Image from Millie Motts
Why should a man care about dry cleaning?
- When your expensive clothing is damaged or lost, what can you do? I’m sure many of you reading this have been burned when it comes to having a garment come back missing buttons, torn, or in the worst case scenario-doesn’t come back at all. You may have purchased your suit for $2,000, but if it vanishes you’ll be lucky to see 1/10th of that. The key to preventing a loss is up-front preparation – which we’ll discuss below.
- Dry cleaning your clothing unnecessarily shortens the usable life of your garments. I’ve met men who dry clean their clothing once a week – others twice a year. When should you dry clean and what are the effects of the dry cleaning solvent on your suit’s wool fibers? We’ll get into the details here.
- You should understand what you are spending your money on. What’s the difference between the dry cleaner next to your house that charges 99 cents per shirt vs. the one near your office that charges triple that? Is the more expensive one worth the money? We’ll discuss ways to measure the quality of a dry cleaner and choose the best one for your needs.
What is dry cleaning?
Dry cleaning is a cleansing process that uses a solvent called perchlorethylene or DF2000 to clean clothing. The perc (as it’s called in the industry) is run through the garment and then extracted along with dislodged oils, food, dust, and other unwanted dirt particles. Since soap & water are not used in the process, it’s called “dry” cleaning.
Make sure your garments are properly tagged - this is where most problems start!
The dry cleaning process starts when you drop your clothing off; first it’s tagged and then sorted by whether it needs to be dry cleaned, laundered, pressed, or altered. At this point the clothing is often moved to another location; in fact, it’s not uncommon for all the dry cleaners in an area to use the same contractor or be owned by a few companies. This is why many cannot offer same day service or when “they” lose a garment you’re out of luck because the garment is lost in a much larger system than just the facility you dropped it off at. Also, despite two cleaners charging different prices for the same service, if they use the same master cleaning facility, you are receiving no added benefit despite paying more. I always look to use cleaners who do their work in house – I like knowing my garments are kept right where I dropped them off and handled by the person I gave them to.
Back to the process – after the drop-off stains are pre-treated (note – it’s very important you point out stains and label what the stain is so that it is treated properly) and the clothing is loaded into large machines where they sit in baskets and rotate in perchlorethylene – the perc is then drained using centrifugal force (shirts and other cotton garments are more often simply laundered with water and soap – it’s less expensive and does the job without damaging the fabric). A good cleaning facility will then inspect clothing for any remaining soiled spots and post-treat if necessary. Next the clothing is lightly steamed, pressed, and ironed where applicable. Finally, garments are sorted out, shipped if necessary, and then stored for pick-up.
Always ask: Does your suit or shirt really need to be dry cleaned?
Most of us dry clean our delicate clothing way too much; more often than not simply brushing your wool sports jacket and hanging it in a well ventilated area will eliminate odors caused by light smoke or food. If you spill food or drink on the garment, simply spot clean it as necessary by gently blotting the cotton or wool fabric with clean water. Stains that require quick attention such as mustard or red wine, especially on light colored or silk fabrics, should be taken to the cleaners the next morning. Immediate action after the spill should be to change the garment if possible, slip it off in the case of a tie, or carry on as if it doesn’t bother you. Avoid home remedies such as club soda and salt and never rub a stain or put water on a fabric that can’t be washed in water (ties especially) – you’re just as likely to damage the fabric, especially if it’s fragile.
How often should a person dry clean their wool clothing?
There is no right answer here; an architect who wears a sports jacket to the job site in Orlando is going to soil his jacket much faster than a computer engineer wearing the same jacket in the Bay Area. My guidance here is when brushing, spot cleaning, and airing out no longer do the trick….take the wool garment into a quality cleaner. Dry clean when you must, not on a set schedule that will strip and weaken the wool fibers and damage their ability to crimp, thus unnecessarily aging the garment.
The specialized machinery that cleans, steams, and presses your clothing.
How should a man select a dry cleaner?
