Cleaning products company aims to make dry cleaning more eco-friendly

Working at home has a way of altering your wardrobe. Most of my grown-up clothes have been neglected for months now. I used to have a pretty high monthly dry cleaning bill, but I never thought much about what those chemicals do to the environment or why water just doesn’t mix with certain fabrics. Cotton and I have become good friends this summer, but not because I am especially eco-sensitive. Now that I'm self-employed, I'm going to have to explore green clothing designers.

Until I can switch my wardrobe over, though, I'm looking for a better way. Turns out I'm not alone. A dry cleaning operation in the Chicago area (Lake City Cleaners) has started using the Solvair Cleaning System, which is being pitched as an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional dry cleaning methods.

Even if you don’t care so much about green issues, Solvair supposedly is easier on your clothes because unlike traditional dry cleaning processes, it doesn’t use heat (which keeps stains from setting into the fabric like they are apt to do.) Ironically, Solvair uses a series of carbon dioxide rinses to dry your blouse or suit or what-have-you. Here’s the process in the form of a very dry, yet informative video. No pun intended.

The materials that Solvair uses are supposedly biodegradeable and most of the carbon dioxide and other cleaning fluids left at the end of a cleaning cycle are captured for recycling and reuse. The system was created by R.R. Street, a cleaning products company that has been around since 1876.