HINTS & TIPS The straight dope about Dry Cleaning

There's is no real mystery about dry-cleaning. Dry-cleaning is simply the use of fluids to remove soil and stains from the fabric. It is called "dry- cleaning" because the fluids contain little or no water and do not penetrate the fibers as water does.

Dry-cleaning fluids actually dissolve greases and oils and remove them from the garment. Water by itself cannot do this. Natural fibers such as wools and silks can shrink, distort, and lose color when washed in water, but will dry-clean beautifully. Synthetic fibers such as polyesters also respond well to dry cleaning. These fibers can retain oily stains after washing, but dry-cleaning will remove such stains.

A dry-cleaning machine looks much like a very large front loading home washer. It produces similar mechanical action to loosen embedded dirt. At the same time the solvent is filtered continuously to insure it's clarity.

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