Selecting a dry cleaner is very similar to selecting a tailor – click here for my seven rules on that process. In addition to the 7 tips on how to select a tailor, use the five rules below to significantly reduce the likelihood of disappointment at the dry cleaners.
- What is their lost garment/damage to clothing policy? Do they replace or give you depreciated value as listed in the International Fabricare Institute’s Fair Claims Guide? What this means is that a three year old custom suit bought for 2K can be argued by a cleaner to only be worth 200 dollars. So was saving that $5 worth it? Always choose a cleaner with a great replacement policy.
- Are they clear on their pricing? Do they try the old “bait and switch” trick, and if so, what does this say about the integrity of the cleaner? Make sure to ask how much you’ll be charged upon picking up your item – the lowest price guarantee that brought you into the store may only apply to one item, and even the listed prices may just be starting prices not including extra costs applied to specialty garments.
- How long have they been in business under their current name? Be wary of a cleaner that has changed ownership and names every few years. In the case you do have an issue with a cleaner, take them to court, and win, collecting on a judgment is notoriously difficult because unless they voluntarily pay up, you need to force a withdrawal. Dry cleaning businesses can often maintain multiple bank accounts under various names and you may end up filing with a court a half dozen times for a sum that quickly becomes not worth the effort.
- What level of training do they have? When you hand the person behind the counter a silk shirt and ask for it to be laundered, you want someone behind the counter to suggest that the shirt be carefully dry cleaned instead, since a harsh washing method like laundering would destroy the shirt. Don’t be afraid to ask about trainings and “test” their knowledge of the cleaning process.
- Are they environmentally friendly? Repeated exposure to large amounts of perc can cause cancer in humans. I am very pleased to see professionals in the industry such as Jerry Pozniak moving to a chemical free cleaning process that involves CO2. In addition to being friendly to the environment, it is a superior cleaner to petrochemicals.
How to protect yourself in case of lost or damaged clothing
Do your homework. Do a Google search and locate any online reviews – what are others saying about how the dry cleaner reacted when something went wrong? Now realize a customer’s view is only one side of the story and an upset customer is more likely to report a problem than a satisfied one is to give praise – so don’t let a single review scare you off. But don’t ignore it either. Give them a call and ask a few questions – are they friendly and competent or rude and unhelpful? Are they on America’s Best Cleaners list?
Maintain your records. Ensure that when you drop off your clothing you receive a detailed receipt. It should have a legible description of what you dropped off, when it was dropped off, who it was left with, and what you asked to have done. For most shops this isn’t standard, and may be met with a frown, especially at rush hour. But without it it’s your word vs. theirs if something goes wrong. Also, you should have photographs or video of all your valuable clothing – the great part here is that this can also be used for your home insurance records as well.
Foster a relationship of trust. The best way to protect yourself is to create a long term relationship with a merchant that builds trust between both parties. The men and women in the dry cleaning industry are like anyone else, and will often bend over backwards for a customer they like. You have to understand the margins in this industry are paper thin, and many of these companies would go out of business if it wasn’t for family members pitching in. However, they often do realize a long-term relationship isn’t about a single sale and are very interested in building loyalty and repeat business. So strike up a conversation, tip if the service warrants, learn their names and ask about their family – because when you lose that receipt, and they lose the garment, more often than not an agreeable settlement will be reached.
A big thank you to Martin and Tanya Martin of Martin’s 1 hour cleaners in Shawano, WI for the images. I’d also like to point out one of our commentors improved upon this write-up with her own dry cleaning article at Geek in Heels – it’s great so check it out!
Written by
Antonio Centeno
President, A Tailored Suit
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The main thing that attracted me to the cleaners I use now is that they do on-site cleaning. This means that they, obviously, do the dry cleaning/pressing/everything in the same building they operate in – they don’t ship anything away. I guess knowing where my stuff is gives me piece of mind. They also have a decent replacement policy and fair prices.
