"Most dry cleaners use perc, which is not very good for the environment," said Wang, as she loaded the boxed wedding dress into a car.

H2Only Cleaners, opened by Bill and Karen Tomko in Morrisville, is the latest in the Triangle to shun the conventional cleaning solvent perchloroethylene, or "perc," which can pollute groundwater. Many of the estimated 900 dry-cleaning businesses and former sites across North Carolina have soil and groundwater contamination from cleaning solvents that must be cleaned up.

Some cleaners have embraced alternative cleaning methods of liquid carbon dioxide and detergent, a process invented in Chapel Hill, or GreenEarth, a modified liquid silicone. But H2Only Cleaners is the only one in the state to advertise 100 percent "wet cleaning" -- water, soap and conditioners.

"It is possible to clean any type of garment without toxic chemicals," said Karen Tomko, a former human resources manager.

Wet cleaning, which is gaining popularity in California, places garments including delicate woolens and silks in water with biodegradable detergents in computer-controlled washers and dryers that limit water absorption, agitation and temperature. After being partially dried, garments are placed on tensioning equipment that helps them keep their shape, eliminates shrinkage and reduces pressing time after the garments are dry. The prices are comparable to dry cleaners.

"For us, that is a hard selling point that we are going to put them in water," Karen Tomko said. "People think dry clean only. They don't realize in the dry cleaning process, their clothes do get wet."

In dry cleaning, clothes are spun and heated in liquid perc, which is vaporized by the heat. Perc is the cleanser of choice because it can be used on all fibers without shrinking clothes or fading dyes. It is what gives dry-cleaned clothes a chemical smell.

John De Lellis, a retired software engineer from Raleigh, dropped off a Persian rug at H2Only. De Lellis said he tried the cleaners because he didn't like the smell that perc left.

"I've always disliked cleaners that give me back my clothes and they have a chemical odor to them," De Lellis said. "Lo and behold, I got my clothes back, and everything smelled good."

The Tomkos, who trained with wet cleaners in Canada before opening their business, hope to attract more customers such as De Lellis and make converts of other cleaners. They intend their business to double as a demonstration plant to showcase the German-made Miele washers and Veit tensioning equipment that Bill Tomko sells through a sister business.

Bill Tomko said wet cleaning avoids issues of contamination and liability.

"These perc dry cleaners are hard-headed people," he said. "They won't quit until somebody makes them."

Martin Young, owner of Young Cleaners in Concord and president of the N.C. Association of Launderers and Cleaners, said the Tomkos' venture is another in a long line of attempts to make wet cleaning work. Although all cleaners wash 15 percent to 30 percent of garments in water, Young said, he would wait and see whether they can wet clean 100 percent of the garments they take in.

"Every wet cleaner will tell you they are not ruining garments," Young said. "The problem is the care label. If you expose something to water that is marked dry clean only, you are accepting responsibility."

"You take an Armani suit and expose it to wet cleaning. Heaven forbid that something would happen and you are out $4,000."

He said dry cleaning is less risky for cleaners because it did not expand fibers.

"I'm hoping that the Tomkos leave me with egg on my face," Young said. "Regardless of your method and chemical technology, there are going to be 30 percent of garments that are not going to react well to immersion in water."

The Tomkos have invited Young to give them something he believes can't be cleaned using their methods. Bill Tomko showed off an Armani suit jacket that had been wet cleaned and was drying.

"Any dry cleaner that you talk to will tell you it can't be done," Karen Tomko said. "It can't be done if you don't have the right equipment."

Staff writer Wade Rawlins can be reached at 829-4528 or mailto:wrawlins@newsobserver.com

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