Perchloroethylene (aka perc or PCE), a
chlorinated solvent, is the most common drycleaning solvent in use
today. Used by approximately 90% of the 26,000 cleaners in the USA,
perc (brand name: Dowper from Dow Chemical and PerSec from
Occidental Chemical) is valued for its aggressive cleaning power
and its grease-cutting properties.
In recent years, perc has been attacked by governmental
agencies, scientific bodies and environmentalists as a potential
human carcinogen as well as a ground water and air pollutant. Perc
has been scheduled for phase out in California by the year
2023.
But health and environmental safety is not my beef with perc. My
concern is that perc is a relatively fabric aggressive, dye
stripping solvent. Way too damaging for bespoke,
made-to-measure, designer, high fashion, specialty, couture and
other fine garments.
If your primary concern is price and not the longevity and
integrity of your garments, I can understand if you have to dry
clean in perc. After all, the overwhelming majority of value priced
and middle of the road cleaners clean in perc.
On the other hand, I have always wondered why anyone would
consciously choose to dry clean their fine
garments in perc?
This question was recently underlined by a new study conducted
under the supervision of Professor Paul Roepe, a professor in
Georgetown University's chemistry
department and co-director of Georgetown University's
Center for Infectious Disease. The study was published on-line in
Environmental Toxicology &
Chemistry.
In this study, samples of 100% wool, polyester, cotton and silk
were dry cleaned from one to six times at seven Northern Virginia
perc dry cleaners.
Researchers found that perc is retained in dry cleaned
clothes made of wool, polyester and cotton. More specifically,
researchers found that the levels of perc in dry cleaned garments
increased with each successive dry cleaning cycle.
Furthermore, the researchers found that cotton and polyester
absorption of the perc leveled off after two or three cleaning
cycles but that levels in wool increased with each of the six
cycles.
Which brings me back to my original question: Why would anyone
consciously choose to dry clean their fine garments in
perc?
At RAVE FabriCARE, we didn't need Georgetown University to tell
us that perc remains in garments after dry cleaning.
You see, back in August 2010, I conducted my own "research".
Here's some background to that research ...
In 2010, I penned a number of posts on this blog (click
here,
here, and
here) in which I called organic dry cleaning a hoax, a
scam and a fraud on the public.
More specifically, I warned you about cleaners who are quick to
label perc as "cancer causing', "toxic" and "environmentally
hazardous" amongst other things, while promoting their solvent -
synthetic petroleum - as "organic", "non-toxic"
"environmentally friendly", "green" and/or "natural". I further
warned you about cleaners who claim to be organic, non-toxic,
environmentally friendly, green and/or natural but who
still clean in perc.
These posts resulted in a spate of indignant emails and
calls.
In particular, one such "organic dry cleaner" (who cleans in
synthetic petroleum at one location and in perc at a second
location) strenuously denied that he dry cleans in perc at any of
his locations (this, despite the fact that his county-issued
operating permit for his second location is for a perc drycleaning
machine and his drycleaning machine at his second location is only
designed to use perc).
To reinforce this claim, he told me that, yes indeed, that
second location has a perc dry cleaning machine, but - and wait for
this - that he uses that location exclusively for "restoration dry
cleaning" (i.e., fire, smoke, flood and water damaged
garments).
This comment sparked my curiosity. In effect, he was telling me
that, as a same day and next day service dry cleaner, he trucks his
"dry clean only" garments to his first location every morning for
cleaning and then trucks them back to his second location every
afternoon. Really?
Naturally, I decided to conduct my own "research".
I hired an independent third party (an officer of the court) to
purchase a wool trouser at Nordstrom, to spill some oil on the
trouser, and to drop it off for dry cleaning at that the cleaner's second location. Three days
later, I instructed the officer to pick up the trouser and to
deliver it to Test
America for chemical analysis.
On August 6, 2010, Test America sent me the report. And the
result? The trouser tested positive for perc. Who
would have guessed?
Which again, brings me back to my main point: Why would anyone
consciously choose to dry clean their fine
garments in perc?
How can I help you?