Cleaners across the country participated in a variety of winter clothing drives this holiday season, demonstrating that community service and drycleaning go hand in hand.

The efforts will not go unappreciated. Last year was considered one of the warmest winters ever recorded, but the National Weather Service has predicted that winter will be back in full swing in the 2000-01 season.

So far, winter garments for needy families have been in high demand, and, fortunately, U.S. drycleaners have stepped up and volunteered their services to clean donated coats.

According to the Neighborhood Cleaners Association, in the 17 years that the association has been working with the Coats for Kids program, there has never been a turnout of chapters, cleaners, corporate sponsors, and contributors like that which has occurred this season.

A November count showed that NCA had over 440 cleaners participating in the metropolitan New York area. With additional cleaners in greater Philadelphia (Delaware Valley), western New York and greater Albany, approximately 900 cleaners have joined NCA's Coats for Kids drive.

The publicity for the industry has been tremendous, and, of course, the results have literally helped thousands and thousands of families stay warm this winter.

In Brooklyn, Ken Kinzer of The Clean Center helped spread the word with the help of other participating NCA members by distributing posters, palm cards and flyers as they worked side by side with several community members and public officials.

Ed Roth of U.N. Cleaners in Queens, hosted a kick-off event, soliciting the help from public schools, service organizations and members of the city council.

In all, the publicity for the event spread through all forms of media. Several newspapers wrote about the Coats for Kids program, and sponsors from places such as WWDB-FM radio, WRBG Channel 6, WIVB Channel 4, the United Way and the U.S. Air Force all lent a hand to promoting the event and collecting the garments.

The industry-wide effort included far too many cleaners to mention, but there were several participants that managed to capture headlines.

Anton's Cleaners, a family-owned drycleaning business with 39 stores in suburban Boston, MA, and southern New Hampshire, has collected and cleaned more than 60,000 coats in the past five years.

This year, Anton's received help from Fox 25, the Boston Bruins, the Salvation Army, and the Community Action Programs in Massachusetts. Overall, Anton's reported a fifteen percent increase over last year's record-breaking success.

In Lincoln, NE, Hangers Cleaners (formerly known as Globe Quality Cleaners) continued a tradition it started in 1992 by sponsoring a clothing drive known as "Bubba's Closet." Nearly 5,000 pounds of clothing were donated this year and were cleaned for free by Hangers Cleaners. The garments were given to several public schools in Lincoln for distribution.

Dozens of cleaners in the Western Pennsylvania Cleaners and Launderer's Association joined forces with Light of Life Ministries for this year's Coat Give Away program, which ran from Sept. 8 through Oct. 6. Also in Pennsylvania, the Central Pennsylvania Dry Cleaners Association ran a Coats for Kids program that ended on Dec. 9. With help from WGAL Channel 8, cleaners from the counties of Lancaster, Berks, York, Dauphin, Cumberland, Lebanon and Schulylkill cleaned coats for free and returned them to the Salvation Army for distribution.

Swan's Cleaners of Ohio had customers donate coats at 50 different locations from Nov. 6-30. In the past 14 years, Swan's has cleaned over 150,000 coats.

This year's total rounded out at about 10,000 winter garments, which were distributed with the help of cosponsor, St. Stephen's Community House. The coats were drycleaned just in time; snow began to fall even as the coats were being wrapped up for distribution.

Perhaps Judy Stattmiller, executive director of St. Stephen's Community House, summed up the impact of the various Coats for Kids program when she said: "Even when times are good, there are still families that can't afford coats for their children. We've helped make winter a little warmer for a lot of families!"

Lawsuits seek to stop OSHA rule

A pile of lawsuits supported by a variety of business groups are challenging new ergonomics rules issued by OSHA in November. The OSHA rules, which create a new array of responsibilities for employers, are scheduled go into effect this year unless the courts put a stop to them.

OSHA offered a reprieve of sorts in December in the form of a clarification notice about compliance dates, clearing up one aspect of confusion that surrounded the new rules. But business groups filing petitions for review hope to obtain more extensive relief from the agency's new rules.

