Fabric Care Questions AND Answers

1. Be sure clothes are clean, before putting them away. Insects such as moths, crickets and silverfish are attracted to food, perfume, body oil, and perspiration.

2. Store in a dry, well ventilated area. Temperature swings can cause moisture to form in clothing and create mildew problems.

3. Don’t store clothes in the poly bags from the drycleaner. Over time, these bags can promote moisture. These bags should be removed when your clothes are brought home from the drycleaner.

4. Avoid direct exposure to sunlight or artificial light that can cause fading.

5. If you have cedar chests or closets in your home, renew the cedar every few years. Cedar must be re-sanded or fresh cedar oil applied to retain its effectiveness.

Dryel offers you spotting solutions and a bag to put your garments in and then instructs you to put it in the dryer for a specific amount of time. Your garments are not totally immersed in a solution containing cleaning agents, they are not rinsed. We have found that the spotting solution can be effective on many water soluble stains. It is not effective on solvent soluble stains or combination stains. Dryel  will give your garments a "fresh" odor after they have been tumbled. If that's what you're looking for, I would suggest to you that a fabric softener sheet would have the same effect!

The oxford cloth weave consists of two, thin warp yarns to every soft, thicker yarn in the filling direction. The unbalanced construction causes the thin yarns to break, leaving tiny holes. Manufactures could use a high twist in the yarn to retard the development of holes, but eventually any oxford weave will develop tiny pinholes.

Remember all the yarns in an oxford shirt receive the same care, but the constant abrasion in wear cause only the thin yarns to weaken and tear.

Not necessarily.  The Care Label Rule states that only one suitable method of care must be on the label. Cleaners usually follow the care instructions, unless otherwise requested.  If you want your washable items drycleaned, the cleaner may contact you to discuss possible issues.

Some manufacturers may use adhesives or other materials in the armhole seams on men's wrinkle-free shirts.  This material is used to prevent puckering of the armhole seams if washed at home.  When this material is commercially pressed , the heat softens the material, which results in local staining and stiffness in the seams.  On white shirts, the staining will often have a yellow or grey cast, while colored shirts may appear darker or shaded in the area.  This damage may occur after the first cleaning or may not show up until  later cleaning and pressing.

Prevention of this damage is not possible since it cannot be identified prior to cleaning.  The damage has usually been seen on wrinkle free shirts made with a cotton/polyester blend.  Some of these shirts are labeled wrinkle-free, while many others are advertised wrinkle-free even though they don't have a permanent label identifying them as such.

We do not charge more for women's shirts.  We do however charge more for a shirt that requires hand ironing.  A shirt is hand ironed when it is too large or too small to fit on the shirt pressing units.  Or if there is detailing (fancy buttons, ruffles, snaps) or it is tailored to fit snug.  It is then charged more whether it is a man's or a woman's. 

Not all shirts are made to go through a professional laundry.  Your cotton or cotton blend business shirt is certainly made for this type of laundering but we are now seeing so many more fabric choices for men's shirts.  Many shirts now are made of rayon or spandex or have these fibers in them.  Rayon and spandex are not made for professional laundering.  They can be laundered in our plant but they can not be pressed on the laundering machines.  They do need to be pressed by hand where we have the ability to adjust the heat for these fabrics.  This is more labor intensive and therefore they are more to finish than cotton shirts.

 Think of it this way, when you purchase a shirt, the retailer has to satisfy you one time.  When we carefully launder and finish a shirt, we have to satisfy you about 30 times a year.  We don't mind that; in fact, we love it and are very good at what we do.  We successfully launder over a thousand shirts every day.  But, like all things, shirts can outlive their useful life or exhibit other problems.   

Industry experience shows that, on average, shirts have a two-year wear-life expectancy. However, the number of launderings is a better measuring method. The average shirt should have a wear life of 35 to 50 washings. This can vary depending on the amount of abrasion and strain placed on a shirt during wear, the fiber content, the type of fabric and the laundering procedure.

"Warm" water should be 90-110 degrees Fahrenheit. "Hot" water should be 120-160 degrees Fahrenheit. "Cold" water should be 85 degrees Fahrenheit, or water from a cold tap.

Absolutely!  As professional drycleaners, we can never be sure of what types of dyes and/or sizings the manufacturer or importer has used.  Quality standards in foreign countries are not the same as we've come to expect here in the United States.  If all pieces are cleaned together, the color and sheen will always match.  This applies to bedroom ensembles and drapery treatments as well.

There are many factors involved in whether a stain will come out.  Garment fabric, type of stain, how long it has been on the garment and if the customer has put anything on it all factor into the success of removal.  We do have very experienced and well trained staff who will do their best to remove any stain.