Wear damage

Explain tactfully and carefully
Drycleaning can reveal faults that have occurred during wear but are not clearly visible beforehand. Often such faults are the customer's responsibility, making it especially explanations especially difficult. Clarity, tact and care are needed.
Sometimes a thorough counter examination when the garment is brought in will give an early warning of what could happen. For example, leather cleaners have become very familiar with flaws that have been disguised by the tanner but which will become clear after cleaning. In such cases they warn the customer of the possible outcome every time.
However, some faults cannot be foreseen, such as poor dyeing, which leads to faded edges at the exposed seams and double thickness areas. Improvements in dye recipes have led to a reduction in these problems but now they are beginning to recur.
A lemonade spill may leave little visible trace and the brown swirls that can appear during cleaning are difficult to foresee. The sugar in the drink will not dissolve in drycleaning solvent (regardless of the solvent's strength) so it will caramelise and turn brown during cleaning. Then the heat of the tumble dry will make it even darker. Champagne splashes on a wedding dress also creates this problem.
Some drycleaners that specialise in wedding dress cleaning now inspect every dress under ultraviolet light to look for the tell-tale yellow fluorescence that warns of this problem. At this stage it is possible to flush out the sugar with steam gun or water flush, so that the fault never appears.

Protein marks revealed by cleaning
Fault: After this garment had been cleaned, there were signs of a liquid spill. It had not been left near the stain-removal or pre-treatment areas.
Cause: These marks have been caused during wear. The spill contained protein, probably meat fat, which has turned from colourless to brown during cleaning.
Responsibility: The wearer is more likely to be at fault here. Proteins are not used in drycleaning.
Rectification: Protein stains will be are much more difficult to remove after cleaning than before. Still, it is worth trying to treat them with strong protein remover designed for post-spotting. The treatment will involve plenty of tamping and the cleaner will need plenty of time and to be patient.

Rubbing leads to dark marks on seams
Fault: Some areas of this black and white coat looked darker after it had been cleaned. The change was particularly noticeable on double thickness seams.
Cause: Examining the dark areas of the coat under magnification showed that the black fibres had been rubbed and lifted up so that they now hid the white yarns. This pattern of damage does not fit any drycleaning fault such as felting following a water splash. The affected areas are those that would be subject to being rubbed regularly during wear, for example while the wearer was seated at a desk or in the car.
Responsibility: The wearer
Rectification: None.

Sweater needs re-setting by its maker
Fault: When this sweater was returned to the customer it had a larger ribbed waist and stretching across the front.
Cause: Examining the sweater shows that the spacing between the ribs and of the cables is wider in some areas. This is where distortion has occurred.
Responsibility: This type of distortion cannot occur in the drycleaning machine. The problem has occurred in wear so the owner is largely to blame ( but see also below).
Rectification: The tensions set in during the knitting processes are often released in drycleaning, leading to relaxation shrinkage and other changes. For this reason knitwear makers have techniques to correct the problem.
The best makers use frames to shape new garments and to set them to shape using steam and vacuum. They will often offer a re-setting service using the original frame to return the garment to it original size and shape. This is the remedy here.

Elbow creases are permanent
Fault: This jacket had creases across the elbow area when it was brought in and these remained after drycleaning. The cleaner made every effort to remove these but could not improve the result.
Cause: The wear creases that can appear at the elbow, and also behind the knees of trousers, are the result of abrasion on either side of the folded fabric. These areas have often been affected by perspiration as well. These two factors combine to produce creases or fold marks that are virtually irremovable. This is what has happened here.
Responsibility: The wearer should be taking responsibility here. It is possible that the maker might have some responsibility too, but it is unlikely that this could be proved. The cleaner certainly should not be sharing the blame.
Rectification: Unfortunately none is possible

A slightly tight fit leads to slits in the silk
Fault: According to the customer, this turquoise silk blouse fitted well when it was purchased. However, there were signs of stress at the shoulder and in the upper arm, but the cleaner did not notice them and during cleaning the weave distorted, producing the slits.
Cause: This blouse must have been very slightly tight on the wearer so the weave has become stressed in critical areas. The drycleaning solvent's lubricating action released the wear stresses so that the weave has slipped and slits are now visible.
Responsibility: The wearer is mainly responsible here but the retailer should also be sharing some of the blame. If a sales assistant had advised of the slight tightness, the fault could have been avoided. The cleaner should not be sharing the blame.
Rectification: In theory the slipped threads could be repositioned to close the slits but this is a matter for the owner to discuss with a professional repairer.

Dyes are sensitive to normal wear
Fault: This pair of jeans was all one shade of blue before it was drycleaned. When it came out of the machine, the colour had faded along all the double seams and wear edges and on the patch pockets on the seat.
Cause: Some dyes, including those often used for jeans are extremely sensitive to abrasion, even to that which occurs in normal wear. There will not be any sign of fading before cleaning but the solvent wash flushes away the sensitive dyes, revealing the damage, as seen here.
Responsibility: The maker is responsible here because these changes are features of the fabric in wear and cleaning and not the symptoms of rough treatment by the wearer or of incompetent cleaning or finishing.
However, establishing a claim might be difficult as many makers would say that this feature is typical of jeans fabric and as such is not a fault.
Rectification: Unfortunately none is possible.

Shirt suffers fraying on the fold
Fault: This shirt was washed at 60C to remove the sweat and skin sebum in the normal way. When it was removed from the washer, the cleaner noticed some localised fraying right on the fold of the cuff.
Cause: All shirts will show signs of wear in places. The cuff fold is the most common but wear is also frequently found on the collar points and te cuff edges. The full extent of such wear is usually only visible when the wash water flushes the broken fibres away.
Responsibility: The manufacturer is technically responsible here, because the fault is a feature of the shirting fabric and the fraying is a typical example of wear in normal use. However, all shirts wear out eventually and it is very unlikely that the maker will accept a claim under this heading. This is the wearer's problem. The cleaner has simply revealed the wear, not caused it.
Rectification: The shirt could be fitted with a new collar and cuffs, but otherwise the fault cannot be corrected.