Don't make the same mistake I did!

This is going to be more like a confession. A "do as I say not as I do."
Tonight I am going to a rather formal, rather large birthday party charity event. I was very excited!
So yesterday I went to my closet to get out a beautiful black dress that I only ever wore one time. You know the dress. It makes you look and feel wonderful. The perfect dress that you looked for for years - then found it felt even better when you wore it.

Well I got it out, and to my horror, there were some dirt marks on it.

I had put the dress away last year WITHOUT CLEANING IT.

I know why I did this:

• it looked clean
• I only wore it one evening
• and dry - cleaning is expensive.

The thing is, I know better. I work in drycleaning. If anyone wants their clothes to last - they need to clean them before storing:

• Soils left in material attract insects that can damage material.
• soils left in material oxidize over time and become more noticeable and harder to remove.
• soils left in material can pull color over time.

So now, as I mourn my perfect dress and prepare to go out and buy a new dress for tonight, I share this story so that you can learn from my mistake. Buying a new dress is much more expensive than the cleaning cost would have been - and that doesn't include the time or stress of running around last minute. . . . . OK well the last minute part may be a different problem.
The moral of the story: Clean your clothes before putting them away for storage!