First: Never put water on a dryclean only garment in an effort to remove a stain!
Water stains are best removed with water - anything put on a stain will have to be removed. I know, most people has heard that soda water bubbles will lift a stain - Don't believe it!
Ink: Ink is combination of chemicals. One will come out with water and the other will not! Once the chemicals have been separated - the ink becomes permanent. Hairspray is water based, so even if it get the ink out - you then need to remove the hairspray stain. Most small ink stains can be removed by a skilled drycleaner. However success also depends on the fastness of the color in the garment. Natural fibers - cotton and silk for example, do not hold dyes very firmly making these sort of stains difficult to remove on brightly colored garments.
Second: If you feel the need to apply an at home stain remover, REFRAIN! Again, most of these products are water based and will need to be flushed with water. This is not a good idea for dryclean only garments.
Third: You can blot the stain with a clean towel or napkin. Do not use paper napkins, or worse, colored paper napkins - the color may transfer to the garment and cause damage.
Fourth: Do not rub a stain. This will cause abrasion or de-luster the fabric - so it is no longer a stain, it is then fabric damage. You may also work the soil into the fibers making the stain more difficult to remove. Blot or pat the stain to remove the excess.
Fifth: At home dryclean kits do not remove soils. They freshen with deodorants and at best remove dust.
Sixth: Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda are wonderful natural whiteners for your regular laundry. They are do not contain the toxic ingredients of many store bought bleaches and cleaners. Be sure to read the instructions and not over use them.
Seven: Sunshine is a wonderful disinfectant - leaving items outside in the sunshine for a short period (less than an hour) works as well today as it did in your grandmothers day. Drycleaning alone does not remove odors but sunshine will. But be warned, the sun is very damaging and can bleach garments and weaken fibers if they are left out too long!
In the end, I am advocating leaving stain removal to the professionals. They have access to more chemicals than you do at home and they have experience with all sorts of fibers and soils. Some stains that are impossible to remove at home - make-up stains and salad oil for example, are relatively easy for the drycleaner to remove because oil based stains come right out in the drycleaning process. One of the many lessons I have learned over the years is that nothing is simple. Every garment is unique - weave, material blend, dyes -- and every stain is unique, and is best left to the professional.
How to create free time
If you are like me, you have more things to each day than you have time for. Time is a precious commodity. We cannot make more time and it keeps on moving forward, no matter how we protest. I think time is our most precious commodity. How we use our time shapes who we are.
So how much time do you spend on errands? Things like grocery shopping, going to the post office, and going to the drycleaner.
Going to the drycleaners. What other chore can you name where you have to get in your car and drive to the same shop twice and pay money to get your same old clothes back! And if you clothes are not ready on the promised day, you could be going in yet again! Really! Who has time for that?
Did you know you don’t have to go to the drycleaners? Most areas have at least one cleaner that offers free pick up and delivery. Why would anyone NOT use this free service?
They put your credit card on file. You leave your clothes in a bag on a hook on your front door (or some other predetermined spot). Then on the “ready” date (generally Monday to Thursday, Thursday to Monday, Tuesday to Friday and Friday to Tuesday). Your clothes are returned to you fresh and clean to your door.
Your drycleaner literally becomes your front (or back door). In drycleaning, as in life, it is all about the automating the details. This is one errand that should be a non-errand. After all, don't you have better things to do?
Click here for some time saving tips from the smart folks at MIT!
So how much time do you spend on errands? Things like grocery shopping, going to the post office, and going to the drycleaner.
Going to the drycleaners. What other chore can you name where you have to get in your car and drive to the same shop twice and pay money to get your same old clothes back! And if you clothes are not ready on the promised day, you could be going in yet again! Really! Who has time for that?
Did you know you don’t have to go to the drycleaners? Most areas have at least one cleaner that offers free pick up and delivery. Why would anyone NOT use this free service?
They put your credit card on file. You leave your clothes in a bag on a hook on your front door (or some other predetermined spot). Then on the “ready” date (generally Monday to Thursday, Thursday to Monday, Tuesday to Friday and Friday to Tuesday). Your clothes are returned to you fresh and clean to your door.
Your drycleaner literally becomes your front (or back door). In drycleaning, as in life, it is all about the automating the details. This is one errand that should be a non-errand. After all, don't you have better things to do?
Click here for some time saving tips from the smart folks at MIT!
3 Facts Your Drycleaner thinks you know
If you go to the drycleaners regularly, you will eventually have an issue. Perhaps this is the reason drycleaners have such a bad reputation with the public. I believe that these occurrences are the best way to determine if you have chosen the right cleaner for you. This is really an opportunity for you.
