Originally published by the Midland Reporter Telegram.
Trading a career helping crime victims in New York City for helping clothing stain victims in Midland isn’t exactly what Dan Corrales ever imagined he would do, but the former prosecutor has done just that.
Corrales and his wife, Michelle, own Pristine Organic Cleaners.
Pristine, located at 1307 N. Loop 250 W. Suite 10B in the Red Oak Plaza, offers a healthier, more environmentally friendly method of clothes cleaning, Corrales said.
“Typically, when your clothes are dry cleaned, instead of a washing machine with water, they’re put in a machine that bathes them in solvent,” he said. “A lot of the older dry cleaners use a chemical called perc (perchloroethylene), that the EPA has stated is a carcinogen. We don’t use that.”
Instead, Pristine uses a plant-based hypoallergenic detergent in specially designed machines that “wet clean” garments of all types, particularly those that would otherwise require dry cleaning, such as silks and wools.
“The equipment has to be capable of injecting the detergents at the proper time and maintain the humidity level, especially when you’re drying it,” he said. “If the humidity level is not controlled on silks, jackets and blazers, the fabric dries out and it’s very hard to get wrinkles out and can compromise the integrity of the clothing.”
It wasn’t long ago that Corrales was only a clothes-cleaning customer, taking his suits in for service when he was a big city prosecutor. “I worked in the district attorney’s office in Manhattan for three years and in the Brooklyn DA’s office for a year. I tried my first case in the Eastern District under Loretta Lynch in the U.S. Justice Department,” he said.
But what brought him into Midland’s dry cleaning business? “That would be my wife,” he said. “The paternal side of my family is from here. My grandmother was a councilwoman from here many years ago. My wife, who is from here, was a friend of our family, and we had never met until a few years ago. We got married and moved here during the boom thinking the grass was greener. That was 2014 toward the end, when the grass wasn’t so green anymore.”
Michelle Corrales grew up in the local dry cleaning industry. Her father, Larry Carrasco, has been in the business for more than three decades. He owns New Method Cleaners and Snow White Cleaners and bought Michelle the Image Cleaners facility in Odessa several years ago.
While organic cleaning is new to Midland, it’s not unfamiliar to Dan Corrales. “I’m from a larger city where there are a lot more options for green cleaning, and we thought it would be appealing to provide that in the Permian Basin, where no one else offers it. We thought we could have a niche in organic cleaning.”
Corrales said the trend is gaining steam because organic cleaning is safer. “It’s common in a lot of metropolitan areas. In cities like San Antonio, demand is growing for it because people are looking for ways that don’t involve toxic chemicals. In New York City, they forbid cleaners from using these products on the ground floor of a mixed-use building because the vapors rise through the high-rise building and affects the air quality.”
“Organic” doesn’t necessarily mean more expensive. Corrales said Pristine’s prices are comparable to competitors. Shirts are $4 to $5, jeans and pants are $6. “People’s perception is if it costs more, it’s better for your clothes. I, myself, am guilty of it. I dry cleaned my suits and my Brooks Brothers shirts thinking that was better, and that was not the case.”
Corrales isn’t completely out of the law business. He said he practices here a bit, mostly representing landowners. The transition hasn’t been easy, though, because he’s now practicing in an entirely different state and demography.
Dry cleaning, however, “is a little bit lighter in tone” than representing crime victims. “It’s been interesting. It’s been an addition to my education. I’m learning what’s endemic to this area. Not many people in New York have starched pants that can stand up by themselves.”
Corrales hopes his business is successful so he can give back to the community. He would like to donate a portion of sales to MARC and Bynum School. Until then, he and his wife will be working hard to educate the public about the benefits of organic cleaning.
