When back coating disintegrates
Problem: Disintegration of the back coating designed to provide flame-retardant properties and stabilise the floating yarns in the weave of red and white suite covers when cleaned in perchloroethylene.
Cause: The back coating used in this instance was not designed to withstand a standard two-bath process of the type implied by the P in a circle symbol on the care label. There might have been less damage if the covers had been put through a ‘delicates’ process of the type used for an evening gown worn once, but is of little use with household textiles which need a thorough annual clean.
Responsibility: Lies with the manufacturer, who sewed in a hopelessly optimistic care label.
Rectification: There is no sensible means by which these suite covers could be salvaged. It was recommended that the owner return them to the manufacturer.
Stiff black jackets
Problem: Three black jackets which incorporate polyurethane, polycarbamide or PVC stiffened, became brittle and shrunk when drycleaned in perchloroethylene solvent.
Cause: One or more of the plastic components in these jackets carried a softening plasticiser designed to lubricate the plastic film and make it soft and supple. This has been leached out into the perchloroethylene solvent leaving behind a much stiffer and slightly shrunken result.
Responsibility: The responsibility for ensuring that a garment can be drycleaned in accordance with its care label lies with the manufacturer and in each instance the owners of these garments were recommended to return them to the place of purchase. A simple check on the prototypes for these garment ranges using the method of test given in International Standards would have shown these errors, which could subsequently have been put right in future production runs.
White sweater goes pink
Problem: A knitted cotton sweater has a band of pink across the shoulders and sleeves but the majority of the body is white. A pink tinge appeared on the white area after the sweater had been drycleaned in perchloroethylene.
Cause: The pink dyes used are fast to pure perchloroethylene but, as soon as a little moisture is introduced into the system, the red dye comes out and discolours the white areas.
Responsibility: Lies with the garment maker. The drycleanability method of test used by the yarn dyer usually does not show up moisture sensitivity. The manufacturer should have cross-checked this by putting a prototype through a proper machine drycleaning test using perchloroethylene charged with a standard detergent.
Rectification: It is sometimes possible to adjust this fault by washing in a good detergent formulated for coloured work. This will contain a small amount of a peroxide generator which might take out the pink tinge. Unfortunately, in this instance, this solution did not work.
Who washed this jacket?
Problem: Shrinkage and limpness noted following the cleaning of a white jacket with pure polyester outer and pure acetate lining.
Cause: The acetate lining to this jacket displays crack creasing of the type caused by washing rather than drycleaning. This can sometimes be partially disguised in the body of the coat, but the sleeve linings are the giveaway and it is always worth checking them. Washing has probably produced the bright, lively result now seen, but it will usually be accompanied by some softening of the fabric texture and rather more shrinkage than might be obtained by drycleaning alone. It is very difficult to determine whether the jacket was washed by the cleaner or the owner because there is no evidence to indicate who did it.
Rectification: The best way of salvaging this garment is to re-process it through a single stage drycleaning system containing a stiffening size and then to refinish it with care and patience and appropriate use of tension and vacuum. Polyester does not usually shrink by very much either in cleaning or laundering so it should be quite possible to produce a very acceptable result.
Designer jacket shrinks away
Problem: Shrinkage on a pure wool navy jacket with brass buttons was noted by the owner following its third or fourth dryclean.
Cause: There are two possible causes of shrinkage for a wool jacket of this construction—relaxation of manufacturing strains and felting shrinkage caused by the cleaner through incorrect control of moisture in the system. This particular jacket displays no sign at all of felting—loss in size has been caused entirely by relaxation.
Responsibility: Traditionally, the responsibility for relaxation is taken by the garment manufacturer. All fabrics relax in cleaning and lose a little size, but the amount can neither be foreseen nor avoided by the cleaner. The International Standards method of test for determining relaxation in cleaning involves three rigorous two-bath processes, far longer than those used commercially. It often takes five or six commercial processes to bring out all of the potential relaxation in a fabric. That is why the owner has only started to notice it after its third or fourth clean.
Rectification: The standard way of reversing relaxation shrinkage is to refinish the garment under tension on the buck of a free-steam press or the bed of a professional ironing table. At the end of each lay, vacuum should be applied for double the normal length of time to cool, dry and set the fabric before moving to the next lay. Restoration in size is only partial, but is certainly a big help. It is important not to apply steam again after finishing or to attempt to touch up the garment on the hanger.
