Wet and dry cleaning systems successfully implement the new line of highly eco-friendly products that remove stains, are pH-neutral and ensure fabric longevity
Christeyns sends a game-changing message to the world of laundering. One that also bodes well in a world compelled to comply with certain standards. This is the subtext behind the word “cool”. Cool, as in Cool Chemistry – first and foremost, a philosophy – that has also spawned a new line launched by a global leader in the production of laundry detergents for both wet and dry cleaning.
“Cool”. A sure way to make our future “cool”. In the sense of fresher, kinder, healthier. Putting a stop to global warming, violence, and disease-causing pollution. And, since everyone must do their part to achieve these ends, from its headquarters in Belgium and its other branches around the world, about a year ago Christeyns launched “Cool Chemistry”, designed to radically change the face of the laundering industry, from industrial plants to mom-and-pop storefronts. An outcome achieved – and this is important – only after lengthy, meticulous R&D, accomplished in part through prestigious partnerships with other entities interested in the same goal.
It is no coincidence that the faces of the women who appear in the Cool Chemistry launch campaign are confident, striking and, of course, totally “cool”. Based on a kind of wholesome beauty that calls to mind the brilliant white of perfectly-laundered linens and the purity of an environment worth protecting, especially when talking about 
laundries.
With Cool Chemistry, Christeyns has enabled the industrial laundries used by the healthcare and tourism industries to achieve these goals by creating a line based on four fundamental principles:
- Maximum cleaning performance at low temperatures, even at 40° C.
- Excellent stain removal capability.
- pH-neutral processes, therefore, eco-friendly.
- Extremely gentle on fabrics, thus ensuring extended textile lifetime.
Translated into Christeyns products, these fundamentals have led to the creation of two custom-crafted lines for healthcare and hospitality. Both sectors benefit from the advantages of Cool Care, a highly innovative detergent that performs at low temperatures because its cleaning power is based on enzyme action. For the hospitality sector, its cleansing action is complemented by a bleaching agent, called Cool Brite; generated on site, it is eco-friendly and also designed to ensure the spectacular white users demand of sheets and tablecloths. Cool Asepsis, a disinfectant crafted for the healthcare sector, is entirely odor-free and 
comes with all the most accredited certifications.
Produced specifically for the dry cleaning industry, Cool Chemistry by Christeyns now includes HiGlo, a powerful solvent that is safe, eco-friendly and widely accepted by manufacturers for use in their machines. In other words, a real alternative to perc.
Thanks to these fine qualities, in European countries like Holland HiGlo has been a dry cleaning smash hit for more than a year. Distribution has just begun in Italy, but the word-of-mouth drumbeat is spreading fast, and is bound to increase its popularity with dry cleaners across the nation. Certainly enough for us to predict that 2016 will be the year of HiGlo in Italy.
HiGlo brings the same advantages as Cool Care and Cool Brite — maximum fabric longevity, water and energy savings and ongoing environmental stewardship. These are also the same objectives cited by Livio Bassan, CEO of Christeyns Italia, in an interview with Detergo a year ago. They are considered essential to the development of detergents in general, used by everyone from large industrial operations to artisan–style cleaners.
Consistent with these ideals, HiGlo is a “modified hydrocarbon” which, by definition, makes a case for its inherent adaptability.
Inevitably, since HiGlo is a dry cleaning solvent, from its inception and development in the best labs, HiGlo was engineered, created and tested against perc, its direct competitor and industry standard that for decades has been the uncontested front-runner in dry cleaning. But even today, with its leadership position no longer guaranteed, it is well known that perc continues to enjoy widespread use, enthusiastically broadcasting its efficacy in removing soil. Ask any dry cleaning professional and you will find that they still use perc for certain processes.
These are the same cleaners to whom Christeyns now offers HiGlo, equally powerful but more eco-friendly and in sync with the times. Danilo Villa, Christeyns Italia sales manager for HiGlo, sums up its origins and strengths: “Eighteen months of tests are a lot – he remarks – but that is what it took to imbue this new detergent with the characteristics needed to be highly competitive in our markets”.
In concrete terms, we are talking about a highly efficient solvent that removes those grease stains that have traditionally been the domain of perc — like the perfect clean on overcoats — upon which dry cleaners base a good part of their prestige. But, it also competes well with simple hydrocarbons in treating non-greasy stains, revealing a complete action immediately identifiable as a quality trait of HiGlo.
Other strengths are also inherent to the product — for example, compatibility with multi-solvent machines, total compliance with all currently required European certifications, and the safety aspect of being free of carcinogenic or mutagenic side effects. Not to mention the fact that it is completely odorless and leaves no marks or halos of any kind.
HiGlo masterfully passes even the most complicated tests. After 25 wash cycles of the same overcoat (the kind of garment whose cleaning poses more difficulties than the norm), the felting effect stops at 0.5%, compared to a maximum tolerable value of 2. Furthermore, with regard to safety, it has a flashpoint sufficient to classify it across Europe as “non-flammable”.
A market like Italy’s offers HiGlo considerable margins for growth across the entire network of hydrocarbon-operated machines currently in use by about 400 firms, but that number is set to grow. Timing of this expansion project also depends on the quality of products used to operate those machines and, armed precisely with this understanding, Christeyns specifically targeted a good portion of its HiGlo promotion toward machine manufacturers. The response has been positive so far, starting with field tests at three dry cleaners, two in Umbria and one in Sicily, with whom HiGlo began its efforts to win over the Italian market.
To make all of this even easier, Cool Chemistry includes a Laundry Dashboard operating system for both water wash and dry cleaning. The Christeyns control panel constantly monitors the functioning and yield of each and every machine on the floor. Ensuring a 360° revolution.
“Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion”, reads Christeyns’ website in quoting the words of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel that speak volumes about the history and mission of the group, a world’s leader in products and services for laundries.
Its huge success makes one wonder how a Belgian, family-run company has managed to survive for over 50 years surrounded by international chemical giants. The two key ingredients in the success story of Christeyns have been creativity and innovation, both driven by passion. Determination, ongoing commitment to investments in critical areas such as research and development, teamed with high-caliber staff, have made it possible for Christeyns to develop from a local company founded in 1946 to a modern European key player in the global market.
Over the years, the company’s objective has remained that of offering added value to its clients. The objective was met as a result of the passion and focus on even the smallest details in all of the operations of a modern laundry, the quest for the most innovative solutions, an expert and attentive customer service and the capability to deliver flexible and customized services.
CHRISTEYNS ITALIA srl
Via Aldo Moro 30
20060 Pessano con Bornago ( MI )
- T + 39 02 99765200
- www.christeyns.com
Detergo Magazine December 2015
by Stefano Ferrio
