Perchloroethylene (PERC) is the most commonly used dry-cleaning solvent in the garment industry to clean delicate fabrics and eliminate intensive hand washing of garments, however it has been allegedly claimed to be ‘carcinogenic’. While it is banned in many developed countries like USA, the PERC dry-cleaning machinery manufacturers for the export- intensive garment industry are facing no drop in demand as of now and don’t expect to face any real challenge any time soon as well. “PERC is the best detergent in the world, once the garment is treated with the chemical, it comes out completely dry and odour-free. While the machines are completely seal-proof, it makes sure of absolute zero water seepage and there is no direct contact between the worker and the liquid. The workers are advised to wear gloves while adding the solvent. Also, there is lack of evidence and solid proof supporting the chemical to be carcinogenic, European market does not see any kind of ban in the same until 2020,” argues Deepak Chawla, Director, Xcel Stiro Pvt. Ltd.
Xcel Stiro’s PERC dry-cleaning machine was on display during the fair in Bangalore. The cycle time of machine is 30 minutes and has zero consumption of water and effluents and also zero smoke emission. Further as disclosed by Deepak, the company has a Hydro-Carbon machine as its backup plan in case PERC dry-cleaning gets banned completely. Additionally, the unique ‘washer-extractor-dryer’ from the company was also on display at the fair. The three-in-one machine does tasks of washing, extracting and drying within a run time of one hour and thirty minutes, equivalent to that of three separate machines. The machine saves the area consumption, energy utilization and number of workers require, proving its efficiency. Xcel Stiro being the sole manufacturer of any such machine in India, initially launched the machine during GTE 2016 edition in New Delhi to a great response.
The garment industry accounts for 50 per cent of the company’s market penetration, while the remaining 50 per cent is from the hospitality segment including, hotels, hostels and resorts.