OSHA Administrator Charles N. Jeffress clarified the compliance schedule last month in a letter saying that "employers have no compliance obligations under the standard until October 15, 2001."

However, employers will need to use the time between now and then to provide information to employees about musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), which the ergonomics rules are designed to prevent or reduce. Initially, that is all that will need to be done, but if an employee reports a suspected work-related MSD, the scenario could get costly and complicated for business owners.

OSHA's suggested informational materials indicate a wide range of aches and pains that could be signs of an MSD. Those include painful joints, pain, tingling of numbness in hands of feet, shooting or stabbing pains in arms or legs, swelling or inflammation, burning sensation, pain in wrists, shoulders, forearms or knees, fingers or toes turning white, back or neck pain, and stiffness.

Under the OSHA standards, employers would have to provide this and other information about MSDs to all employees, then advise employees that signs or symptoms of an MSD should be reported early.

Types of jobs that can lead to an MSD, as described by OSHA, include those that involve repeated motions, forceful exertions, awkward postures, contact stress (pressing part of the body against hard or sharp edges) and operating equipment that vibrates.

Employers would have to investigate any reported MSD problem to see if it might be job-related and, if it is, take corrective action. If a health care professional orders work restrictions, the employee's wages and benefits would be protected while the employee is reassigned to another job or takes time off of work to recover.

An attempt in Congress to prevent OSHA from putting the new rules in place fell by the wayside in political horse-trading during the post-election lame-duck session. The new Congress and Republican administration could review the matter this year, but with an evenly divided Congress and a new administration trying to get traction in Washington after the close election, trying to overturn an a regulation that has already been promulgated would be difficult.

That leaves the court review route as the best shot at stopping the new rules. Among the organizations seeking to stop implementation of the ergonomics standard is the National Council on Ergonomics. Among petitioners joining the NCE suit is the International Fabricare Institute. IFI has been concerned about the impact of the rules on drycleaners since the proposal was put out for hearings over a year ago.

IFI legislative director Patricia Williams said the concerns remain the same now as they were back then -- that the standard is overly vague, broadly inclusive and presents an onerous financial burden to drycleaners.

Williams said that for the petitioners to prevail, they will have to prove to the court that implementation of the standard would cause "irreparable harm" to businesses covered by the rules -- which is just about every business in United States.

Some 60 petitioners, in addition to IFI, have joined the NCE suit. Other fabric care industry groups in that suit are the Uniform and Textile Services Association and the Textile Rental Services Association.

NCE is not the only group seeking to stop OSHA in court. Eleven petitions for review had been filed by Dec. 1 by various groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers the National Federation of Independent Business, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Several unions are contesting OSHA, also, including the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile employees (UNITE).

The outcome of these suits won't be known for months. However, barring any court-ordered delay in implementation, employers will need to begin providing information to employees on MSDs sometime this year -- and be prepared to act on any reports of MSDs by employees after Oct. 15.

For NCA, it's more than just a new year

It's more than just a new year for the Neighborhood Cleaners Association. It's a new NCA, starting with a new executive director, Nora Nealis.

The NCA board at its December meeting installed Nealis as executive director, taking over for Bill Seitz who announced his retirement last fall after more than 50 years with the association. Seitz will continue in an advisory capacity to the association and is also making himself available to the industry at large for consultations (see story on page 58.)

"I am honored that the board of directors has expressed confidence in my abilities and elected to pursue new and existing goals for the association," Nealis said. "We believe the new NCA is moving in the right direction and, with this energized and committed board, is ready to offer many innovative and helpful programs for its members."

Nealis joined NCA in 1997 after 22 years with a New York-based distributor. As she takes over as the association's new executive director, two long-time NCA staffers also will move into new jobs and one new person is joining the staff.

Anthony Terrell, who has been with NCA for 27 years, will be the director of membership. In the past he served as an assistant to the executive director and has worked on many NCA programs over the years, including Coats for Kids project and the TexCare exhibition.

