Most people cringe when they see the “dry clean only” tag in their clothes. This is going to mean the difference between simply tossing it into the washing machine or dryer and having to take it all the way down to the dry cleaner and then pick it up again later. Even though many dry cleaners like us will actually make it more convenient for you than if you did your laundry at home, by coming to your home to pick it all up and then drop it off when it is done, all for free, some people still view it as being a bit more of a hassle than washing at home. For those who are irritated by these issues, it is important to understand why we dry clean clothing, and what the benefits are.
First and foremost is that your clothing gets clean, and odor free. This is going to be the case with any washing process, but one of the things that we find is that when items need to be dry cleaned people tend to not clean them in between every wearing. Because of the involvement of other people in the process, people will wear their clothes a few times before taking them in or having them picked up, which tends to be harder on the fabric than if you cleaned them in between every wearing. One of the misunderstandings of the process is that the tumbling and agitation motion of your home washing machine is what causes clothes to age after a few washings, but a dry cleaning process uses no agitation in that way. For this reason, dry cleaning will remove the dirt and oils from the clothing that has been placed on it before it builds up and begins to discolor the materials. Basically, dry cleaning is good for your clothes and the more regularly you do it the better shape your clothes will stay in. The fabrics that are designed to have a specific color and shape will retain that color and shape as opposed to being beaten into being looser and less formed the way a washing machine does. Your dry clean clothes are made of materials that cannot withstand this action without losing their shape or bleeding their colors, so it is a good idea to dry clean after you wear it each time.
If your clothing does not come into direct contact with your skin, you can generally get away with dry cleaning after every other wearing. There is a point where exterior dirt will begin to age the clothing, so even if it isn’t oils that have been gathering, the dry cleaning process will restore the freshness of the clothing when it was new. This will serve to also protect it and lengthen it’s life span. Even if it is a little more expensive and time consuming, it is always a good bet to dry clean your expensive clothes. Even lesser expensive clothes can benefit from the process, but the better material it is made with the more you are going to need to protect it.
