in 1999, Gordon admits he had
a few doubts himself, but that just comes naturally with the territory of
owning a business.
“Everybody has doubts about things from time to time,” he said. “I had doubts in 1978 when I was in that first discount plant. There I was, a
recent naval officer with a college degree in the back of a plant pressing
pants at 3 a.m. in the morning. I think that first year I made like $2,000.
”
One way Gordon was able to overcome the anxiety of being a CO2 cleaning pioneer
was to make sure he kept one step ahead of everybody else.
“What I did was disassociate myself with people who were negative about it,” he said. “If you start having doubts about what you’re doing, it’s kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy. “
Of course, if carbon dioxide ever gains a lot more popularity, Gordon won’t have that advantage anymore.
“When there’s a half dozen of us in the same general area, I won’t have that unique selling proposition,” he said. “I’ll just have to reinvent myself again.”