Frank Choy, who has been with NCA for 10 years, was appointed director of environmental operations, Nealis's previous position. Choy, who has served as NCA's Korean affairs supervisor, will now play a major role in working with cleaners and agencies on environmental issues.

Joining the NCA staff as executive assistant to the executive director is Will Wheeler. A 1999 Oneonta University graduate, he has worked with the Entertainment Software Rating Board in New York City. His job with NCA will be to develop liaisons with state government officials, work with vendors, assist in project development and work directly with members.

Nealis outline other changes in the NCA bulletin. First, she said, the field staff's role will be redefined, she said. Field representatives will have continual education in new solvents, new machinery, new fabrics new fibers and new techniques and they will deliver new, free promotional materials in making semi-annual visits to member plants. She noted that two color promotional posters will be made available to the membership this year.

Also, NCA will sponsor two community service based programs each year to help the industry build a positive image among legislators retailers and the general public.

NCA also plans to form an Education, Testing and Research Committee and new speakers, new topics and new informational seminars will be developed to insure that members' needs are met by the association's educational programs.

The association will also be installing a new computer system to help with communications, credit card payments and keep tabs on the association's activities and members' opinions of them.

Nealis said she is pleased that NCA's garment analysis department is able to process a garment and return a report in three days or less, but enhancements are planned there, too, which will make the service easier for members to use.

Also new this year is a slightly modified name, although many in the industry may barely notice it. The association is dropping the "International" tag that it had added to its name several years ago and is reverting back to simply "Neighborhood Cleaners Association." Even though it has officially been "NCA-I" these past few years, the association has still has been commonly referred to as "NCA."

"We are still an international organization," Nealis noted.

"There are member cleaners around the world, and the one thing that links us all to each other is that we are neighborhood businesses."

Street's to distribute DF-2000

R. R. Street & Co. Inc. will be the sole supplier of DF-2000 under an agreement reached between Street's and ExxonMobil Chemical Co., a division of ExxonMobil Corp.

Street's said the agreement will mean the DF-2000 drycleaning fluid will be distributed more widely and will be more readily available from suppliers in multiple packages to fit specific needs.

The use of DF-2000 in the drycleaning industry has grown since it was introduced in the United States in 1994. It will now be available from selected Street's distributors and can be ordered in 55-gallon and five-gallon containers.

"ExxonMobil Chemical and Street's have teamed up to address the ongoing and anticipated needs of present and future customers and the marketing and distribution coverage required to meet the growing demand for DF-2000 Fluid," Street's said in a press release announcing the agreement. Further information is available by contacting Street's at (800) 4-STREET or email@4streets.com or through the web site: www.df2000.com.

GreenEarth Cleaning last month announced results of a testing program it conducted at its "affirmation sites" involving more than 26,000 individual measurements over a four-month period.

The "affirmation sites" are beta test locations for the GreenEarth cleaning solution. The samples measured employee exposure to the solvent in the air, wastewater, still bottoms and cartridge filters. Both the GreenEarth process and the various additives commonly used by drycleaners in the cleaning process were analyzed.

The average employee exposure level was less than 1 part per million on an eight-hour time weighted average (TWA). The maximum employee exposure of 3.5 ppm was observed at the point of transfer when clothes were moved from washer to dryer in a transfer plant. Even in that plant, GreenEarth noted, the eight-hour average was less than 2 ppm.

All of those measurements are well within the maximum TWA exposure level of 10 ppm indicated on the solvent's Material Safety Data Sheet. Thus, GreenEarth concluded that its cleaning process "easily meets all federal, state and local requirements regarding employee exposure."

The wastewater generated from use of the GreenEarth process alone was determined to be non-hazardous However, traces of trichloroethane (1,1,1) appeared in waste water at a few sites. This was believed due to the use of certain spotting chemicals at those sites.

