The expenditure for textile cleaning services for women is significantly higher than that of men, according to a study recently published in Germany. This is not only a result of more women clothes demanding professional textile care, but also of higher processing costs. For example, blouses are usually more expensive than shirts to clean and press.
Those results appeared in the study “Price Differentiation by Gender in Germany” conducted by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes). It is striking that while there are hardly any differences in the price of products by gender, in services such as hairdressing and textile cleaning women have to pay more.
The agency has recommend laundries should offer services priced by type of service and not by gender. However, the industry considers that this is not true. According to experts, women’s clothes are more difficult to process than men’s ones. This is generally due to differences in design and fabric choice.