Evening star., 1942-10-17
Wet Cleaning Clears
Spots When No Other
Method Will Do
Skilled Performance
Declared to Have No
Relation to Laundering

You may be surprised to learn
that lot Of the clothes you send
to dry cleaners come back so spank
ing fresh because they have been
wet-cleaned. And you may be fur
ther surprised to learn that many
of the things you have disastrous
results with in home washing should
be sent to the dry cleaner-for wet
cleaning. -
If this is new to you, your nat
ural question will be: why should
a dry cleaner wet clean7 And If wet
cleaning is, as it sounds, cleaning
with water. why on earth can't I
do it at home?"
According to the National Asso-
citation of Dyers and Cleaners, the
answer Is that wet cleaning is a
skilled performance which has no
relation to laundering. 1t is used
by good dry cleaners everywhere to
restore certain types of fabrics, with
certain degrees and types Of soil
ings, which would not respond COM
pletely to dry-cleaning solvent, but
which also could not be washed
satisfactorily at home.
In other words, wet cleaning is
the method used when a garment Is
so soiled that neither dry-cleaning
solvent alone nor washing will
achieve the spotless perfection both
you and all reputable dry cleaners
demand. The association states
that summer invariably means an
upswing in wet cleaning. Vacation
clothes have distressing hot
weather tendency to retain perspi-
ration, soil and garden variety dirt.
Hot Water Not Used.
Wet cleaning differs from laun-
dering in that hot water is not
used, and no vigorous mechanical
action ever takes place. Instead,
garments are cleaned individually
and by hand. They are laid fiat and
gently brushed with soap solution
pure and mild enough to use on
your face. Then they are quickly
and thoroughly rinsed through a
series OF rinse tubs. And II you are
still wondering why you can't do
the same thing at home, the argu-
ment of the cleaning men is that,
simple as wet cleaning sounds, 1t
requires skill and knowledge only
long experience can achieve.
Fabric, texture, dye must all be
taken into consideration. Surface
weaves must not be disturbed, and
colors must be expertly judged for
fastness. II they are not fast, the
garment is treated with dye-setting
agents and special detergents.
Shrinkage. the biggest hazard of
all. must be avoided.
Then, too. the quality wet cleaner
has all sorts of special tricks up
his sleeve. He carefully bleaches
yellowed fabrics back to dazzling
summer Whiteness, and "sizes" limp
material to cracking crispness, al
ways expertly choosing the bleach
and sizing best suited to the type
Of textile.
Fast Drying Important.
But 1t Is in drying and finishing
that the skilled wet cleaner truly
excels. To retain the cut and style
Of a garment, 1t should be dried
quickly and not allowed to dawdle
its own slow. sweet way as 1t would
on your washline. The dry cleaner
hangs up wet-cleaned dresses on
hangers, clamps the hem of the
skirt to a circular base, closes the
sleeves and turns on a mechanical
warm AIR blower. The warm air
goes through the dress like a tropic
wind and 1t dries in a few moments,
with a much closer relation to its
original shape than you could pos
sihlv manage at home.
Then the really impressive part
begins, with super pressing Job
which involves series of puff irons,
steam boards and special gadgets
unknown in the home laundry. And
the result is that your clothes, which
bore perspiration, grass, train SCOT
and all sorts of other badges Of
summer living, come back looking
almost impossibly new, and your
household pretties last twice as long.
How can you know when wet
cleaning is indicated? When
thing is so soiled that you have
serious doubts about the effect Of
dry cleaning-and when you are
more than skeptical about how 1t
will stand up under washing. That's
when you want wet-cleaning. And
the best dry cleaner in town Is the