Five Steps That Dry Cleaners Follow To Handle Your Laundry

Unlike the name suggests, clothes during ‘dry’ cleaning don’t remain dry. They do, in fact, get wet—but the dry cleaners use chemical solvents such as perchloroethylene (PERC) as opposed to aqueous solvents. Dry cleaning operations date back to the 1800s in the US and were then known as ‘dry scouring’.

Imperial Valet’s professional dry cleaning works its magic in different ways because we know how to preserve the integrity of your garments during the entire process. We provide dry cleaning service in DC for formal outfits, casuals, or wedding gowns.

If you’ve ever wondered what steps your dry cleaner follows to handle your laundry, the below-mentioned pattern holds true for almost every other dry cleaner operation:

Step One: Receiving, Inspecting and Tagging the Garments

You might be familiar with this step as it’s the first thing your dry cleaner does after receiving your clothes. A little tag or a small label is put on your clothes for identification—but that’s not all. It also comes in handy to examine any missing buttons, stains, or tears, etc.

Step Two: Pre-Spotting Inspection

Once you’ve dropped your clothes at the dry cleaners, a team of experts examines the clothes to spot the problem areas using special spotting agents like a steam gun or a spotting bone.

Step Three: Dry Cleaning—A Step You May Be Least Familiar With

Once your clothes have been pre-spotted by the dry cleaning expert, they’re placed into the washing machine and washed with chemical solvents. This is tricky because it requires knowledge about chemicals, as some garments may be sensitive to certain solvents.

Step Four: Post-Spotting Process—Quality Control Inspection Again

This step entails inspection of the clothes by an expert after they come out of the dryer. The dry cleaner makes sure that absolutely no stain or mark has been missed and that the garment is as good as new—if not better.

Step Five: Finishing—The Final and Least Mysterious Step

After all the above processes, the final step includes pressing or folding and packaging the clothes. The packaging is there to assist you in taking your clothes home stainless. Be sure to take it off right away before it traps any moisture, though!

Summing It Up

The above dry cleaning steps may be too overwhelming for you, but at Imperial Valet, no stain or item is too complicated for us.

We truly believe that every outfit deserves to be worn multiple times before it’s cast out of your closet. Professional dry cleaning may be the key for your outfits to last longer. Our team of experts follows all the current infection control procedures issued by CDC, OSHA, and DLI.

Given the ongoing pandemic situation, we take extra care and utilize laundry sanitizers to prevent any cross-contamination. We can assist you with dry cleaning and alterations, laundry wash and fold, commercial laundry, and many other services.

To learn more about our services, dial (202) 785-1444.