This industry category includes establishments that primarily serve as agents for launderers and drycleaners. Companies in this industry may do their own pressing or finishing work but have the laundry and dry cleaning work done by others. Businesses operating their own laundry plants are classified in SIC 7211: Power Laundries, Family and Commercial, and those operating their own dry cleaning plants are classified in SIC 7216: Dry cleaning Plants, Except Rug-Cleaning.
812391 (Garment Pressing and Agents for Laundries)
The average work force for industry firms consisted of 13 employees; most companies were privately owned, according to U.S. census figures. The Journal of Commerce and Commercial noted the total dry cleaning industry was "dominated by immigrant small-business owners and families with limited means." According to U.S. government statistics, there were 3,159 establishments in this category in the mid 1990s, with negligible fluctuation expected through the end of the decade. The industry was otherwise projected to grow in the late 1990s, with revenues exceeding $606 million, employment of approximately 13,900 workers, and anticipated total payroll of $148.7 million. The garment pressing and cleaners' agents industry is concentrated most heavily in the Midwestern United States, with a secondary concentration in the New England states.
Environmental Regulations. In 1993, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amended the Clean Air Act of 1990, adding new rules to reduce atmospheric levels of the most common dry cleaning chemical, perchloroethylene. Journal of Commerce and Commercial noted the chemical was "the most effective cleaning agent" in the industry, "but the government has identified it as a probable human carcinogen." The EPA estimated about 30 percent of U.S. drycleaners would be affected by the new regulations. Industry observers said drycleaners would have to invest at least $7,000 to meet the necessary standards, a heavy burden for many small operations.
Anticipating the implementation of the new EPA standards, chemical producers set out to find replacement substances for perchloroethylene, including solvents based in carbon dioxide and silicone. Yet, by 1999 an estimated 85 percent of drycleaners continued to use the chemical, with cost and cleaning quality of major concern. Other methods of chemical vapor reduction were devised. Five states — Illinois, Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin — have adopted legislation to mandate closed-loop delivery systems for the substance. Conversion to closed-loop required installation of a valve — at an estimated cost of less than $50 per system in 1999 — and typically resulted in cost reduction in equipment maintenance and solution refill costs. The closed-loop systems enhanced worker safety by minimizing human exposure to the chemical.
Childers, Everett. "A New Cleaning Solution." American Drycleaner, June 1999.
Darnay, Arsen J., ed. Service Industries USA. 4th ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 1999.
Eng, Sherri. "Environmental Concerns Catch Up With the Dry-Cleaning Industry." Journal of Commerce and Commercial, 13 July 1993.
Lazich, Robert S. Market Share Reporter. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 1999.
Matas, Alina. "New Federal Rules Combat Air Pollution from Dry Cleaning." Journal of Commerce and Commercial, 7 October 1993.
"Making Perc Manageable," American Drycleaner, October 1999.
Santaniello, Neil. "Drycleaner Pushes Non-Toxic Methods to Laundry Industry." Journal of Commerce and Commercial, 5 February 1993.
Tullo, Alex. "Dry Cleaning Alternatives Emerge but Chemical Makers Stand by Perc." Chemical Market Reporter, 15 December 1997.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1994 County Business Patterns. Washington, DC: 1996.
U.S. Department of Commerce. 1992 Census of Service Industries & Geographic Area Series, Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1995.
Ward, Mark. "Greener Dry Cleaners." MIT's Technology Review, November-December 1997.
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