How Does Dry Cleaning Work?

While washing clothes at home in the washing machine, water is the only solvent that is used to do all the cleaning. But there are many kinds of fabric that do not handle water very well. For instance, wool and water just do not go hand in hand. There are also many types of stains that that water cannot remove properly.

Well, dry cleaning uses a petroleum solvent instead of water. Dry cleaning is not completely dry but it is “dry” only in the sense that the clothes are not wet with water. Dry cleaning was first started by a French man. In those days, for dry cleaning, solvents like kerosene or gasoline were used. The dry cleaning industry today uses a solvent called perchloroethylene instead of kerosene as it is not flammable in nature. This solvent is not only safer and faster but does a way better job of cleaning than kerosene or gasoline.

When we drop off our clothes at the dry cleaners, the dry cleaning staff follows a process that holds true at any dry-cleaning operation running today. Well, your clothes go through the following steps:

Tagging And Inspection – Whether it is about small paper tags or little labels that are written on a shirt collar, it is used to identify your clothes so that they do not get mixed up with someone else’s clothes. Clothes are then examined for the missing buttons, any tears, etc.

Pre-Treatment – The dry cleaner also looks for stains on the clothes and then treats them so that the removal becomes easier and more complete when the owner comes to take back the clothes.

Dry Cleaning – After pre treating the clothes they are then put in a machine and cleaned using a dry cleaning solvent known as perchloroethylene.

Post-Spotting – After the dry cleaning process is done they then post spot of lingering stains that could not be removed by dry cleaning. These stains are then treated by other solvents.

Finishing – This is the last step of the dry cleaning process which includes pressing, folding, packaging and other finishing touches.

These steps are very necessary for any dry cleaning process as they are the one that would clean your clothes perfectly without spoiling them.