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.. " I' i 'I I' Ij I: I: 1,\ II 1,1' , I. ' I; , !, i , I [I III !I, ,::1 they also the best market for organic pro- duce and low-fat food? "We humans are inconsistent in our risk assessment;' says Nellie Brown, western regional director of the Chemical Hazard Information Program at Cornell University. "If you look at how people do risk assessment for themselves, you see a lot of rationalization. They see an outcome as the one they want, so they will buy something and rationalize why they do it. But if they don't want to change, they'll say they don't know what the risk is or what the alternatives are:' A lack of alternatives seems to be the main reason why Americans pay dry clean- ers almost $7 billion a year to douse their clothes with a suspicious chemical. "Consumers may be aware of the potential risk, but they discount it because they need somebody to take care of their garments;' says Mary Scaleo, vice president of the International Fabricare Institute, a trade group for dry cleaners and launderers. "We don't believe it has affected them." In a 1996 survey of 30 suburban dry- cleaning stores in Pittsburgh, only a handful of customers expressed even a vague aware- ness of the health and environmental con- cerns surrounding dry cleaning. Dan Kovacks, who conducted the survey while a graduate student at Carnegie-Mellon University, also asked customers what they would do if they learned that dry cleaning posed a threat to their well-being. Unable to suggest alternatives, most said they would simply dry clean less frequently. ':r@~olt~~s l:Q~~i~P~IJ~?g?i',ciy~~!f,9i~.Hl,~tRf;: In congested places like New York City, health concerns are greater because dry cleaners and apartment dwellers some- times occupy the same buildings. But awareness doesn't necessarily change behavior. Long Island-based Ecomat is a franchiser of stores that offer a perc-free alternative to dry cleaning. Its research shows widespread consumer concern. But a strong environmental and health advan- tage isn't enough to make someone change to a new dry cleaner. Ecomat's survey of 1,200 dry-cleaning cus- tomers in New Jersey found that 69 percent of men and 78 percent of women are concerned about dry-cleaning products' impact on the environment. Also, 54 percent of men and 63 percent of women say they are concerned about the effects of these products on their health. But "just because they say they're con- cerned doesn't mean they're doing anything about it;' says Ecomat vice president Keith Emerson. "People still choose their dry clean- ers based on convenience:' In the daily whirl of errands and appoint- ments' the average American's concern about long-term health risks often gets shoved aside. A Harvard Business School survey found that the most important rea- sons for choosing a cleaner are: convenient location, hours, and parking; speed of ser- vice; doing a good job; and price. EMERGING ALTERNATIVES People who work at dry-cleaning shops face a much higher risk from perc than their customers do, and many owners might stop using perc for their own health if they could find a reasonable alternative. Marketing strategy could give them anoth- er reason. In the intensely competitive world of neighborhood retailing, anything that could give a store a competitive edge is worth a try. Public awareness of dry cleaning's health risks has increased as alternatives to perc have multiplied, says Sylvia Ewing-Hoover of the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), a Chicago nonprofit organization that tries to develop solutions to environmental problems. Perc is still the standard, however. When the CNT opened a "Greener Cleaner" store in 1995, its main goal was to demonstrate that the more envi- ronmentally friendly "wet cleaning" approach could clean fine fabrics just as well as traditional dry cleaning could. "Wet cleaning;' which has been around for over 50 years, uses soap, water, and a custom treatment plan for each garment. A 1993 EPA analysis found that wet cleaning is as effective as dry cleaning, and that the cost is competitive. "When consumer awareness grows, very often there's some good and bad to that;' says Ewing-Hoover. "It's too easy for the mainstream media to use scare tactics when they talk about dry cleaning. We don't want to see communities lose jobs, and we don't want people ending up wearing Ken and Barbie clothes. When we opened the Greener Cleaner, we answered consumer Full Service, Custom Designed Research Qualitative & Quantitative gateway@hamcr.com www.hamcr.com Spanish, Portuguese & Most Asian Languages Phone: 650.595.5028 Fax: 650.595.5407 1301 Shoreway Road, Suite 100 · Belmont, CA 94002 USA 24 American Demographics May 1998