Our job is to keep you looking and feeling your best by providing exceptional care for your clothes. Unfortunately, there are many myths about dry cleaning that sometimes get in the way. Here are a few we'd like to replace with fact.
Fact or Fiction Dry Cleaning:
Fiction: Dry Cleaning Wears Out Your Clothes
Fact: In more than 100 years of textile research and testing, the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute has never found any indication that the any dry cleaning process wears out fabrics during a useful lifespan. However, failure to have a garment professionally cleaned on a regular basis can result in an unusable or ruined garment with stains, holes, odors, or fabric distortion.
Fiction: Dry cleaning harms the environment.
Fact: DELIA'S Cleaners uses only the best environmentally safe processes, which is one reason we earned the 4 leaf rating. Our natural GreenEarth process does not harm your clothing, people, or the earth. Unfortunateely, not all dry cleaners are the same, and some still use toxic petrochemical-based solvents.
Fact or Fiction Clothing Care:
Fiction: All stains can be removed.
Fact: Unfortunately, no they can't. The nature of the stain, the type of fabric, the colorfastness of the dye, and whether a stain was improperly treated at home before determines whether or not it can be removed..
- Some fabrics and dyes do not withstand the use of cleaning or stain removal agents. Some stains, like ink and dried paint for example, can be impossible to remove.
- Spots and stains oxidize, set, and become permanent without treatment.
- Ironing sets stains and drives soil deeper into the fabric.
- Stains containing sugar or even small amounts of food attract insects, therefore resulting in holes from eaten fibers.
Fiction: Care labels are always correct.
Fact: No. Manufacturers provide one recommended treatment, but most don't test garments to be sure it is the best treatment. In addition, understanding care labels is almost an art, requiring a combination of knowledge of care symbols, instructions, and practical experience.
Fiction: Shirts (and sometimes other garments) don't shrink.
Fact: They can if the material was not properly preshrunk during the manufacturing process, as well as if some element of the construction was not properly stabilized. Typically, manufacturers consider two to three percent shrinkage acceptable. Shrinkage that exceeds this factor is typically a problem associated with manufacturing, and is beyond our control.
Knowing makes all the difference in the world. Isn't it time you knew the facts about dry cleaning?