Save Time & Money, Read Garment Care Labels!

Did you know that in the US, the FCC requires that all wearable garments must have a care label attached, that offers at least one method of cleaning the garment?

There is no law that the method stated need be correct, but that at a minimum, law requires clothing manufacturers to try and give consumers a method to maintain the item. While this may sound odd, it is better than many other countries that require no such thing!

When you go shopping for clothes, take a moment to look at the care label. You can save yourself time, money, aggravation, and disappointment.

Most garments have a written care label, a content, and a symbol. All 3 give valuable information.

A few examples of written care labels:

Do not launder, do not dryclean, spot clean only: These items cannot be cleaned, so be prepared. This is often the case for polypropylene jackets or fancy gowns with lots of ornamentation. There are some cleaners that specialize in these sort of garments, however, it will all be by hand. Don't expect miracles on the stains, but do expect to pay a lot of money for cleaning, if you have that kind of cleaner in town!

Cold water wash, cool iron: This one is fine if you are doing your laundry at home. But if you are buying a shirt that you expect to have laundered for under $2 or $3 dollars, this wont be it. In fact, if you take it to the drycleaner - it most likely (not always) will be considered dryclean. This is one of the many reasons women are charged more for blouses. Does your blouse have this care label? Then the cleaner will likely dryclean it!

Do Not Dryclean: Clear enough, but if you do take it in for cleaning - point it out!

Clean by zirchonian (or wedding gown method): I have no idea what that is (I suppose I shouldn't admit that, but I have never met anyone with a strong explanation!). I think some old time wedding gown manufacturer tried to trade mark his "cleaning method" and got the name on care labels. Genius marketing! I read it the same as wedding gown method, which, I take to mean "BE VERY CAREFUL!" I love cleaning fine gowns, and many people are surprised that I wet clean at least 50% of the gowns, silk included. Beads, and other adornments often make gowns uncleanable in traditional drycleaning and the trains get incredibly dirty when dragged on the floor. Water is a great solvent for food and wine!

How and Why to Read The Material Content

• For labels that say cool water wash, the next step is to look at the fiber content. If the garment is over 50% polyester - well that's plastic and it will melt in commercial laundry



• Spandex (usually 2% to 5%) Also plastic, it needs a "cool" iron. This translates into drycleaning prices. Again, if you do your own shirts at home - its no problem. Home irons are always cool. But cotton blend shirts cannot be cleaned for a commercial laundry price!



• Rayon, tensile, viscose these are all derived from plant materials and considered dryclean only, cool iron materials



• Metallic, This is a new material being used in very fashionable circles that is giving the drycleaning world headaches. Typically the care label is dryclean only. At this point, I would not buy a garment with metallic. The problem is that metal and material shrink and stretch due to temperature in very different ways. This can create a very wrinkled look. Sometimes that is the intention and sometimes it is not. As a drycleaner, metallic is the one material that bothers me, because there is a good chance that the care symbols will be wrong! This is because the manufacturers are still trying to figure it out. They had the same issue with Spandex when it was first introduced, and I know that a lot of angry customers blamed their cleaner for a manufacturing issue!

Let's Get Sweaty!

Here it is, August already. What is a drycleaner to talk about? How about sweat? During the hot sticky summer months (like August and September where I live), going outside means that I am most likely going to sweat. Did you know that sweat can damage your clothes!? And that it is among the most difficult stains to remove from fabrics?

Now, you may be wondering, SO WHAT? It's just sweat, WASH IT OUT!

Most people think perspiration stains are no big deal, and that they can be easily removed in the laundry. Well that may be true some of the time, However perspiration stains are among the most difficult stains to remove from fabrics.

CONSUMER TIP: If you sweat in your clothes, clean them as soon as possible.

Perspiration not only stains fabrics, but the chemicals contained in it can affect dyes resulting in color changes. Although perspiration is mostly water, it contains a vast variety of chemicals all affected by the individuals own body chemistry; diet, medications, ingested, etc. Perspiration also contains fats and cholesterol. Perspiration can permanently stain protein fibers like silk and wool. Although the staining most commonly occurs in the underarm areas, it may also be found around the waist, on the back panel of a garment or inside the neckline.

