Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Why is it called drycleaning when the garments do get wet in a solvent?
It is called drycleaning because of little or no water (moisture) present.
2. The care label gives only washing instructions, can it be drycleaned?
It depends. The garment maker is only required to list one method of cleaning, not all, under the FTC Care Labeling Act of 1984. If you take your garment to a professional, they can professionally clean the garment, whether it be via drycleaning or wetcleaning.
3. I got back my garment and there is now a spot on it that wasn’t there when I took it in, why?
The spot is probably yellow/brown and yes it was there when you brought it to the cleaners, but it was invisible, but in the cleaning and pressing process, it was exposed to heat which took the sugars in the stain and caramelized them, turning them dark. Think about what happens to an apple after you take a bite out of and let it sit a few minutes. That darkening is carmelization of the sugar. Many times folks will spill “colorless” drinks onto their garments and drycleaning alone will not remove these sugar stains. Some times, these stains don’t show up until some time after pressing, so when this happens, point out the stains to the cleaners and they will make an effort to remove them. Sometimes that is no possible. Children play a game where they take lemon juice and write on a piece of paper, invisible ink they call it. Then they go iron it or place it on a light bulb and the words appear. Same thing with your garment.
4. The sign says One Hour… what does that mean?
Each cleaners sets the hours a day that they run their cleaning dept. Keeping the boiler and equipment on all day, along with having help to do anything required would become very expensive, which would mean the cost of cleaning would have to be substantially higher. Years ago before polyester, many cleaners cleaned all day. Now most cleaners in the area clean in the morning hours only. We offer our one hour drycleaning service on Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on MOST garments. Some garments require a longer process and cannot be done in one hour. One hour and even same day service should not be requested on garments that require extensive spot removal, as time is needed to return to you the garment in the best possible shape.
Years ago due to the design of the equipment, etc. a cleaner could do 3 or 4 loads an hour because the cleaning and the reclaiming (drying) of the solvent were done in different machines. Today’s machines, the cleaning and reclaiming process itself is about an hour so “one hour cleaning” means that the cleaning now takes about an hour plus of course you have finishing (pressing) and any post spot removal to do.
5. Isn’t all drycleaning the same?
No it is not. On another post we describe the extra steps we take for you. This adds to the quality of our service.
6. I have something I want cleaned, when do you get new solvent?
We occasionally hear that today, it goes back to the days when cleaners cleaned with petroleum and the only real solvent purification was when they added new solvent. You see, as garments are cleaned, the solvent picks up greases, oil and these are called non-volatile residue (or NVR for short). The only way to remove all NVR is to distill the solvent. Because of the flammability and difficulty of distilling petroleum solvent, many petroleum cleaners do not distill but use other methods to try to remove NVR. We don’t use a petroleum solvent but clean with a synthetic solvent that we distill at a rate nearly 4 times what our trade association considers “good to excellent”. This keeps our solvent crystal clear (and free of impurities) at all times. This is very expensive to do because while distillation does remove the unwanted stuff in the solvent, it also removes the detergents and sizings which we have to replenish.
7. I got back a garment from another cleaners and the stain is still on there, can you remove it?
We hear this one alot, bring it in and we will try, but can’t guarantee it. You see, it could have very well be set in the previous cleaning process or attempt to remove it. But our staff is DLI/MWDLI trained and we have Peru’s only Certified Professional Drycleaner, and if it can be removed SAFELY, we can do it. But not all stains can be removed and some dyes are very fragile and will not withstand stain removal methods.
We however have built a reputation on exceptional spot/stain removal. While the typical drycleaner might have a 1/2 dozen or less different spot removal agents, we have close to 4 dozen. Some are rarely used but with our experience, education and expertise, we try harder to remove the spots and stain. Unfortunately, not all can be removed. A few years back a new customer brought in garments for us to clean. They had previously went to another cleaners who had closed. The customer told the CSR not to worry about the stains because the prior cleaners could not remove them. Fortunately, we were able to remove the stains. How surprised was the new customer.
