The history of dry cleaning has many different origins. Some say it is because someone unintentionally sprayed an oil with a petroleum basis on the greasy cloth. The oil immediately dissipated as a result and eliminated the discoloration. The first dry cleaners started in Paris around 1840, at Bellinge. The washing and dyeing business used turpentine, benzene, kerosene, and petroleum as dry-cleaning solvents at that time.

Due to the flammability of these oils, the dry cleaning business was considered dangerous until a petroleum type of dry cleaning solvent known as Stoddard was introduced in 1926. Tetrachlorethylene, a non-flammable solvent, was introduced in the 1930s. This specific solvent is highly pure, non-flammable, and fire-resistant. The majority of the industry has continued to utilize this solvent.

Tetrachloroethylene, hydrocarbon solvents, and other organic chemical solvents are used in fully enclosed machines for dry cleaning clothing to remove oil and other stains. Dry cleaning uses chemical solvents and involves no water during the cleaning process. The fully enclosed dry cleaning machine distills the solvent after each wash to ensure that only pure solvent is used for each wash.

The operator inspects the laundry items and analyzes the shirt’s condition, damage, soiling, stains, accessories, fabric, color, and cleanliness. Then, they will sort the garment based on the white, light, medium, and dark colour. In addition, separate thin and thick clothes respectively.

The pre-stain removal involves wrapping the accessories and decorations of unique clothing in tin foil for protection. When treating silk and some delicate fabrics before cleaning, do not beat them with a brush or use a stain remover gun to avoid partial fading. Special stains ( like ballpoint pen ink, paint, etc.) can be treated with a professional stain removal solvent.

Dry cleaning time: 5 minutes for fabrics that are easy to fade; 8-10 minutes for delicate fabrics; 10-20 minutes for ordinary materials;

Drying time: Dry for 10-20 minutes, according to the thickness of the fabric.

Check the stain removal condition and whether it needs to be reclean. After the inspection, use the lint remover to remove the fur hair, dust, and lint.

Depending on the garment’s material, they are treated in either i) soft ironing, ii) hard ironing, or iii) special ironing.

All garments are closely inspected to ensure all steps are performed for quality control. Then, the garments are packed and labeled according to the number of items, number of packs, and owner’s detail for clear identification.

Dry cleaning can handle the issue of unseen bacteria (such as germs, spores, parasites, etc.) present in garments but are impossible to eliminate without expert laundry.

The solvents in dry cleaning have a substantial impact. Dry cleaning your clothes can significantly reduce bacterial growth. It is challenging to eliminate bacteria, such as spores, with detergent, but dry cleaning’s powerful capability can remove them.

Machine washing can seriously damage clothing made of pure cotton, silk, and some high-end furs. Additionally, some natural textiles like woolen sweaters may shrink, distort, and fade after washing. Detergent getting into these clothing fibers cannot clean the clothes and also shorten the lifespan of the clothing.

Some clothing fabrics and embellishments will suffer damage from dry-cleaning solvents, including artificial leather fabrics, will become brittle and hard after dry-cleaning; coated fabrics will suffer the same fate; elastic clothing will lose its elasticity after dry-cleaning; some accessories may melt; etc. Additionally, dry cleaning fails to remove non-greasy and water-soluble stains like milk, fruit, and other stains and tends to make them more challenging to remove. As a result, not all clothing can be dry-cleaned.

Although dry cleaning has numerous advantages, it is not a panacea. Some fabrics cannot be dry cleaned and these are the 3 types:

First, clothing with coated or chemically textured fibers is not suited for dry cleaning because organic cleaning agents and high temperatures may cause the coating to harden, making the clothing unwearable.

Secondly, the down jackets. It is better to use a particular detergent made for down jackets rather than dry washing them, which could result in down degreasing.

Thirdly, clothes with more beads or buttons. In general, dry cleaners will remove the buttons first when dry cleaning since beads or buttons can deform under the solvents.