None of the dry cleaners in my area are on the America’s Best Cleaners list and most of them contractor out the work. You mention asking about training but … what should I know about a dry cleaners training?
Most of my life, I refused to wear anything but natural fibers. Because I’m a lawyer, I wear suits or at least a coat and tie every day. For years, this meant lots of wool and therefore, lots of dry cleaning. But, I hated the expense and the effect on the environment. So, last year, I decided to look for alternatives. I found that there are such things as washable wool pants and suits which, to my surprise, do not look like your father’s circa 1975 washable slacks from Sears. I bought two pairs of trousers, which have held their crease very well and look and feel fine. I haven’t bought a jacket yet, but I’m planning to do so. Retailers are M & S in the UK and Dockers (trousers only) in the U.S.
Nitpick: The environmentally-friendly dry-cleaning processes such as Solvair or D5 are not “chemical free”. They are using different chemicals that are much less toxic than perc but they are still chemicals none the less.
My parents have been dry cleaners for about 15 years (small family business) and I’d like to add a few little things to this article.
First of all, the main reason it’s called dry cleaning is because the clothes come out of the machine perfectly dry.
Second of all, sometimes dry cleaning is not an option. Somes clothes (usually expensive ones) can only be dry cleaned. You should only buy these clothes if you are willing to take them to the dry cleaner every time you use it. Also, beware of clothes that are not washable ! I’m not kidding, I’ve seen marriage dresses or scarves that could not be dry-cleaned or washed in water.
Also, if one of your cloth both support perchlorethylene and water, some time perc will be more efficient, especially when it comes to greasy stains.
And as the author says, it’s best to go to a dry cleaner that does the dry-cleaning on location, and you can easily spot a good dry cleaner if he tells you straight away “I’d rather not clean that” whenever he’s not sure. A good dry-cleaner would rather take the risk of losing some money than upsetting a customer, ruining a cloth and damaging his reputation.
It’s worth noting that perchlorethylene is a group 2A carcinogen, “likely to cause cancer”.
That doesn’t mean you should never dry clean… you just may want to save it for when it’s needed.
You really don’t need to dry clean most shirts. Most can be cleaned at home then ironed. Suit jackets, and pants don’t need to be dry cleaned after every wear. As long as you’re neat (as a gentleman should be) you should be able to air it out and put it away nicely getting more than 1 use out of it between cleanings. Just doing that alone can half or more your exposure.
Not to mention save you money.
So what do you do when nobody in your area (or even state!) is on that America’s Best Cleaners list? Or have—as far as I can tell—any sort of review whatsoever anywhere? And while I don’t know that none of the ones in this area do their thing on-site, the buildings of the ones I’ve seen just seem too small for it. Am I just SOL?
Terrifficc insight on cleaning.. Love this stuff and never realized how much I did not know and the more I do not know the better I feel and relate. Thank you for THIS article and keep up the good work.
There is an excellent blog regarding classic fashion and related things called “A Suitable Wardrobe”, run by a man who makes a living helping to clothe people well. Sadly I can’t afford much of the quality of clothing he posts about, but I still enjoy reading it. He suggests using Rave Fabricare as a mail-out service for dry-cleaning high-value clothing. I haven’t used their service yet, but I definitely plan to as they appear to be really on-the-level.
Luckily I have never had any issues with dry cleaning. Might be because I don’t use the service often and only for a few select items and they have to be pretty damned dirty. I do know lots of folks though that takes stuff in on a regular schedule. I had no idea the process decreased the life of the material – i guess it makes sense when thinking about – same applies to regular washing in a washing machine with detergent i assume?
Like many other things in life there are absolutely good cleaners and bad cleaners — but there is no reason why dry cleaning ought to shorten the lifespan of a garment. Other than that.. informative read!
James,
Every tailor and seamstress I’ve met agrees that dry cleaning wears at your clothes, particularly those with natural fibres. The reasoning I’ve been told is that the perc and other chemicals rob the material of the oils in the natural fibres, weakening them. I’d like to see a scientific study on the issue though. There are a lot of sites on the web that claim dry cleaning has no negative effects, but they all seem to be dry cleaners and valet services.
