OWNER OF `WET CLEANERS' SEES NOTHING BUT GREEN IN FUTURE.Byline: Jane E. Allen Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Step inside the Cleaner by Nature shop on Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for H. Gaylord Wilshire (1861-1927), an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. , past the window display of antique washboards, dried flowers and green plants to racks of clean clothes on hangers. Then sniff. That's potpourri you smell in the air, not perchloroethylene per·chlor·o·eth·yl·ene n. Abbr. PCE A colorless, nonflammable organic solvent, Cl2C:CCl2, used in dry-cleaning solutions and as an industrial solvent. , the cleaning fluid used by more than 80 percent of U.S. dry cleaners and the trademark odor that hits you as soon as you walk through their doors. Owner Deborah Davis Deborah Davis is also the author of Katharine the Great : Katharine Graham and Her Washington Post Empire. See Operation Mockingbird. Deborah Davis is an American citizen who refused to show her identification papers on September 26, 2005 to federal police has traded the heavily regulated chlorine solvent - a suspected cancer-causing chemical - for a high-tech variation on good old soap-and-water. In the process, the former Price Club regional marketing director has targeted the emerging market of ecologically friendly products and services. She runs one of fewer than 10 ``wet cleaners'' that have sprung up in strip malls and main streets around the country. They rely on a computer-controlled washing machine (storage) washing machine - An old-style 14-inch hard disk in a floor-standing cabinet. So called because of the size of the cabinet and the "top-loading" access to the media packs - and, of course, they were always set on "spin cycle". that uses plain water, biodegradable soap, fabric conditioners and finishing to gently wash the dirt out of the unthinkably immersible im·mers·i·ble adj. Capable of being completely immersed in water without suffering damage: an immersible hot plate. : wool suits, silk wedding dresses, camel hair Camel hair is, variously, the hair of a camel; a type of cloth made from camel hair; or a substitute for authentic camel hair; and is classified as a specialty hair fiber. When woven into haircloth, using the outer protective fur called guard hair, camel hair is coarse and coats. A computerized dryer stops before clothes get to be bone dry. ``In the past, cleaners took water out of the equation and substituted a solvent. Now we have the capability to control other factors so we can put water back into the equation,'' said Davis, a newcomer to the $5.1 billion cleaning business. ``Water is really the best cleaning solvent of all.'' Among the shop's satisfied customers is Elyse Gunter, an attorney at 20th Century Fox who dry cleans most of her wardrobe. ``There should be more places like this. I just got tired of getting my clothes back smelling like used chemicals,'' said Gunter, who complained only that a T-shirt with some Spandex ``came back a little stretched-out.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (Color) Deborah Davis, owner of Cleaner by Nature, s hows off a high-tech washing machine. Associated Press |
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