Tears on the backside of men's shirts are often due to fibers weakened by perspiration - and I am talking all types of shirts here, cotton, rayon, silk, etc. By waiting even just a week before cleaning, your clothes can be damaged by perspiration!

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!

What you should know about the Clean Show!

I just got back from New Orleans and am so excited about all I saw and heard about. I had never been to New Orleans and loved the chance to see the city (and the swamp, which I highly recommend seeing if you get the chance!).

It took me 2 days to walk the entire show - and I am going to present the few things that the general public may be interested in:-)

I thought the entrance to the show was very striking this year, so I included a photo for you!

The number one theme that ran through this show (besides clean of course) was a move to be more environmental. In an industry that is constantly under attack for toxic chemicals, detergents, plastics, etc. I loved seeing everyone trying to be green!

From green detergents for use by the cleaners to green detergents to sell to the drycleaners customer. The Association of Wedding Gown Specialists was touting their ZeroCarbon wedding gown preservation. There were two degradable plastic vendors and at least 4 reusable garment bag companies. I think the Green Garmento is a marketing warrior. They managed to get their bags as part of the Swag bag given to the stars at the Oscars!

However, I thought the Green Earth people took the prize for the best display. They provide an alternative solvent to drycleaners from the traditional perc (perchloroethylene) or hydrocarbon drycleaning solvents. It is a silicone solvent (D5), similar to the chemical used in many hand lotions and beauty products. Check out the Green Earth booth:

Green earth also is working on a laundry method that would use 90% less water! Check out this article http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=74090

Finally, I want to share with you that I was on a panel at the show talking about automation. I was one of two cleaners selected because of using so much automation in our plant. There were also 3 vendors there provided these sorts of solutions. I found it interesting that the main sales pitch seemed to be reducing labor and cost - understandable. But I tell you what. . . . Automation allows a drycleaner to track garments and customer preferences better. AUTOMATION ALLOWS THE DRYCLEANER TO PROVIDE A BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE!

Thanks for reading:-)

How do you choose a good drycleaner?

One excellent way to find a cleaner is to look for one that is a member of industry groups and participates in both community (for example the BBB or Chamber of Commerce) and industry (Drycleaning and Laundry Institute, California Cleaners association) groups.

These groups share information and best practices so everyone who participates is a winner! On-going training is a must!

Like any industry, there are constant changes that conscientious drycleaner will keep up with; new types of garments, new and better equipment and techniques and better methods of communication.

This month is the Drycleaning Industries largest event. The CLEAN SHOW! Read more about this at http://www.cleanshow.com/.

I will be there - and I am presenting on a panel along with other respected cleaners.

It is both an honor and a responsibility:-)

The Truth About Green Cleaning!

Lets talk about green. I hear again and again from consumers that want "green" cleaning.

I often hear consumers wanting to avoid the toxic and carcinogenic dryclean solvent that is profiled in the news every few years. If your cleaner is conscientious - rest assured, no matter what solvent they are using, that drycleaning process is gentler on the environment than when you use your washer at home.

Over 99% of the solvent, soils and detergents are recaptured in the drycleaning process. These are disposed of in proper facilities. Solvent is added to the system on a monthly (or less frequent) basis. Compare that to the water and detergents that go into our sewer systems every time someone runs a washing machine. . . . what type of soils are in the clothes? Are the loads full? Normal detergents are full of phosphates that are very damaging to the environment.

YOU CAN HELP your drycleaner help the environment:

According to Green is Sexy http://www.greenissexy.org/2009/05/30/go-wireless-4/, 3.5 billion wire hangers go into U.S. landfills every year, and they sit in there for over a hundred years; reduce that number by returning your hangers (Gently Used!) to the drycleaners. The next time your non-washables travel to the drycleaner, BYOH – your drycleaner will thank you (hangers are expensive) and so will the Earth!

