Trends in the Development of China's Laundry and Dyeing Industry - Wang Chaoyi

Trends in the Development of China's Laundry and Dyeing Industry

With the development of the world economy and society, the popularization of network technology, the advent of the knowledge economy era, the application of high technology, and the introduction of advanced foreign washing models and scientific washing technologies have driven the development of China's laundry and dyeing industry. Along with the development of the textile industry, clothing fabrics have evolved from cotton, wool, silk, hemp, and leather to various chemical fibers and a wide range of animal furs. The laundry industry has implemented mechanized washing and steam ironing, selected environmentally friendly detergents, and work has transitioned from heavy manual labor to automated laundry.

1. Reviewing the development of the laundry and dyeing industry, this industry has a long history. The laundry and dyeing industry developed alongside the textile industry, which has a history of thousands of years in China. Primitive textile handicrafts appeared as early as five to six thousand years ago. The silk unearthed from the Mawangdui Han tombs in Changsha, Hunan, indicates that China's textile industry had reached a high level at that time. Before the Southern Song Dynasty, there were already professionals engaged in washing clothes for wealthy merchants, but professional laundries using relatively specialized washing methods have a history of more than a hundred years.

The earliest laundry factory in China was established by foreigners in the Shanghai concession. After the Opium War, a large number of foreigners flooded into Shanghai. In 1850, Americans hired some Chinese mainly to do laundry work, specifically washing bedding, restaurant supplies, clothing, and other items for foreign merchant ships, military ships, barracks, hospitals, and overseas Chinese.

In 1880, Chinese people opened Western-style dry cleaning shops in Shanghai, but used petroleum solvents to clean suits and other clothing.

In 1925, Chinese people established dry cleaning shops using dry cleaning machines.

Looking back at the development of the laundry industry in New China, it can be divided into five stages:

First stage: 1949–1956, before the public-private partnership, laundry shops nationwide were small and few, with a very low degree of mechanization. Factories relied on manual skills for washing and ironing. Washing equipment included coal irons, manual washing machines, and spin dryers.

Second stage: 1956–1978, after the public-private partnership, some laundry shops were established in large and medium-sized cities nationwide. Batch dyeing business developed relatively quickly, and some large and medium-sized laundry factories appeared, such as Pulan De Laundry Factory in Haidian District, Yongjufu Laundry Factory in Chongwen District, Desheng Laundry Factory in Dongcheng, Fulong Laundry Factory in Xuanwu, Zhengzhang Laundry Shop in Shanghai, and Laojiuhua Laundry Shop in Shenyang.

The Beijing Service School was established with former Beijing Mayor Peng Zhen as honorary principal, cultivating the first batch of specialized laundry talents in New China at the secondary vocational school level.

Third stage: 1978–1990, after the reform and opening up, with the improvement of people's living standards, people's consumption concepts changed, which promoted the rapid development of the laundry industry. At that time, people changed from wearing Zhongshan suits to wearing suits, leather clothing, and other high-end garments entering ordinary households. Dry cleaning and leather care services rose rapidly.

Fourth stage: 1990–2000, after the 1990s, the laundry industry developed rapidly under greatly improved living conditions and abundant material wealth. Large and medium-sized laundry companies appeared, and chain operation models emerged, such as large chain enterprises like Rongchang Ilsa and Funait. The mechanization of washing equipment also rapidly improved with laundry factories. Dry cleaning machines developed to the fifth generation of environmentally friendly machines; washing machines evolved from semi-automatic to fully automatic computer-controlled, and then to the appearance of tunnel-type washing cages. Environmental protection, energy saving, and improved work efficiency became the development goals of the laundry industry.

Advanced ironing equipment, garment packaging machines, garment conveyor lines, computer cash register systems, and automatic garment retrieval systems have brought a leap forward to the laundry industry.

2. During this stage, five segments of laundry emerged:

1. The first segment is state-owned enterprises, such as Beijing Pulan De, Shanghai Zhengzhang Washing Company, Tongren Hospital Laundry Factory, and the Post and Telecommunications System Laundry Factory.
2. The second segment is laundry factories of hotels and restaurants, such as Jianguo Hotel Laundry Factory, Great Wall Hotel Laundry Department, and Kempinski Hotel Laundry Department.
3. The third segment is private enterprises such as chain franchise laundry companies, including Rongchang Ilsa, Funait, Sanyo Dry Cleaning, and Top Laundry Factory. Some enterprises have developed to hundreds of chain franchise stores.
4. The fourth segment is some individual laundry shops characterized by many stores and wide coverage. Although they bring convenience to people, their equipment is poor and the grade is not high.
5. The fifth segment is joint venture and wholly foreign-owned enterprises, such as Beijing Shoulu Hotel Laundry Co., Ltd. and Beijing Tongzhou Hospital Laundry Company.
These enterprises apply scientific star-rated hotel management to ensure quality and establish a new image of modern laundry companies.

3. Due to social development and scientific progress, more and more new technologies, new processes, and new fabrics are applied in the laundry industry to meet people's increasingly higher requirements for washing. The laundry industry is also transforming into a cross-industry, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive industry. With the diversification of clothing styles toward fashion, leisure, environmental protection, and comfort, another important factor is the development of the laundry industry toward socialization, commercialization, specialization, and large scale. The social division of labor in various industries is becoming more detailed. The washing of hotel cotton textiles and work uniforms is shifting from entrusted washing to rental washing. Textile rental and washing will be a growth area in the next ten years.

In the 20th century laundry industry, fierce market competition and low-profit operation are the laws of market economy operation. To leverage the advantages of scale operation, reduce operating costs, reduce environmental pollution, and save energy.
Currently, the development of China's laundry and dyeing industry has entered a new historical period. Modern laundry industry is rapidly rising. In the coming years, four models will develop rapidly, and these four models are:

First, under the promotion of the chain franchise model, modern laundries with front shops and back factories have made great progress.
Second, centralized washing with modern laundry factories as the core and decentralized collection will develop rapidly in many cities.
Third, large-scale modern linen washing plants will develop towards scale and commercialization, gradually replacing the self-operated laundries of small and medium hotels and restaurants, further deepening social division of labor.
Fourth, specialized laundries with detailed division of labor in special industries such as hospitals, railways, aviation, military, and postal and telecommunications will develop rapidly.
In the next ten years, China's laundry industry will further realize green environmental protection in laundries, apply high technology in production, use internationally advanced management models, and employees will develop towards high quality and high education levels.
The laundry equipment manufacturing industry will narrow the gap with the world's advanced level, and chemical raw materials and auxiliaries will increase their technological content.
The laundry and dyeing industry will inevitably move towards commercialization, scale, largeness, and high-end development. China's laundry industry will enter the international laundry ranks with a brand-new industry image.

Wang Chaoyi
2007-1-29