SIC 7216
DRY CLEANING PLANTS, EXCEPT RUG CLEANING



This category includes establishments primarily engaged in dry cleaning or dyeing apparel and household fabrics other than rugs. Press shops and agents for dry cleaners are classified in SIC 7212: Garment Pressing, and Agents for Laundries and Dry Cleaners. Establishments primarily engaged in cleaning rugs are classified in SIC 7217: Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning.

NAICS Code(s)

812322 (Drycleaning Plants)

Industry Snapshot

Most companies in this industry provide general dry cleaning, although some specialize in treating drapery, carpeting, or fire-damaged materials. The majority of dry cleaning plants are single-proprietor firms that gross an average of less than $200,000 annually. Based on a U.S. Bureau of the Census report, an estimated 20,794 plants were expected to be in operation in the United States during 1998. This figure, however, indicated a decline in the number of firms in this industry, following a peak in 1995 when 20,856 establishments were in operation. Revenues, on the other hand, maintained a steady upward trend.

Background and Development

Regarded as a mature industry, dry cleaning has proven resilient in difficult economic times, benefiting from the tendency of patrons to care for old clothes rather than purchase new ones in such periods.

The later decades of the 1900s witnessed the introduction of legislation that shaped the industry. The Care Labeling Rule, instituted by the Federal Trade Commission in 1972, made it easier for dry cleaning establishments to determine the proper mode of clothing care. Additionally, in September of 1993, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued national regulations to control possibly harmful air emissions from dry cleaners due to perchloroethylene, a dry-cleaning chemical suspected to cause ill health effects to those with which it came in contact. As a result, the industry was forced to change the traditional dry cleaning method known as the transfer system — washing clothes in perchloroethylene inside a machine and then transferring them to a separate dryer. In response, chemical companies raced to develop new, less toxic cleaning formulas. Meanwhile, five states instituted regulations that outlawed all but closed-loop perchloroethylene systems for dry cleaning. Conversion to closed-loop systems was both environmentally safer and relatively inexpensive, at approximately $45 per machine in 1999.

Workforce

Employment in the industry, which does not have a meaningful union presence, fluctuates. The industry employed an estimated 169,500 workers in 1998. The annual turnover rate, according to the International Fabricare Institute, ranges from 20 to 40 percent. Annual industry payroll increased from $1.49 million in 1987 to an estimated $2.17 million in 1998. About 17 percent of employees in the dry cleaning industry worked as counter and rental clerks in the mid 1990s. Laundry and dry cleaning machine operators accounted for 14 percent of employees while pressing machine operators accounted for 13 percent. Counter and rental clerk positions were expected to increase by more than 15 percent from the mid 1990s to the year 2006. Positions for both laundry and dry cleaning machine operator and pressing machine operator were also expected to increase through the year 2006, by 5 and 15 percent respectively.

Industry Leaders

Among the largest dry cleaners in 1999 was Johnson Group Management of Cincinnati, Ohio, with sales of $160 million and 3,000 employees. Dryclean U.S.A., Incorporated, also of Cincinnati and a subsidiary of the Johnson Group, had a nationwide market and employed approximately 550 workers in 1998. Established in 1976, the company had $25 million in sales in 1998.

Other major companies in the industry included Pride Cleaners, Incorporated of Kansas City, Missouri, with sales of $37 million and 700 employees in 1998; and Swan Cleaners Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, with sales of $26 million and approximately 500 employees.

Further Reading

Childers, Everett. "A New Cleaning Solution." American Drycleaner, June 1999.

Darnay, Arsen J. Service Industries USA. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 1999.

International Fabricare Institute. Silver Spring, MD: IFI, 1994.

"Making Perc Manageable." American Drycleaner, October 1999.

Tullo, Alex. "Dry Cleaning Alternatives Emerge but Chemical Makers Stand by Perc." Chemical Market Reporter, 15 December 1997.

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