The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-11-23

According to ]. NJ. Matson, mani
aging executive of the National
Association of Dyers g. Cleaners,
there will be more demand for
drycleaners' services after the war
than ever before approximately
one billion dollars worth, in fact.
This is a two-thirdS increase over
the biggest peace-time year dry
cleaners have ever had.
Why? Because of a number of
factors, according to Matson, nearly
all of which are part of our war
time education. Among the most
important is our wide and growing
appreciation of the conservation as
poets of drycleaning, especially since
the price of clothing has gone up.
We are no longer the waSteful coun'.
try we once were. Pre-war America
tended to regard drycieaning as a
kind of necessary luxury" confus-
ing economy with niggardlinesS
However, the wool shortage has led
the way in pointing out that "it's
smart to be saving" 'Drycleaning, :"
Matson says, actually does help to
lengthen the serviceable life of gar
mentS by preserving both their wear
ing qualities and appearance"
Other war born influences are the
development of regular demand
for cleaners services in place of for
mer haphazard calls; and the pub
lies new regard for the health prop
critics of drycleaning. De mand for
cleaning used to be on hit-or-miss,
when-as-and-if too badly soiled or
damaged basis. With the disap-
pearance of "a and 48-hour service
ing, though which has been re-
placed by five to twenty-one day
servicing -- housewives have had to
develop the habit of planning ahead
and scheduling cleaners pickups.
The health aspects of dryclean-
ing have been graphically brought
home to Americans with the war
news. Clothing salvaged here for
use Of impoverished peoples abroad
has been drycleaned before ship
ment. Cleaners near Army camps
have had to deny civilians so that
soldiers needs might be met. The
Navy has its own strategically To-
Gated drycleaning plants, some oper-
ated by graduates of National AS
ISOLATION Of Dyers & Cleaners dry
cleaning school. In addition, re-
ports have reached here of disinfec-
ton Of uniformbs OF dead and
wounded Russian soldiers, thus en-
abling their refuse, by drycleaning,
The important point is that the
public now recognizes fully that
these steps have all been taken as
positive health measures and not
as frills. And American women
have been impressed.
Other considerations will also en-
ter into the expected great expand
ed need for drycleaning. While
clothing costs have risen during
the past ten years, the cost OF re-
putable drycleaning work has gone
down. And yet our national income
is expected to remain high. So
cleaning will be less Of factor In
the average housewives postwar
budget than ever before. Matson
the fact that he was
referring to reputable drycleaning
work. The industry is not yet on a
Henry Kaiser assembly-line basis
Good work still requires care and,
at certain stages especially, too
much individual attention to make
that possible"
Shortly after 1900, drycleaning-
known at first as French" clean
Ing, from having originated in
France - started out in the United
States as a simple process Of i'm
textile fabrics into "dry"
solvents. Since then the dryclean-
er's job has developed by leaps and
bounds, a trend accelerated by the
last war and, even more, by this one.