Have you wondered why dry cleaning is called 'dry cleaning' when your garments get wet after they are submerged within a liquid solvent? It is because they go in dry and come out dry. The term 'dry cleaning' is a little inaccurate for this cleaning process.
Here is how it is done:
Phase I
After you handover your garments to your trusted better, they tag your garments with something that will withstand the cleaning process and provide you a receipt. A few dry cleaners staple tags on your garment while others use plastic fasteners.
Phase II
The garments are generally then arranged and sorted according to the type of fabric, their color and the nature of stain. If your clothes have tough stains, the cleaners have to undergo 'prewash' or 'spot cleaning' by hand.
Phase III
In that case, they are sent to the dry cleaning machine, which looks like a big washing machine. It can hold 60 to sixty pounds of garment. Here, a chemical solvent called 'Perc' is used instead of water. Detergents are used with help in removing stains. It is only after 30 minutes that the spin cycle starts where your garments have been cleaned. After 40 to 50 minutes, the garments are exposed to high temperature to evaporate the chemical solvent.
Phase IV
Your garments are dry now. The cleaners will check for any loose buttons and embellishments that might come off during the cleaning process. If there are any, they will fix them and give the garments for pressing. Generally the garments are pressed by an industrial press, but certain sophisticated items are pressed manually by hand with a small iron.
Phase V
New ID tags, matching the main ones, are attached to the garments. The cleaned garments are then hanged on a conveyor. Then, as soon as you give the receipt to the cleaners, they will give your garments back in the garment bags.
This is the general dry up cleaning process, to which there might be some modifications depending on the dry cleaners. There might be an addition of a several techniques for better service.
Did you know?
Jean Baptiste Jolly discovered the chemical based dry cleaning process inside mid-19th century. You may be surprised to know that this form of cleaning was discovered by an accident. When Jolly's house maid accidentally spilled kerosene on a tablecloth, he noticed that it became cleaner than before. That's when your dog thought about starting a service to clean people's cloths.