The washing industry full of disputes

I went around the laundry shop and came out still dirty. You say dry cleaning, he says water washing, and in the end, the owner didn't dare to wash it. Who says my down jacket must be dry cleaned?

In spring, when the weather warms up and heavy winter clothes are put away, people usually send some clothes to the laundry. But sometimes, after washing, some clothes look completely different or as if they haven't been washed at all. This leads to disputes, complaints to consumer associations, and even lawsuits in court. According to consumer associations, disputes caused by laundry services have increased in recent years. The reasons include some unscrupulous shops cutting corners or even swapping items, consumers misunderstanding "dry cleaning" knowledge, and clothing manufacturers misusing "dry clean" labels to mislead. In response, reporters conducted related investigations.

The laundry industry is a mix of good and bad.

In recent years, the laundry industry has exploded in growth. Some major overseas brands have entered mainland China, new southern brands have expanded northward, and local small shops have flourished everywhere. However, the laundry market is highly regional and seasonal. With rapid growth in the industry, the problem of too many providers and too few customers has emerged. This inevitably leads to fierce competition, usually relying on service quality and low prices. In theory, this should benefit customers, but in reality, when prices drop to "rock bottom," shops cut corners on service quality and manipulate processes, resulting in deception that ultimately harms customers.

Chen Qijun, president of the Tianjin Laundry Association, told reporters: "In some cities, before a laundry shop can get a license, it must first register with the local laundry association. The association helps the industry and commerce department verify technical capabilities and also offers reasonable suggestions, such as informing registrants whether the laundry market in their chosen area is saturated, to avoid clustering and mutually destructive competition. Tianjin has no such regulation, so laundry shops choose locations arbitrarily, leading to serious clustering. For example, one residential area has six laundry shops, resulting in intense competition. Within two months, a laundry shop that invested over 2 million yuan went bankrupt."

Speaking of unfair competition, Chen Qijun was very angry. He said: "Hotel and hospital bed sheets and covers need washing. If a regular laundry charges one yuan, suddenly someone appears offering fifty cents. Some hotels or hospitals, to save costs, hand business to the 'fifty-cent' provider. But how do they wash? I once witnessed one. It was in a village in Xiqing District. I went with the industry and commerce department for enforcement. That so-called 'laundry shop' had no license or storefront; the 'workshop' was a farmhouse courtyard, equipment was a few old household washing machines and a large drum from a cement truck. I wondered how that related to laundry? It turned out to be a spin dryer. To save money, they didn't use detergent but alkali tablets; no tap water, only muddy underground water; no drying equipment, sheets and covers were hung in the yard, which was muddy and full of flies. Can such washing be clean and hygienic? There are more such 'laundry shops' locally and in other areas like Dongli. This is a 'monster' spawned by unfair competition and the market's blind pursuit of low prices in the laundry service industry."

The reporter also saw similar scenes. On a dusty small road in Wanxin Village, Hedong District, there was a shabby 'laundry shop' where several workers in dirty clothes used dirty washing machines to wash baskets of white bedding, with pools of black wastewater on the ground.

Ruan Hui is the manager of Xuezhonglian Laundry Property Company in Dagang Oilfield, operating several laundry shops. Because of his good skills, peers who have damaged clothes come to him for help. One day, a peer brought a damaged expensive garment worth several thousand yuan. If it couldn't be restored, the laundry would have to compensate. This laundry had a big storefront but subcontracted high-priced jobs to a 'five-yuan shop'—a small shop charging five yuan for any job. He earned the difference. What level of washing could the 'five-yuan shop' provide? Trouble happened. After the accident, the 'five-yuan shop' owner denied responsibility and was untouchable without license or permit. In the end, the garment was hard to restore, and the laundry had to negotiate compensation with the customer.

Nowadays, many seemingly affordable 'five-yuan shops' and 'six-yuan shops' have appeared. Regular laundry managers hate them because they not only steal many customers but also cause frequent service disputes due to poor equipment and skills, damaging the laundry industry's reputation. A laundry manager told reporters: "Proper laundry, whether dry cleaning or water washing, costs five or six yuan per item, barely covering costs. These small shops make money because they invest little, have only two or three staff without professional skills, and use one or two household washing machines and an iron; they use few consumables, never expensive solvents like perchloroethylene, often have broken or empty dry cleaning machines as decoration, use cheap detergent, and are stingy with water, rinsing clothes only once; most have no license or tax expenses; and they hide many tricks during operation. For example, for high-end clothes that owners care about and only want to clean before storage, these shops don't wash them. They wipe visible stains on collars, cuffs, and fronts with high-grade aviation gasoline, then steam iron the rest, and hang them in plastic bags to look washed."