“There are a lot of sites on the web that claim dry cleaning has no negative effects, but they all seem to be dry cleaners and valet services.”
Why?
Nice research! Only thing missing is link to really objective (e.g. scientific) article why dry cleaning damages natural fibres.
I have read several blogs on the subject and they all mention that a lot of people dry clean their clothes very often (for example after every other wear), but I cannot see how that’s feasible for them both logistically and economically.
King Country in WA state has been considering banning perchlorethylene by 2015. There are lots of cleaners now who don’t use perc simply because it’s not as good a cleaner as the carbon dioxide based cleaners.
Thank you for this article. My parents have been in the dry cleaning business for 22 years, and so this held a special interest for me.
One thing I would like to make clear is that these days, it is harder and harder to find cleaners who do on-site cleaning. Larger companies are buying out the smaller ones so that many dry cleaning stores are actually satellite locations that send the work to the central location or a dry cleaning plant/factory. Even if you check the “America’s Best Cleaners” list, you will see that many of the cleaners on the list are part of a chain.
In addition, many cities/states are looking to ban perc. I know that in the borough of Manhattan, perc use is banned, so practically ALL dry cleaners in Manhattan send their cleaning to other locations.
Regarding the use of perc, there is a reason it is still the most widely-used dry cleaning substance: it is the most economic, and it does the job the best.
When cleaners advertise the use of “organic” dry cleaning, what they are almost always implying is that they use isoparaffin hydrocarbon, which, like perc, is a synthetic petroleum distillate. The public should be aware that it is also is inferior to perc in terms of cleaning ability, but just as toxic.
CO2 cleaning was all the rage a few years ago, but it really does not do as good of a job as perc, as clothes needed to be run through multiple times to get the same results. In addition, CO2 is expensive.
The link that is included in the article pertains to the Solvair cleaning system, which was developed to improve on the CO2 system by using propylene glycol ether to clean, and CO2 to rinse. The problem with the Solvair system is that propylene glycol ether has been proven to be just as toxic as perc, and studies have shown it to have carcinogenic properties as well.
So as you can see, perc is still the preferred chemical for most dry cleaners for the reasons listed above. All dry cleaners are fully aware of the toxic properties of perc, and I too worry every day that my parents will develop cancer as a result of their profession. However, the fact remains that at this point, there is no better alternative.
My advice? The author of this article has made some great points, so keep to them. I also advise you to only dry clean clothes that NEED to be dry cleaned, and sparingly, as the process does wear down fabrics over time. Yes, I am telling you to keep your dry cleaning to a minimum.
@Mr Miyagi – I find your comment offensive, as I am a Korean-American whose parents own a dry cleaning facility. It seems to me as if you’re lumping all Koreans (or all immigrants who do not speak English well) into one group whose businesses should be avoided.
Why do they even make garments that can only be dry-cleaned?
Go with ease of use, I say.
I’m a dry cleaner owner and I agree with most of the articles info. I would recommend that people who are looking for a good cleaners should look at the presentation of the store front, customer service, how busy the cleaners is, and what cleaning processes they offer. A cleaner that uses perc. is most of the time an old school cleaners. If the cleaners is using newer technologies to clean garments that means the cleaners probally has newer pressing equipment as well, which means that they will do an over all better job cleaning and finishing than others. I offer perc. hydrocarbon and wet cleaning technologies to all of my clients. Some garments turn out better in different processes. We are green everywhere we can be, but the bottom line is a perfectly clean garment and prefectly pressed garment is what we focus on everyday. If your in the Phoenix, AZ area and what to ask any questions of me please feel free brad@organicdrycleaners.com. PS we were nominated for America’s Best Cleaners, but declined to pay the monthly fees. THX Brad Keeling President Of OrganiCare Fine GarmentCare Centers.