What is Dry Cleaning? Everything You Need to Know

Dry cleaning has an estimated market size of $2 billion. In Australia alone, there are over 4,500 dry cleaning businesses and more than 17,700 employees within the industry. Its performance is set to increase over the next five years as we recover from Covid-19.

But what is dry cleaning?

Many of us hear about this service while having little to no idea about what the dry cleaning process involves.

What dry cleaning chemicals are used? What are the benefits of dry cleaning? And what are pre-and post-spotting? To discover the answers to these questions and more, keep on reading!

What is Dry Cleaning?

A dry cleaning service will clean your clothes without using a traditional washing machine. Many people don’t want to risk damaging expensive or fragile clothing by placing them in a washing machine with a standard load.

Many materials can be damaged by water exposure, especially while spinning around at high speeds inside a washing machine. Some examples include:

• Wool
• Silk
• Leather
• Suede
• Cashmere
• Acrylic
• Denim

This is where dry cleaning comes in, as it provides an alternative option that doesn’t rely on water.

So, what is dry cleaning? Well, the term “dry cleaning” can be slightly misleading as the clothes don’t stay dry, despite what the name suggests.

The key difference is that with a traditional wash, soap and water are the cleaning agents. With dry cleaning, non-water chemical solvents clean the fabrics. Although different dry cleaning chemicals exist, the most common example is perchloroethylene (perc for short).

The Dry Cleaning Process

Now that we know where the term “dry cleaning” comes from, we can delve into the dry cleaning process. Commercial dry cleaners typically offer the same type of services involving the following stages:

• Inspection and tagging
• Pre- and post-spotting
• The dry cleaning processes
• Finishing touches

Let’s look at each of these stages in a bit more detail.

Inspection and Tagging

People are usually familiar with this stage of the dry cleaning process. Whenever you get a stain on your suit or your dress needs to be cleaned, you take it to a dry cleaner. With Crisp Laundry, collection and drop-off are part of the service we offer.

Staff will examine the items to check for stains, damage, missing buttons, broken zippers, etc.

Once the inspection process is complete, we will create a tag for your clothing. This is so nobody else can collect your items. During this stage, you’ll usually receive an estimated timeframe for getting your clothes back, usually fewer than 48 hours.

Pre- and Post-Spotting

Before your clothes go through the main cleaning process, staff will inspect the stains to determine the origin, so it would be very helpful if the customer lets the dry cleaner know if it’s a rust stain, food stain, glue, etc.

Then the stains get treated using the appropriate chemicals. And by applying hot steam, the stain breaks down and comes off during the dry cleaning process. In some cases, the stains won’t come out, so we post-spot and repeat. At some point, we determine that the stain is not removable and it’s part of the fabric now. Any further attempts might damage the fabric.

Pre- and post-spotting are essentially the same process. The only difference is that pre-spotting takes place before the dry cleaning, while post-spotting takes place afterwards.

Dry Cleaning

What is dry cleaning? We know that the process involves a chemical solvent, but what happens to your clothes during this stage?

Each item will be submerged into the non-water-based solvent before being rotated in a machine that looks like a standard washing machine. Instead of releasing water, this machine releases a steady amount of cleaning solvent.

After a while, the machine will begin to spin rapidly to remove any excess solvent. This limits any environmental damage the solvent could potentially cause, while also allowing the company to re-use the solvent in later cleans.

The machine releases warm air so that the clothes are dry by the end of the cycle. It’s at this point that any post-spotting cleaning would take place.

Final Touches

Before you get your clothes back, they need to look presentable. This is where each item is steamed, ironed, or pressed (depending on the material). Once we deliver your clean items back to your doorstep, they will look brand new and ready to wear!

Benefits of Dry Cleaning

So, that’s the dry cleaning process in a nutshell! It may all seem a bit mysterious as most of the stages go on behind the scenes, but hopefully, you now understand what happens to your clothes. But are the benefits of dry cleaning?

Remember the list of fabrics that can be damaged during a standard wash? Dry cleaning helps to preserve these fabrics as they don’t fall apart or lose their shape. This can apply to smaller items that require less frequent washes too, such as neckties or waistcoats.

Dry cleaning can also remove some of the toughest stains! Using household items to try and scrub a stain out of your clothing can easily damage the material and ruin the entire item. But dry cleaners have professional knowledge and access to better chemical cleaners and equipment.

Dry cleaning services can also save you time, especially since we collect your items from your doorstep and drop them back off once they’re clean.

What’s Next?

Now that you understand the standard process and benefits of dry cleaning, what’s next?

First, you need to book a service! Fill out the booking form and select the collection day that works best for you. If you’re not sure what services you need, you can leave this section blank and we’ll figure that out for you.

Next, one of our drivers will collect your clothing items from your home. You can expect your clothes to be tagged and cleaned in less than 48 hours. We’ll then deliver your items back to your doorstep!

Ready To Book a Dry Cleaning?

What is dry cleaning? Hopefully, we’ve answered this question for you by discussing the dry cleaning process, the benefits of dry cleaning, and the services we can provide.

Got any more questions? Need to book a service? Click here to contact Crisp Laundry today!