"Normally, for small shops like this, customers should be able to see through their tricks, right? The problem lies in people's desire for cheap prices. Those small shops are slick talkers. When customers ask if they can do dry cleaning, they say yes, the dry cleaning machine is there, can't you see it? If customers ask if they can watch the cleaning process, they say not now, they need to accumulate enough clothes to start the machine, it's already a low profit, otherwise they can't even cover costs. If customers question why their prices are much lower than those big shops, they slander us legitimate laundries as operating with exorbitant profits. Ridiculously, some small shops don't even have fake dry cleaning machines for show, but they still manage to deceive customers. They claim to have contracts with big laundries and can deliver clothes through group buying, so their prices are cheap, but that's all lies. Of course, in practice, they have tricks. For example, when they encounter high-end clothes that must be dry cleaned, they find excuses to reject the job, fearing exposure."

The reporter confirmed the issue of small shops placing empty dry cleaning machines to deceive customers with Chen Qijun, president of the Tianjin Laundry and Dyeing Association. He said he saw such phenomena during inspections with industrial and commercial staff.

Increasingly fierce competition has forced some seemingly legitimate laundries to also engage in deceiving customers. He Quanpeng, manager of Tianjin Jinhao Laundry Co., Ltd., told the reporter: "In recent years, the price of perchloroethylene has rapidly risen. In 2009, it was 2,600 yuan per barrel, now it has become over 5,000 yuan per barrel, and at one point it rose to 7,000 yuan per barrel. When costs rise, some laundries are reluctant to replace this solvent. Companies like ours, which use modern equipment and have strict management, must ensure perchloroethylene is distilled per batch to maintain cleanliness and equipment safety. But some laundries don't do this. They mostly use old machines; distilling perchloroethylene is time-consuming, power-consuming, and water-intensive, so they simply distill very infrequently. The solvent turns black but they keep using it continuously, like reusing the same water over and over to wash many clothes endlessly. You can imagine whether those clothes are really clean."

"Dry cleaning" is a false concept

Nowadays, signs for "dry cleaning shops" are everywhere, with several in a single neighborhood. However, the concept of "dry cleaning" does not actually exist in the world, said Chen Qijun, president of the Tianjin Laundry and Dyeing Association.

Interviewing Chen Qijun, he told the reporter: "Actually, there are only two washing technologies: one is water washing, which uses water as the medium, water-soluble detergents, and various additives, applying different water temperatures and mechanical forces either manually or by machine to remove dirt from clothes; the other is solvent washing, which uses chemical solvents like perchloroethylene or hydrocarbon solvents as the medium, dissolving dirt inside a closed container by machine agitation. In either washing method, clothes are fully immersed in water or chemical solvents, so there is no such thing as 'dry cleaning.' I think people's concept of 'dry cleaning' probably comes from a misunderstanding. Perchloroethylene is highly volatile and somewhat toxic. During washing, clothes cannot be directly put into the solvent like water washing. Instead, clothes are first placed in a sealed drum, then the machine injects the chemical solvent. After washing, the solvent is automatically extracted by the machine, and the clothes are dried. When taken out, they don't feel wet like water-washed clothes. This dry-in and dry-out process makes people mistakenly think it is dry cleaning, hence the common name."

Many people's misunderstanding of dry cleaning also comes from misleading laundry staff. Before writing this article, the reporter did homework and learned that all laundries, including branded ones, offer water washing services. However, during visits, it was rare to hear staff introduce water washing to customers. Instead, if you say dry cleaning, they do dry cleaning, and they deliberately mystify dry cleaning's effectiveness, boasting about their dry cleaning equipment, giving customers the impression that dry cleaning is 'advanced' and 'high-end.' The reporter estimates that some clothes accepted by laundries are definitely water washed, as the processing rooms are busy with post-washing ironing. Why do staff accept clothes under the name of dry cleaning? A manager of a laundry told the reporter: "Sometimes if you mention water washing, customers run away, thinking 'If I want water washing, why do I need you?'"

This raises a question: is so-called dry cleaning really 'advanced' and 'high-end'?"

Chen Qijun said: "Dry cleaning and water washing are just different washing methods; there is no distinction of one being more 'high-end' or 'advanced.' In daily life, clothing stains are divided into water-soluble and oil-soluble stains, which dissolve respectively in water and dry cleaning solvents. People look down on water washing because they know it has many drawbacks: shrinkage and deformation, fading when fabric dye fastness is poor, poor removal of oil-soluble stains, and difficulty ironing. So when they hear dry cleaning can thoroughly remove oil-soluble stains, clothes don't easily deform or fade, and it also has sterilizing and mothproof advantages, they think dry cleaning is an amazing washing method. Actually, dry cleaning has many flaws too. For example, artificial leather trims harden after dry cleaning, coated fabrics become stiff or even dissolve, attached elastic bands lose elasticity, and some decorations deform due to solvent dissolution. Also, dry cleaning is poor at removing water-soluble stains like milk, blood, and juice stains, which are not only hard to remove but may change and become even harder to clean. In contrast, water washing is better at removing water-soluble stains and should be used for sweat, milk, blood, and beverage stains."

"As far as I know, before China introduced chemical solvent washing technology, the laundry industry only used water washing, including for wool suits. In developed countries like Europe and America, water-washed clothes still account for more than 60% of total laundry volume. Because facts prove that water washing combined with manual skills is still the most suitable method to remove most clothing stains."

