The dry-cleaning industry and environmental sustainability have a bigger link than you think, and the Santa Barbara husband-and-wife team of Greg and Samantha Eatwell are right in the middle of it with their Eco Friendly Cleaners.
The couple is part of a vanguard of innovative Santa Barbara entrepreneurs changing the local business landscape with an emphasis on environmental responsibility.
Married in 2014, the Eatwells’ journey began when they met in Australia. Greg, a New Zealand native, was attending the University of Melbourne and Samantha, a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate living in Santa Barbara, was traveling in the Land Down Under.
They embarked on an RV trip to national parks around the American West and, while driving though small towns, hatched a dream to become business owners.
Their criteria was to live in a city of around 200,000 people, small enough to be a close-knit community but big enough that it would have plenty of amenities.
They decided to try to purchase a business instead of starting one, and looked for one that was underperforming but had a good product, offered strong customer service to differentiate from competitors, and was protected from Internet threats.
Another objective: A business in a “tired” — or you could say starched-shirt — industry that would give them an opportunity to unleash their creativity.
Santa Barbara and Eco Friendly Cleaners checked off all the boxes and they bought the business in 2016.
At the time, the company had locations in downtown Santa Barbara and at 5144 Hollister Ave. in the Magnolia Shopping Center. A third location was acquired the next year at 3969 State St. in Santa Barbara’s Five Points Shopping Center.
And then came COVID-19 and the lockdown that shut down the economy. Overnight, almost all their work vanished.
Thanks to PPP and EIDL loans under the CARES Act, the Eatwells have been able to keep the business going. But with customer needs changing with people working from home and a less formal overall lifestyle, they closed the downtown store and pivoted to a primarily delivery-based service, including contactless delivery. A newly launched app enables customers to place orders from Carpinteria to Solvang.
“We are environmentally friendly from end to end,” Eatwell told Noozhawk after a tour of the Goleta facility. “We use a silicone cleaning solution that breaks down and becomes sand and H2O and CO2.”
Hangers can be reused thousands of times and reusable garment bags are offered. Under the company’s comprehensive tailoring program, a tailor will make house calls for fittings with the work done in-store.
Eatwell uses his business and technology expertise to improve the customer experience. He believes that he and his wife have become more resilient as a result of the challenges of 2020.
“Instead of worrying what can go wrong, we remain upbeat and focused on where we need to go,” he said. “We’re excited about the future of Eco as we know people are looking for businesses that have energy, heart and soul, and contemporary technology.”
Eatwell includes his cell number on all emails to customers because he truly wants to build strong, personalized relationships where he can be contacted anytime. Besides, he jokes, with a newborn second daughter, he doesn’t get much sleep anyway.
— Judy Foreman is a Noozhawk columnist and longtime local writer and lifestyles observer. She can be contacted at news@noozhawk.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.