The company said that the still bottoms and cartridge filters that results from the use of GreenEarth alone were determined to be non-hazardous, but it noted that cartridge filters in some cases may be ignitable and should be disposed of in accordance with any applicable federal, state or local requirements.

GreenEarth said that overall the testing showed that the solution by itself and also when used in conjunction with appropriate additives is not a hazardous waste under federal or state laws. However, there are some detergents, spotting chemicals, etc., that can cause the wastewater, still bottoms and cartridge filters to become hazardous if they are introduced into the cleaning process.

GreenEarth said that use of "appropriate commercially available chemicals with the GreenEarth Cleaning Systems is always advised." Even if the residues are non-hazardous, cleaners should check the regulations in their state to determine specific disposal requirements, GreenEarth said.

More information on the testing and on GreenEarth in general is available on the company's web site: www.greenearthcleaning.com.

Registration opens for clean show

Registration for the July 19-22 Clean Show in New Orleans is now open.

By the end of January, attendees will be able to register on line at the clean show web site: www.cleanshow.com.

Credit card registrations can be processed immediately through a secure server on the Internet. American Express, MasterCard and VISA are accepted.

On-line registrants will receive instant confirmation and will be able to see their show badges before they are printed.

Registration and travel forms also can be downloaded from the web site, or obtained through Clean '01's Fax-on-Demand service at (800) 449-9096 or (732) 554-2846.

Advance registration for the show is $35 per person until June 15. After that date, registration will be on-site only at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

The on-site registration fee is $60 per person.

The registration fees include admission to the exhibit floor and to any or all of the 31 educational sessions offered by the show's cosponsoring associations.

Advance registration can also be taken care of by mail or by fax. Payments by check or money order must be mailed. Confirmations will sent within three business days.

There is no registration by telephone.

At least as critical as registering for the show is securing hotel reservations. Twenty-three hotels, with rates ranging from $79 to $165 a night, are included in the Clean '01 housing package.

Reservations for all hotels except the Monteleone, which is the IFI's headquarters hotel, must be made through the Clean '01 Housing Bureau to receive the special rates. Numbers for the Clean '01 Housing Bureau are (800) 424-5250 or (international) (847) 940-2153. By fax it is (800) 521-6017 or (international) (847) 940-2386.

To make a reservation at the Monteleone, IFI members should call the hotel directly at (800) 535-8595 or (504) 523-3341. IFI's booking code at the hotel is IF6. The room rate is $120 a night, plus taxes.

The Clean '01 World Calendar, which has become the traditional first attendee mailing piece for the show, was mailed in mid-December to 30,000 companies in the show's database. It contains an Attendee Registration Form.

The biennial Clean Show is sponsored jointly by six national industry associations: Coin Laundry Association, International Fabricare Institute, National Association of Institutional Linen Management, Textile Care Allied Trades Association, Textile Rental Services Association of America, and Uniform & Textile Service Association..

For more information about Clean '01, or to receive forms by mail, contact Riddle & Associates, Suite 360-C, 1874 Piedmont Road, Atlanta, GA 30324; phone (404) 876-1988, fax (404) 876-5121, or e-mail info@cleanshow.com .

Officially titled the World Educational Congress for Laundering and Drycleaning, the Clean Show is the world's premier showcase for equipment, products, supplies and services for the textile care industry. It attracts all segments of the industry from single-owner, coin-operated laundry and drycleaning establishments to giant industrial and institutional laundries. It offers training seminars on business, technology and legislative issues. Attendees include laundry owners, plant operators, technicians, institutional laundry managers, distributors, consultants and buyers from around the world. Over 600 companies exhibit their products and services at the show.

Nominations open for IFI service awards

The floor is open for nominations for the second round of Meritorious Service Awards to be presented by the International Fabricare Institute at the Clean Show in New Orleans.

IFI started the program in 1999 to honor individuals and companies who have made contributions to the betterment of the drycleaning industry.

Plant owners, educators, suppliers and other individuals who have demonstrated exemplary volunteer service are eligible. They do not need to be members of IFI to be considered for an award.