"Additionally, from a professional perspective, water washing and dry cleaning are just technical choices, not a matter of which costs more or less. Considering current value costs, water washing requires a lot of labor and highly skilled workers, with relatively higher risks; dry cleaning only needs machine operation. The costs of both are comparable. Therefore, there is no issue of which is more 'advanced' between dry cleaning and water washing."

Misleading consumers with incorrect concepts

But anyway, the concept that "dry cleaning is a high-end washing method" has long been deeply ingrained in people's minds, and many awkward situations have arisen from this.

Chen Qijun, president of the Tianjin Laundry and Dyeing Association, gave an example: not long ago, a customer brought a high-end winter coat to a laundry shop requesting dry cleaning. The clerk said, "No, dry cleaning will ruin this coat; it should be washed with water." The customer was furious and said, "This is down-filled; it's common knowledge that down fears water. Who are you trying to fool? It must be dry cleaned, or I'll take it away." The clerk said, "Then let's make a written agreement; if it gets damaged, you take responsibility." The customer happily signed, believing the other party was lying. He had seen news exposing laundries switching dry cleaning to water washing. That evening, the laundry manager called the customer (the customer's phone number was on the receipt) to explain again that the garment needed water washing. Unexpectedly, the customer would not let him finish and said, "Either listen to me, or don't wash it. I've already paid you; if it gets damaged, I take responsibility." He firmly believed the shop was lying. Normally, in such cases, the laundry should firmly refuse the job, but since both sides insisted, the winter coat went into the dry cleaning machine. As a result, the coat was washed until it was as stiff as a paper clip, leaving the customer dumbfounded. Why? Down is mostly duck feathers, which are known to repel water because of a very thin layer of oil on their surface that separates water from the feathers; additionally, down jackets mostly use synthetic fabric, which for warmth and to prevent feather leakage, has a thin glue coating on the back. The dry cleaning solvent perchloroethylene strongly dissolves oils; washing the winter coat with it dissolved the glue coating on the fabric and the oil layer on the down, washing them away. Naturally, the coat lost its original softness and fluffiness. Who is to blame? The lack of trust in today's society.

Tianjin Jinhao Laundry Co., Ltd. owns more than a dozen laundry shops. Its manager, He Quanpeng, told reporters: "Not all clothes can be dry cleaned, but many customers, seeing that dry cleaning and water washing prices are similar, almost all request dry cleaning. However, technically, down jackets or clothes containing leather, rubber, plastic, or other materials easily corroded or dissolved by chemical solvents are indeed unsuitable for dry cleaning, but the customers just won't listen. Their reasons are: first, incorrect common knowledge, such as believing down should not get wet; second, blind admiration for dry cleaning; third, clothing manufacturers' misuse of dry cleaning labels, which misleads customers in choosing washing methods. Customers often point to the dry cleaning label on the garment and question our staff, saying, 'The manufacturer says dry clean, why do you insist on water washing?' Sometimes the staff don't know what to do."

Speaking of clothing manufacturers' misuse of dry cleaning labels, Chen Qijun, president of the Tianjin Laundry and Dyeing Association, was very angry. He told reporters: "Because society believes that clothes with dry cleaning labels are high-end, many manufacturers now misuse these labels. If you go to 'Dahutong,' you'll see many stalls selling dry cleaning labels at very cheap prices. Many irresponsible small manufacturers, to deceive consumers, sew on dry cleaning labels regardless of whether the material needs dry cleaning. The problem is this causes great trouble for the laundry industry. According to our research, Tianjin has more than 6,000 laundry shops, including many unlicensed small wild shops, with over 40,000 employees, but only 14.28% of them are certified after assessment. Many clerks lack skills and experience, accept clothes with incorrect labels, put items that shouldn't be dry cleaned into dry cleaning machines, resulting in continuous lawsuits."

"I personally once encountered such a joke: an old secretary-general of the city consumer association once brought a garment for me to find a place to wash. I laughed when I saw the garment; it had two labels, one at the collar saying 'Do not dry clean,' and another at the hem saying 'Dry clean.' I asked the secretary-general how to wash it. He smiled and said, 'Then just listen to your experts.' The problem is, I believe the washing labels on clothes are only references for washing methods. Choosing the correct washing method should depend on the specific condition of the garment, not solely on the label. Although the manufacturer makes the clothes, they are not very knowledgeable about washing technology, at least not very professional. Therefore, when clothes arrive at the laundry, whether to dry clean or water wash should be decided by the professionals in the shop."

The reporter did not expect that such a seemingly simple laundry industry would have so many shocking dark sides. It seems necessary to inform society: it's better to wash clothes yourself diligently; if you must take them out for washing, be sure to choose those legitimate laundries with business licenses and a certain scale. At the same time, the reporter also recalled another issue: why are there so many deceptive and fraudulent small wild shops in society? Someone should take responsibility for managing this!