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Problem: A designer dress in contrasting black, orange and yellow, suffered from black tinting of the yellow areas, noted following drycleaning in perchloroethylene.

Cause: The care symbol in this garment is P in a circle with no bar beneath it. Colourfastness testing on the black fabric indicated that the dyes used are loose to perchloroethylene and this was the cause of the tinting.

Responsibility: It is up to the garment maker to specify a much higher level of dyefastness for contrasting fabrics, than might normally be acceptable for a plain garment.

Rectification: There is no sensible means by which this garment can be rectified. Once dye has caused tinting in the wrong areas of a garment, it is virtually impossible to remove.

Problem: Following drycleaning in perchloroethylene solvent, dye contamination was noted to the white areas of a black and white dress.

Cause: The colourfastness of the black dye recipe used in this print was poor and in the presence of perchloroethylene there is immediate and heavy mark-off. The black recipe included plenty of red and blue and it is these dyes which, in the main, have migrated to cause the purple contamination to the white flowers.

Responsibility: The responsibility in this instance lies with the garment maker and ultimately with the fabric printer. It is not difficult to produce a print which is colourfast to drycleaning, and there was no excuse for not doing so.

Rectification: There is no point in attempting rectification when faced with a problem of this type. The best course of action is to send the garment back to the shop where it was bought.

Item: Discolouration of the left hand sleeve of a white jacket was noticed by the customer following cleaning. The jacket was labelled “dry clean only” with the single symbol consisting of P in a circle.

Cause: This designer label consists of clear plastic that has been printed on the inside so that the printing ink shows through to create the motif. The printing ink used is not resistant to perchloroethylene solvent, and it is this which led to the problem.

Responsibility: In this instance, the responsibility lies with the garment maker. All parts of the garment are supposed to resist drycleaning in accordance with the care symbol shown on the label, and this includes the ink used for the motif.

Rectification: There is no sensible means by which the problem can be rectified. The wearer was advised to return the garment to the place of purchase.

Problem: Following wet cleaning, a black velvet suit in acetate/rayon, suffered from crushing to the velvet cord, which was previously smooth and uniform in appearance. There also occurred an overall shrinkage to the length and the girth of the garment.

Cause: An acetate viscose velvet is exceptionally sensitive to moisture and it is very difficult to wetclean it without causing pile disturbance and some shrinkage.

Responsibility: The responsibility lies with the cleaner in this instance. The damage was too widespread to have been damage whilst in use, and could be linked directly to the use of water rather than drycleaning fluid. A great many fabrics can be successfully wetcleaned, but there are some which cannot and this is one.

Rectification: Once pile disturbance has occurred, it is virtually impossible to restore an acetate viscose velvet. In this instance, it was also equally difficult to reverse the shrinkage that had taken place because of the effect of water on the yarns.

Problem: A pair of white trousers made from 94% cotton and 6% elastomer, suffered from greying and colour run from the leather trim on the zip tags, resulting in contamination to the adjacent fabric.

Cause: Colourfastness testing on the tags indicated that they were very loosely dyed and the colour runs easily in perchloroethylene.

Responsibility: The responsibility for the poor colourfastness to these tags lies with the garment maker. It is a small point, but colourfastness was absolutely vital for this garment to survive a standard cleaning process.

Rectification: There is no sensible means by which this garment problem can be rectified, but the tags should be removed from unsold stock or the labelling in the garment changed appropriately.