ANY concern you voice should be taken seriously! It may or may not be the drycleaners fault (they may not be able to know at first blush) - but they should care that you are unsatisfied.
Wear and life - Just like your car when you drive it off the lot, your clothes loose value with every passing day. The FTC and IFI (the laundry and drycleaning institute) publish guidelines that state most garments have a life of 2 years. Even leathers have a lifetime of 10 years. If you love vintage clothes - be sure to tell your cleaner the age of the item. The cleaner may not want to clean it because it is not their specialty. That's OK. You can find another.
Your drycleaner assumes what you drop off is drycleanable - This is often not true. Hand painted garments often can not be put in a dryclean machine. Another example, many Tommy Bahama silk items must be cleaned exactly according to care labels or else the dyes will fade or bleed.
You get what you pay for - Many cleaners limit their liability to 10 to 20 times the cost of cleaning. This is a well established guideline and is often printed on your receipt. This is fine if you have dockers or other main stream items cleaned. However, if you regularly take your $4000 Armani suit, or Dolce Gabbana dress to be cleaned, your clothes may not be getting the attention they need. Be sure to always let your cleaner know if you have these sort of expensive items.
ANY concern you voice should be taken seriously! It may or may not be the drycleaners fault (they may not be able to know at first blush) - but they should care that you are unsatisfied.
Wear and life - Just like your car when you drive it off the lot, your clothes loose value with every passing day. The FTC and IFI (the laundry and drycleaning institute) publish guidelines that state most garments have a life of 2 years. Even leathers have a lifetime of 10 years. If you love vintage clothes - be sure to tell your cleaner the age of the item. The cleaner may not want to clean it because it is not their specialty. That's OK. You can find another.
Your drycleaner assumes what you drop off is drycleanable - This is often not true. Hand painted garments often can not be put in a dryclean machine. Another example, many Tommy Bahama silk items must be cleaned exactly according to care labels or else the dyes will fade or bleed.
You get what you pay for - Many cleaners limit their liability to 10 to 20 times the cost of cleaning. This is a well established guideline and is often printed on your receipt. This is fine if you have dockers or other main stream items cleaned. However, if you regularly take your $4000 Armani suit, or Dolce Gabbana dress to be cleaned, your clothes may not be getting the attention they need. Be sure to always let your cleaner know if you have these sort of expensive items.
Is your Drycleaner Green? (Take the plastic back!)
Those that have known me for a while, know that I am a bit of an enigma. While its true, I was an Aerospace engineer, I also was a vegetarian for several years and for a period grew my own food, recycled and composted to such an extent that I did not have any refuse removal for weeks at a time. Somehow, I always was able to integrate my green beliefs and lifestyle with a field where many thought it wasn't possible.
Now that I am a drycleaner, reducing waste and my carbon footprint is as challenging as ever. With the growing green marketing in the world, I think it has gotten more difficult to know what is and isn't "greener".
First off, it isn't about the solvent! Did you know that all 4th generation drycleaning machines (in California - all drycleaning machines are supposed to be 4th or 5th generation) if they are well maintained, recycle 95% or more of the solvent with no air pollution?! Compare that to your washing machine at home that discharges all the water, detergents and bleaches into the sewer system. The main thing a customer needs to know is that the machinery is well maintained.
How can you tell if the drycleaner maintains his equipment? Well, a poorly maintained front office would be a good tip off. Chemical odors in your clothes is another. But over time you will be able to tell by the quality of cleaning. Poorly maintained equipment will show up as poorly cleaned garments.
If you are concerned about the environment, ask what your drycleaner does to be environmentally responsible. If the only answer is solvent, keep looking. Any environmentally concerned drycleaner should have a laundry list of items; Hanger re-use program, plastic recycling, paper and cardboard recycling, better light bulbs, full pipe insulation, boiler reclamation etc. You may not understand it all, but it is the fact that they have thought about it and have a list that counts.
Organic is a term that may have meaning in other industries, but is pretty meaningless for a drycleaner. Any chemical that has Carbon in it is technically organic. Perc, the solvent that has gotten all the bad press and the reason California drycleaners are required to have a Prop 65 sign in their windows, is organic. Silicone solvent - made from beach sand and the same chemical used in the beauty industry in many creams and lotions - is not organic. There are also CO2 machines and lots of hybrid types. They all have their environmental, safety or other drawbacks. So no matter the solvent, I maintain, you cannot determine a green drycleaner by solvent alone!
Plastic bags (known as poly) is the hardest thing for me to deal with. They are not recyclable in your home recycle bins. We had to take them to a grocery store for recycling before we got our supplier to take the plastic back. We now have gone to continuous roll plastic that reduced our usage by 20%. Unfortunately, the customers get more plastic. Try and make sense of that! The industry is working to create a bio-degradable (corn based) plastic. And I hope that it will be available soon. Reusable bags seem like a good idea - however you are creating another something that will need to be cleaned regularly - taking more energy and cost. It all gets very complicated very quickly.