One winner will be awarded for each of the following categories. The categories include the following:

Diamond Achievement Award. This is the top award, bestowed on an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution and who has, in a unique way, benefited the industry.

Positive Recognition of the Industry Award. This award will be for an individual who has demonstrated outstanding results in securing favorable publicity for the industry. This could be someone who, working extensively with the media, has helped the public understand the industry.

Legislative/Regulatory Activist Award. This will be presented to a person who has worked on critical industry-related legislation or regulations.

Technology Trailblazer Award. This award will recognize an individual or company that has conducted innovative research on equipment or solvents resulting in a currently usable and commercially proven technology.

Allied Trades Award. This will recognize a supplier or distributor that has provided long-term service of a substantial nature demonstrated through unflagging support of member cleaners.

Green Fields Award. Nominees in this category should have made a lasting contribution on an environmental issue or initiative.

Commitment to Professionalism Award. This will recognize an individual who has raised the professionalism of the cleaning industry.

In 1999, the Diamond Achievement honoree was Barney Deden of Omaha, NE, who was recognized for his efforts on behalf of the "Barton bill" legislation in Congress.

Other recipients were Ed Boorstein of Prestige Cleaners in Silver Spring, MD, for Positive Recognition of the Industry; Abe Cho of Natural Cleaners, Middletown, NJ, for the Legislative/Regulatory Activist Award; Exxon Chemical for the Technology Trailblazer Award; Ed Ustik, Phenix Supply, Atlanta, GA, for the Allied Trade Award; Ann Hargrove, Lyons, IL, for the Green Fields Award and Carmelia Bernardi, Woonsocket, RI, for the Commitment to Professionalism Award.

Nominations for the 2001 awards should be submitted to IFI by April 15. Nominations are not restricted to IFI members. IFI notes that although its mission is to broadly advance the interests of its member cleaners, the health of the industry depends on many constituents, including manufacturers, distributors and suppliers, researchers and educators, and state and regional groups.

An Awards Selection Committee will meet in the spring to pare the list of nominees to a few finalists and from that list the winners will be selected. Proceedings of the selection committee are confidential, but the award winners will be notified of the committee's decisions.

The winners will be honored at a special ceremony during the Clean Show in New Orleans. Their good works will also be recognized by IFI through publicity in the trade press, hometown newspapers and television and radio show,s in addition to IFI's and other organization's publications.

Information on the awards program and a nomination form were published in the December issue of IFI's Fabricare.

For additional information, contact IFI, (800) 638-2627.

Editorial: Happy New Year -- we hope

The caution flags are flying and it appears the U.S. economy, which has been racing along these past few years, may be slowing down. The easy money days are over in the high-tech economy. The dot-com folks will now have to figure out a way to make a living like the rest of us --by producing an actual product that people actually want to buy.

Drycleaners haven't been enjoying that same fast-track to riches, so they don't have to worry about the vanishing value of their stock options. They already live in the real money world. Those who have struggled to stay in the race even during the boom times will face a particularly tough road test should the economy slide into recession. Those who are asleep at the wheel due to exhaustion from too many 18-hour days or who have been coasting along, distracted by the road-side scenery but ignoring the road itself, will slide off into the ditch, perhaps never to roll again.

For those who keep both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road, the sight of all those roadside wrecks should be both sobering and motivating. But they also stand to reap the rewards of thoughtful, enlightened and progressive business management. When that long-predicted shake-out comes and the oversaturated market becomes desaturated, those who have been minding their businesses stand to gain -- at the expense of those who, when they bought their drycleaning business, only bought themselves a job and now, after working ever harder for less and less, stand to be out of work.

We predict that the new year will be very bad for those who are just stumbling from day to day, hoping to survive but with no particular plan to do so. For them, the end is near. And we also predict that it will be a very good for those who know where they want to go and have charted a course to get there. For those cleaners, the best is yet to come.

