What will happen, if you machine wash your ‘dry clean only’ garments?

Garments with “dry clean only” label come with a strict warning from manufacturers that they are tend to be damaged by too much water or harsh chemicals. It is a clear indication that clothes with such labels need to be cleaned with mild solvents.

Unless the label suggests the fabrics like silk, acetate, velvet, wool, and taffeta need to be dry-cleaned to protect its natural shine and color. Mild solvents contribute to restore the fluffiness of fur and woolen garments. The attires like cotton, linen, cashmere, polyester, acrylic, and nylon can be washed at home.

 If you attempt to machine-wash your “dry clean only” clothes, it will do nothing but degrade its quality in terms of color and fabric. This is because of the reason that fast rotation cycles of domestic machines cause colors to bleed and even can damage the sensitive fabrics. Other than this, machine cycles prevent fabric to absorb detergents. When machine rotates, its cycles create friction between water and fabric, which slowly decrease lifespan of garments. This is where the professional dry cleaners come in.

The very first point where dry cleaning wins over home based washing is that it is carried out using chemical-free solvents. Additionally, professionals rely on commercial washers to clean delicate attires. The commercial machines gently penetrate the solvents through fabrics and clean them. In this approach, clothes are cleaned without using water.

In addition, all attires are cleaned under the expert supervision. Proper to cleaning, attires are identified to determine the right washing approach for them. The soiled and dirty garments are passed through a pre-treatment and stain removal process in which the rigidness of stains is identified and removed using a special treatment.

Now, based upon the type of the fabric, attires are dipped into special solvents and washed properly in machines. After a gentle cycle, machine starts the removal process in which solvent is properly extracted from fabrics. After all the cleaning agents are removed, machine begins drying cycle at the required drying temperature. Upon the completion of this process, attires are re-checked for stains.

Finally, finishing process is carried out in which clothes are gently ironed to remove crease and to give an attractive “ready-to-wear” look.