8. I have a silk garment that I got a spot on and I took some water and rubbed it and now I have a light spot, can you fix it?
First, NEVER rub silk. The old tricks of applying water or ginger ale or club soda really can do more damage than good. Bring it in, we have a special treatment that we can try on it to restore it, but the best tip is never rub silk! (only blot)
9. My kids put crayons in the dryer and they are all over my garments, can you help?
We have a pretty good track record on removing crayons, it requires us to dryclean and/or hand work each garment. Some garments will not withstand this treatment and the results will not be as good….
10. I got ink on a garment of mine, I have tried hair spray, gasoline, and 20 different other things and can’t remove it, can you get it out?
We can’t guarantee it, and depending on the garment color, might be able to try some specialized agents we have, but on an ink stain, your best bet is to let us try first, because ink is made up of two main elements, one being the “carrier” and the other the “dye”, and if you remove the carrier of the dye without removing the dye, it can be very difficult, next to impossible to remove. And ink garments take time, we need at least 4 to 5 days minimum.
11. I brought drapes into a cleaners and they asked me to sign a drapery consent/release, why?
Draperies can because of the effects of the sun, age, etc. be damaged while hanging, that is not evident until after cleaning. The release points out to the consumer the possible problems that could occur and gets your permission to proceed. While the cleaner will apply careful care in cleaning, they cannot guarantee the results.
12. I took a garment to a drycleaners, and they pointed out a potential problem and asked me to sign a consent or release, why?
The problem that was pointed out indicated a possible problem in cleaning, and they wanted to inform you prior to the cleaning. This shows that the staff is up to date on potential problems (of course there are always new ones!). The consent says you agree to have it cleaned and realize that the results less than perfect (or they could be diasterious). This prevents possible surprise when you pick up the garment. In our case, very few of the garments we get consents on, come out less than perfect, but we can’t guarantee it.
13. I picked up my clothes at another cleaners and they smelled like cigarette smoke, will they if I bring them to you?
No they will not. While some of our employees do smoke, they do not smoke inside the premises.
14. I picked up clothes, they are clean, but they don’t smell, are you sure you cleaned them?
Properly drycleaned garments should exhibit no odor of their own. This happens through proper solvent maintenance and operation of the machinery. They are not supposed to smell.
15. Can you handle my machine washable and hand wash lay flat to dry garments?
YES we can, in addition to drycleaning, we also do wetcleaning (there is a post that explains wetcleaning)g, which is ideal for those garments that cannot be drycleaned.
16. What does all those “DLI, MWDLI, CPD, CED, CPW, etc.” really mean to me as a consumer?
This is a good question and the answer can help the consumer greatly. They are usually signs of a plant and person who has a desire to give their customers the best possible in fabricare and have invested their time and finances to do such.
First, DLI stands for Drycleaning and Laundry Institute(formerly IFI), the worldwide institute for drycleaners, launderers and wetcleaners. MWDLI stands for the MidWest Drycleaning and Laundry Institute. Both of these are educational and trade associations. Member Plants belonging to these types of organizations get tips, techniques, training and other valuable information to provide you the consumer with the best possible job. DLI operates a laboratory where they do testing for many major manufacturers. So you need to ask yourself, do you want to choose a drycleaner who tries to keep up on the latest in fabricare or not? Only about 10% of all drycleaners belong to a national trade association. Do you really want to trust your garments to a cleaners who won’t spend about $2/day to have all this information at their fingertips?
Secondly, the CPD, CED and CPW are certification programs that are administered by Professional Testing Corp. You have probably heard of ASE certified mechanics, well, CPD stands for Certified Professional Drycleaner, CED stands for Certified Environmental Drycleaner and CPW stands for Certified Professional Wetcleaner. These are individuals who have invested in their career and job by taking this very difficult 4 hour test. If you earn all 3 certifications, then you have earned CGCP (Certified Garment Care Professional), which a member of our staff has earned, the first in Indiana and ours was the 7th plant in the nation to have a CGCP on staff. It requires every couple of years re-certification.