Editorial: Putting the "care" in garment care

Many of us take it for granted. It's true. Once the temperature hits 0 degrees, or the snow falls down in freezing flurries, or maybe the wind whips through the streets at 40 or 50 m.p.h., we just throw on our best winter coat and march on out the door.

Of course, we may grumble about it. We may mutter to nobody in particular that it's too damn cold to be outside, even with gloves, long underwear, a sweater and a thick, wool coat over our bodies. When that winds hits you in the face after you have shoveled snow for a half hour, it doesn't seem to matter what you are wearing... it's just plain freezing outside.

We take it for granted -- even though we have the proper winter clothing garments to protect us (the best we can be protected, anyway) from the raw, relentless stranglehold of Mother Nature.

And, yet, there are so many families in Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, etc.,, that don't even have the gloves, long underwear, the sweater, and that thick wool coat. It's enough to make you stop grumbling and start thinking. It's also enough to inspire drycleaners from all over the United States to volunteer their efforts to help collect and clean coats so that children can receive a coat that they will never take for granted.

It really is a nice marriage: drycleaning and coat drives. It just makes perfect sense. However, it is a lot of work and it costs cleaners a considerable amount of time and money. But, isn't it worth it? It's hard to find a better cause than one that helps benefit the lives of children. So many drycleaners have discovered this and have given the industry something to be proud of year after year. Considering how often drycleaning is plagued with a negative public perception, any good publicity is a genuine sigh of relief.

If you already participate in an annual clothing drive, then we say, "Great job. Keep it up. The industry can benefit from your example." For those cleaners who are not active in a winter garment drive, it's never too early to think about next year. After all, there are some things that just shouldn't be taken for granted.

Counting the votes in drycleaning

With all this talk of "hanging chads" and interpreting voter's intentions from a dimple or a punch on a card, I thought now would be a good time to introduce the drycleaning community to the wonders of "data interpretation" and interpreting customers' intentions from compiled spending histories in a point of sale system.

The typical drycleaner usually uses only two reports from a point of sale system. These reports are: garment dispersal (what type and how many garments came in during a particular day, week, month, year); and a cash report (how much money should be in the till). These two reports are very useful in their own rights, but unfortunately, this is just scratching the surface of the capability of these systems.

Your customers vote with their dollars. This is how they exercise their franchise. One could assume that every customer is worth one vote. You would be wrong.

The typical drycleaning plant customer list and spending patterns breaks down into the following three categories.

1. 3 percent of a customer base accounts for 30 percent of a plant's gross sales.

2. 10 Percent of a customer base accounts for 50 percent of a plant's gross sales

3. 20 percent of a customer base accounts for 70 percent of a plant's gross sales.

As you can see, one customer does not equal one vote. Some vote more often than others.

Compare your own plant's sales to these numbers. Does your poll show you that you're out of the race, or is it too close to call? If 20 percent of the public favors you and 80 percent is not contributing their popular public opinion to your campaign, what does that say about your term in office?

Well, every customer has different priorities. Some care deeply about their appearance and exercise their votes accordingly. Others may be fiscally challenged and require "assistance" in swinging their vote in your favor. Perhaps there are some that just plain don't like you, and there is no way you'll ever win their support. Whatever the reason, if you're not asking the public why they vote the way they do, you'll never know.

One has to float the occasional trial balloon. Instead of taking a stand on an issue and calling the press to announce your intention, it would be more prudent to test the waters first. Create a focus group to test your new ideas on before rolling out the whole program. This will give you a clear indication of what the market wants and where its priorities lie.

Select a cross section of your customer list, print and mail cards to these individuals, then track their responses. You will accumulate data that you can draw conclusive interpretations from.

For example, take a cross section of customers comprised of equal numbers from every spending level and split them into two groups. Create two postcards that are identical in every way except that card #1 has an offer of $5 off and card #2 has $6 off.

If you receive more $5 off cards with orders than $6 off cards, it's pretty darn safe to say that the $5 discount is what the marketplace wants (Yes, I have seen many situations where the marketplace responded in larger numbers to lower discounts).

