How does the dry cleaning process work?
Despite the name, dry cleaning is actually not a totally dry process. Through the use of non-flammable solvents such as percholoroethylene or glycol ethers, clothes are treated with solvents, rather than water. Clothes are placed into a basket inside of a machine similar to a washing machine. The basket contains a horizontal, perforated drum that rotates inside of an outer shell. This shell contains the solvents, while the clothes remain in the basket.
During the wash cycle, new solvent is constantly fed into the machine while old solvent is removed. Some clothes may have to be pre-treated ahead of washing, and how much solvent depends on the type of garment being cleaned. Each wash cycle takes approximately 15 minutes, again depending on the stain needing to be removed. After the wash, the machine will "rinse" with a fresh load of distilled solvent to help keep the clothes from absorbing the already used working solvent. Following this, the extraction cycle will spin the basket incredibly fast to spin out as much solvent as possible. Then, the drying cycle begins, which utilizes warm air to push through the clothes and thus evaporate any traces of solvent still remaining, with the temperature of air depending on what type of garment is being cleaned. Finally, after a cooling cycle, garments are pressed and finished!
How do I know if my clothes need to
be dry cleaned?
Most garments will contain instructions on their tags stating whether or not they need to be dry cleaned. You can also look for symbols on the tags for an indication: a circle is the symbol for dry cleaning and a circle with an x through it means do not dry clean. If you are still unsure, bring it in to Chris French Cleaners and we will help you determine.
Are your solvents environmentally friendly?
At Chris French Cleaners, we strive to use the most earth-safe products we can when it comes to our solvents. Thanks to advances in the dry cleaning process, as well as the solvents themselves, we can often reuse up to 99.99% of solvent, which helps ensure that less of it ends up in water streams or anywhere that toxic materials might harm. When bringing your clothes in, feel free to ask us about our disposal policies and how we do our part to protect the planet
