The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-01-21

I success but mostly with very little
or even resulting in damage or in
jury. Many people, nevertheless, are
still writing to the National Asso-
citation of Dyers & Cleaners for in
formation and professional "tips"
for home use. The idea seems to be
that a good drycleaner's success de-
ponds in large measure on trade Sec
rets which he could let the public
in on if he were willing to and that
this would enable many housewives
to do a dry cleaning at home that
they now have to send out, thereby
relieving the drycleaner's burden.
Unfortunately, this is not the case.
AS the National Association Of Dyers
& Cleaners told us, there are, in
deed, things that can be done in the
home to save sending garment out
to be cleaned. Some spots are quite
simple to remove, especially when
fresh. A garment which has been
locally creased can often be restor-
ed at home, thus avoiding the need
Of sending it for a complete finish
ing job to the drycleaner. On the
other hand, the Association has also
tried to impress housewives with the
fact that when they are in doubt or
| when home remedies do not seem to
work, they should at once call in
good drycleaner.
Cleaners claim that spots and
stains which give them the most
trouble to remove when they are
still removable -are those which
have been experienced with at home.
A short time ago a well-known
magazine editor requested of the
National Association of Dyers g.
Cleaners permission to visit a clean
| ing plant in the midwest in order
to gather for her readers tips on
how professionals clean garments so
that she could pass on this informa-
ton to her readers. After her visit,
though, she stated, The minute I
saw what professional cleaning and
finishing were like, realized that
it would be far better to tell our
readers what they ought not to do
at home rather than what they
should. My visit lasted two hours
and every minute it became palmer
to me that the drycleaner'S methods,
based upon long years or experience
and the use of expensive equipment,
cannot be initiated at home"
Your drycleaner's skill and his
equipment are the secrets" that
enable him to turn out the kind Of
cleaning work he does. The press
ing process offers as good an illus
tration as any. Whereas the aver
age housewives experience with
fabrics is small and her equipment
is limited to a flatiron, the clean
er's experience covers all kinds of
fabrics over a period of years and
his equipment is varied enough to
answer numerous different needs,
taking into consideration tempera-
ture, moisture and pressure require
ments of various fabrics. A soft,
mapped fabric is finished entirely
with dry steam and no pressure at
all Some pressure Is used on a lus-
trous fabric. but not to the extent
that a glaze or shine will result
Hardly any housewife knows these
things and even II she does she has
not the controls at hand that the
professional has.
Spotting offers another example
Most housewives keep a bottle OF
spotting fluid on hand and 1t Is very
handy TO have In treating some
stains, such as simple grease. Plain
water Is the best TO use on others,
when fresh. However. neither OF
these will work on very large va
riety OF stains, many OF which are
composed OF several different sub
stances which must be treated sepa.
rateIy with skill and specialized
equipment.
So 1t remains a fact that even n
housewives knew q great deal more
about a good professional dryclean-
er's methods than they do, they
could not initiate them at home.
Pressing is not the same as ironing
and the drycleaner's plant and
equipment. costing thousands OF
dollars. accomplish q good deal more
than Just volume production, Ex-
perimenting at home stu involves
risk and the best advice that can be
given TO housewives. according 10
the National Association OF Dyers a.
Cleaners. remains-"Ask q Good
Professional Drycleaner"-in all
cases when you are IN doubt.
|
DR.. Edward r. Kilroe, president
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