Editor’s Note – The drycleaner in the story wishes to remain anonymous, so we have withheld this personal information. We ask for our readers’ understanding.
If you suggest wetcleaning to a drycleaner, a typical response is ‘it’s too hard,’ or ‘it takes too much time.’ In a way, it is not an entirely wrong response. Washing is harder than drycleaning. Then you have to hang dry most items. Once it’s dry, all the remaining wrinkles make pressing harder. However, Mr. A○○, who runs a dry cleaning business in the southeastern United States, says that thanks to wetcleaning, the work has become easier and much faster. Let’s hear his explanation.
Came to America after his parents
Mr. A came to America after his parents who came here before him to get green cards. In the early years of his life in the U.S., he passed an exam and was hired by the IRS, where he worked as a government employee.
“Then, my parents started a drycleaner around ’98. They used perc then. I kept my job but helped around the plant for about 2 years. My parents wished to retire and I ended up taking their business.”
Mr. A says the business was good but he always found drycleaning work hard. Then the landlord demanded the removal of the perc machine before the lease can be renewed. He had no other option but to remove the perc machine.
“The work was hard enough for me with the machine and it just got much harder. I did not know about hydrocarbon solvent. So, when someone approached me to buy the place, I sold it. I sold it because the work was too hard.” That was around 2005.
Tried wetcleaning when solvent odor problem broke out
After he sold his business, Mr. A did not want to have anything with drycleaning. But he moved to another state where his wife’s family lived, he started another store. That is the current store.
“I built this store from the ground up. It was a robust plant with a German drycleaning machine.”
When he had the misfortune of solvent odor about 5 years ago, he couldn’t use the machine for several months.
“I had a Unimac so I used it to clean clothes. It was my first attempt at wetcleaning. You can imagine how hard it was.”
As soon as the odor problem was gone, he wasted no time going back to drycleaning. But that experience gave him the taste of wetcleaning. First of all, clothes came out so much cleaner. In an area with high temperature and humidity, sweat stains were a huge headache but with wetcleaning, no extra work was needed.
“So, I studied wetcleaning any chance I got. I even went to see a wetcleaning guru in Texas. I would love to do wetcleaning but there was no way I would handwash everything.”
He chose AquaMax when he needed an extra machine
The business did well and Mr. A needed another machine to handle the volume. That’s when he saw a video about AquaMax wetcleaning system from YouTube.
“The drum had only few rotations but there was a very strong air bubble action. What’s more, he put washed clothes in the tumble dryer. I knew it was what I have been dreaming about.”
A phone consultation only made him more confident and he had his machine installed last April.
Old gas dryer stayed
A gas dryer is a big taboo among wetcleaners. But Mr. Kim from Ecotech USA told him it was OK.
“If you use a gas dryer like a steam dryer, you’ll have a huge problem. But Mr. Kim did several tests in my plant and found a way to dry safely in it.”
Wetcleaning covers 80% now
As soon as Mr. A started using AquaMax Wetcleaning System, customers began giving compliments. The neighborhood is in a high income area so customers bring in a lot of expensive clothes. Customers, especially women, began showering him with compliments, saying things like, “The clothes feel so soft,” and “You can really feel the high quality.”
“I had always admired wet cleaning — I wanted to get clothes even cleaner. But in reality, it was tough. However, after working with the AquaMax system, the job is actually easier and much faster than dry cleaning. This is the first time I’ve been able to do wet cleaning without any worries. What’s to worry when you can just toss in high-end wool suits?”
Mr. A says that compared to dry cleaning, the workload with wet cleaning feels like it’s been reduced to one-third. The clothes come out incredibly clean, and there’s no odor at all.
“The clothes come out so clean. Once you realize the difference, anyone would make the switch.”
Mr. A now uses the expensive German hydrocarbon machine for, at most, only about 20% of the cleaning. Since he learned the trade through dry cleaning, it seems like dry cleaning is a hard-to-break addiction for him.
“If the solvent smell comes back or the machine breaks down, I won’t hesitate to get rid of it. And I’ll get another AquaMax. Honestly, I just didn’t have enough information. If I had known this earlier, I would’ve made the switch much sooner.”
For more info about AquaMax, please call (267) 516-6222