You can imbed and test many different variables in every ad campaign and track response rates. Making one simple change, such as the wording in the headline, could increase response rates by as much as 300 percent. Establishing a "control piece" and testing different variations against it will eliminate "guessing" what a marketplace wants.

When you find a component that works and out-produces your control piece, implement the new version immediately, then resume testing to find an even better variation.

You could even test different offers to different spending pattern customers. You may discover that you don't have to offer a discount at all to habitually big spenders, but your low-spending customer responds only to a large discount. Who says you have to give each group the same offer? Why not give the lower spending customers what they want, when you have a need for doing so, and use the intelligence you've accumulated on the big spenders to limit the amount of money you'd be leaving on the table with them?

This is called differentiated marketing. Differentiated marketing is based on knowledge and is only possible if you are tracking response rates of every marketing effort and have a database point of sale system.

You can use data to your advantage. Knowledge translates into profits. Controlling your expenses by targeting only responsive markets will give you the solution to the old adage "Half my advertising budget is wasted, the problem is knowing which half to cut."

Telling the truth about drycleaning

Recently on television, a woman consumer activist appeared on "The Today Morning Show." She had an important message for television viewers on how they could be ripped-off when purchasing a 100 percent cashmere sweater.

She had the evidence. The anxious activist started her revelation of truth by displaying a number of cashmere sweaters. All the same size, design and color. All were labeled 100 percent cashmere. And the difference was in the priceŠ or so she said.

The lowest priced sweater was $35 and the higher priced one was $300. Now that makes a big difference. The $300 dollar one has got to be the rip-off. What else could it be? She would be wrong if the $300 sweater were natural cashmere.

She didn't mention the difference between natural and synthetic cashmere. There is a big difference.

The natural cashmere comes from Kashmir goats that exist in China, Mongolia and Iran. Each goat produces soft, silk-like hair under the top layer of cashmere hair. The under layer, which is the most expensive, costs more to make into cloth. Synthetic cashmere, using modern textile equipment and chemistry is faster and cheaper to produce. It looks and feels like natural cashmere with one exception: synthetic cashmere is more durable in wear and care, and costs less.

Then why would people want to buy natural cashmere instead of synthetic? People who are successful have a different perspective on life. They feel good about themselves. Their sense of pride and self-esteem demands "best" over "better." They buy expensive things and expensive clothes, and they prefer the aesthetic value.

The woman activist had another opinion with reference to perc and drycleaning wools. She said that solvent, as used in drycleaning, was not good for cleaning cashmere sweaters.

She was wrong again.

Back in the 1970s Dr. Manfred Wentz, the leading research scientist for IFI, believed that a study on wool and natural cashmere would have to be made. He knew that the evidence resulting from the study must become universal to allow truth to prevail.

In 1985 Dr. Wentz and his distinguished colleagues performed a study on wool cloth subjected to drycleaning. The study provided evidence that drycleaning did not change wool properties or cause shrinkage, nor loss in tensile strength.

This information was made available to drycleaners and appeared in the National Clothesline. Although the wool study demanded time and money; it didn't cost drycleaners a nickel. Drycleaners know that when decisions are made on factual information, successful results are accomplished.

How did drycleaners accept the wool study? They accepted it in the same manner as grazing cows feeding in a field of grass.

This is unfortunate. This information is important to everyone who uses drycleaning services. Dr. Wentz was not giving an opinion when he said, "Drycleaning and wool is a perfect match."

He was quoting factual information. Dr. Wentz was not pleased with drycleaners' inactive attitude. He reminds us: Drycleaners have the right to ignore problems and be uninvolved, but they are responsible as a result of their attitude.

He knows our problems. He walked many miles in our shoes laboring in the laundry and drycleaning industry and as a scientist, Dr. Manfred Wentz's search will never cease for answers to the inquisitive why.

Copyright © 2000, National Clothesline
Maintained by: Hal Horning
Hal Horning