Newly affluent Chinese will not give up clotheslines

[TheMightyFavog]

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2010/10/03/chinas_sun_lovers_dont_warm_to_dryers/

SHANGHAI — As increasingly affluent Chinese embrace all the accouterments of the modern, middle-class Western lifestyle — big-screen televisions, automobiles, washing machines, double-door refrigerators with automatic icemakers — one glaring exception stands out: the clothes dryer.

For reasons practical as well as cultural, most Chinese consumers simply don’t like clothes dryers. Don’t want them. Don’t trust them. Won’t buy them. And, even when they have them around, won’t use them.

According to a spokesman for the appliance store Best Buy, the Chinese market for dryers — or even washer-dryer combinations — “is by no means fully developed.’’ In the chain’s stores, dryers and washing machines with dryer functions make up just 10 percent of all washing machine sales.

Other businesses report similar experiences. Zhao Na, a saleswoman for Haier washing machines, a domestic brand, said, “Our factory stopped producing dryers since last year because they don’t sell.’’

[Kali]

1. Good! wish that would happen here.

I wonder what kind of emissions decrease or energy saving we could realize if dryers became unfashionable.

[Heidi]

2. We got rid of our dryer years ago.

Nine months out of the year, I can hang laundry to dry in the sun. The other three months, on days when it's too humid or cold, I hang it in the basement near the furnace. No dryer = less wear on fabric, better colorfastness, nicer scent, less energy consumption.

[hippywife]

12. I've been without one

for four years, maybe more. It was working fine but we gave it away. I do exactly as you, except we have no basement here. They hang all over the place. :rofl:

Seriously, I don't miss it. :hi:

Miss you. tho! :* :loveya:

[Heidi]

15. Same here.

Ours was working fine, too, but my sister-in-law, mother-in-law and I also decided to give our dryers away at the same time after not using them for a spell to see whether dryer use had a real impact on our utility bills. It did, and it was a big impact (even bigger for my sister-in-law, who has teenagers who change clothes with great frequency).

I don't miss having a dryer and I don't miss the higher electricity bills.

[hippywife]

19. Three of you! That's great!

It is silly the energy one uses. Like I mentioned to someone else in this thread, supposedly the only appliance that uses more is the refrigerator.

You all rock! :hug:

[logosoco]

3. Good for them!

It's hard to believe that here we have a lot of places where you can't even HAVE a clothesline.
I love my dryer, but I use the line whenever I can!

[Chan790]

4. Pretty much the only thin I use mine for is home dry-cleaning.

You know, like the Dryel kits. They require 15 minutes in the dryer on low heat. Other than that, I mostly use mine to store tees, socks and underwear...you know, wrinkle-resistant cotton underclothing.

[Jade Fox]

5. Can't afford my dryer.....

I hang dry 90% of my laundry, cause it reduces my electricity bill so much.

Some habits should never have been broken, like the use of solar and wind power.

[hippywife]

13. According to what I've read

it is second only to the fridge with regard to energy usage. I know it made a big difference in our electric bill.

:hi:

[canoeist52]

6. I hang a good percent of our laundry outside too but

it can get a bit dicey in MA with the New England weather changes.

I have friends in Brazil that have an elaborate undercover courtyard system of pulleys attached to laundry racks that go up to the ceiling.

When mys sister traveled to Sweden in the 70's, she found they only had large heated rooms with fans for drying clothes on hanger racks.

[ThomasQED]

7. I quit hanging mine outside altogether

I just hang it in the laundry room to dry - less trips back and forth! In winter that takes a couple days, but so what? Before I had a laundry room I just hung stuff in an empty closet.

[canoeist52]

8. This is how I get my 20 min. of Vitamin D sunshine though..

Loves me some sun. :)

[ThomasQED]

10. Now I'm jealous.

Love the Pacific NW, but not in winter :-(

[Bunny]

9. I spent my youth hanging nine people's worth of clothing up on clotheslines.

Then taking it all down when it was done drying. x( Ya'll can keep your clotheslines and I'll keep my gas dryer, thank you very much.

[applegrove]

11. I can related though I think it has been 30 years since I wore clothes that were dried on a line

outside. fresh air is lovely.

[alphafemale]

14. You can't beat the smell of sunshine and wind on sheets though

One smell of that will give you a sigh you can believe in.

[Love Bug]

16. I'd love to quit using mine spring-fall but I have allergies

Clothes and especially sheets loaded with pollen is a problem for me.

I do hang out stuff like jeans because they aren't worn close to my face.

[Akoto]

17. I, too, have never found my dryer trustworthy.

I remain convinced that it's devouring one sock from every pair. ;)

[Xithras]

18. I can't get my wife to stop using ours.

I hang my own clothes, partially because I like the smell of line-dried clothing better, and partially because your clothes last longer. My wife, unfortunately, is still horrified at the thought of our neighbors or kids seeing her "unmentionables" flapping in the yard or, Dog forbid, a BUG landing on her clothes.

I gave up on that fight years ago.