My biggest recommendation for any dryclean customer is TAKE THE PLASTIC OFF THE CLOTHES AS SOON AS YOU GET HOME! The plastic is a petroleum product and it out-gasses. Often the chemical smell people complain about is not solvent, but out-gassing from the plastic. The plastic also captures atmospheric gases and holds them next to your clothes, and they will end up next to your skin. I have even seen cases where the plastic trapped moisture and the clothes were ruined by mold. Keeping the plastic on for a few days won't cause any harm. In fact, clothes packed in the drycleaner plastic travel much better. However, remove the plastic as soon as possible -- and by all means take it back to the drycleaner. If they don't take it, find another drycleaner.
So with all these negatives, you may wonder why I still believe in the cleaners. Well there are 2 main things that I feel are irrefutable;
Now that I am a drycleaner, reducing waste and my carbon footprint is as challenging as ever. With the growing green marketing in the world, I think it has gotten more difficult to know what is and isn't "greener".
First off, it isn't about the solvent! Did you know that all 4th generation drycleaning machines (in California - all drycleaning machines are supposed to be 4th or 5th generation) if they are well maintained, recycle 95% or more of the solvent with no air pollution?! Compare that to your washing machine at home that discharges all the water, detergents and bleaches into the sewer system. The main thing a customer needs to know is that the machinery is well maintained.
How can you tell if the drycleaner maintains his equipment? Well, a poorly maintained front office would be a good tip off. Chemical odors in your clothes is another. But over time you will be able to tell by the quality of cleaning. Poorly maintained equipment will show up as poorly cleaned garments.
If you are concerned about the environment, ask what your drycleaner does to be environmentally responsible. If the only answer is solvent, keep looking. Any environmentally concerned drycleaner should have a laundry list of items; Hanger re-use program, plastic recycling, paper and cardboard recycling, better light bulbs, full pipe insulation, boiler reclamation etc. You may not understand it all, but it is the fact that they have thought about it and have a list that counts.
Organic is a term that may have meaning in other industries, but is pretty meaningless for a drycleaner. Any chemical that has Carbon in it is technically organic. Perc, the solvent that has gotten all the bad press and the reason California drycleaners are required to have a Prop 65 sign in their windows, is organic. Silicone solvent - made from beach sand and the same chemical used in the beauty industry in many creams and lotions - is not organic. There are also CO2 machines and lots of hybrid types. They all have their environmental, safety or other drawbacks. So no matter the solvent, I maintain, you cannot determine a green drycleaner by solvent alone!
Plastic bags (known as poly) is the hardest thing for me to deal with. They are not recyclable in your home recycle bins. We had to take them to a grocery store for recycling before we got our supplier to take the plastic back. We now have gone to continuous roll plastic that reduced our usage by 20%. Unfortunately, the customers get more plastic. Try and make sense of that! The industry is working to create a bio-degradable (corn based) plastic. And I hope that it will be available soon. Reusable bags seem like a good idea - however you are creating another something that will need to be cleaned regularly - taking more energy and cost. It all gets very complicated very quickly.
My biggest recommendation for any dryclean customer is TAKE THE PLASTIC OFF THE CLOTHES AS SOON AS YOU GET HOME! The plastic is a petroleum product and it out-gasses. Often the chemical smell people complain about is not solvent, but out-gassing from the plastic. The plastic also captures atmospheric gases and holds them next to your clothes, and they will end up next to your skin. I have even seen cases where the plastic trapped moisture and the clothes were ruined by mold. Keeping the plastic on for a few days won't cause any harm. In fact, clothes packed in the drycleaner plastic travel much better. However, remove the plastic as soon as possible -- and by all means take it back to the drycleaner. If they don't take it, find another drycleaner.
So with all these negatives, you may wonder why I still believe in the cleaners. Well there are 2 main things that I feel are irrefutable;
- People must clean there clothes, and our washers and machines are always full, and constantly monitored. They use much less energy, detergent, solvent that any home cleaning system possibly could to clean the same volume. What better reason to get your sheets professionally cleaned and pressed - treat your self to luxery and help conserve our environment?
- We offer free pick up and delivery. This may be unique to us, but our routes are so dense that we have 100 stops a day on 5 routes. Think of the amount of traffic and fuel use if all those people drove to the cleaners!
In the end, I want you to feel better about your drycleaner. Bad operators give the whole industry a bad name. I trust that conscientious consumers like you will use their buying power to support the environmentally responsible drycleaner.
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