And by the way, take the plastic back to your cleaner, or to your grocery store. It cannot be recycled in most home recycling programs!

Thanks!

How to get smoke out of your garments

It has been a while since my last post. As you may have seen on the news, Santa Barbara had a devastating fire called the Jesusita fire. Over 30,000 people were evacuated and 80 homes were lost. This event touched the lives of everyone in Santa Barbara.

Now the cleanup process is underway. One aspect of the cleanup is textile restoration services. What is that? Well, if your home survives but was in close proximity to a fire, you will most likely have an insurance claim. And your claim will likely include smoke damaged clothing and linens.

When you call your insurance company and place a claim, you will be assigned an adjuster. Normally the adjuster will come out to take a look. The adjuster will then hire several contractors to clean up and repair your house. Typically the adjuster will hire what is known as a "contents remediation company." That would be a Service Master, Serve Pro, Qwik Response or one of many other company's.

Then there is the contents. There are 2 options for cleaning up your textiles (linens, clothing, curtains, rugs, etc). They can be written off (total loss) or taken to the cleaners. This decision can be made by the homeowner, adjuster or remediation company. Sometimes the adjuster calls a restoration drycleaner, and sometimes they call it a total loss. Other times the remediation company (Service Master, etc.) will call a drycleaner or take the clothes to a drycleaner.

It is good for homeowner to understand, your insurance can recommend vendors - BUT HOMEOWNERS CAN CHOOSE THE VENDORS THEY WANT!

So now, how do we restore fire damaged clothes?

Smoke Smell: Often, because the entire house smells of smoke, the homeowner is unaware of the smoke smell until they are removed from the location. They may not believe they have smoke odor that requires remediation until weeks or even months later. Let your adjuster be your guide in this case. Usually their recommendations are based on experience.

Smoke odor (actually, any odors) do not come out in regular drycleaning. The items must be treated with special chemicals, washed with special detergents or put into an OZONE chamber before (and sometimes after) cleaning. This process is more time consuming than your normal drycleaning, and since there is normally a large volume of clothes, can take considerable time.

Fire Damage: Houses in close proximity to fire not only are inundated with smoke, but the temperatures go way up too. Often a garment looks like it has soot on it that should come out in cleaning. After cleaning, the garment is shredded - and the garment is ruined. What happened? The extended period of high temperature caused a slow burn, the clothes did not catch fire, but the fibers did turn into carbon during the extended period of heat. No drycleaner can prevent this damage. It was already there

NonCleanable: There are items that are not cleanable - or at least cleaning is not recommended. You may have brand new items in your home that had not yet been used, items that had prior damage from use, or items with card board or special embellishments that do not clean well - drapes, chenille blankets, pillows, etc.

We typically clean 2000 pcs a day - last week we had calls for over 140,000 pieces!

If you have a fire restoration drycleaner to your home you will be asked to select a RUSH order. That is enough items to keep you comfortably clothed for a month! This order should be returned to you in a week or less. Many times, people want the items back sooner - but the smoke removal usually requires multiple cleaning and 24-48 hours in the ozone. 3 day turn around may lead to the smoke odor still in the clothes.

Also, because of the amount of work created in a general disaster, vendors come in from miles away. In SB I know that drycleaners came from San Diego to San Francisco. They fill trucks with textiles and drive them back to their plant - often 5 hours away! This sort of service is necessary to process the huge amount of work. If you are in this situation Please Ask where your clothes are going to be cleaned and how you can contact them. I have found that since I am business aquaintence of most of these drycleaners - they use my name. Unfortunately, the homeowner is under the mistaken impression that my cleaners is doing the work.

The rest of your items will be returned several months later - or even over 6 months later. Often delivery is dependent on the repairs of your home. Because of the size of the catastrophe and the amount of people and textiles involved - there is no way to process in a faster way.

Communication, as always, is key in these situations. The restoration companies should be sensitive to your needs and work with you in every way. They should be asking the right questions and helping you select the rush order, etc.