Dry cleaning & laundry services: Are you getting what you paid for?
Every cleaner claims to be a true quality dry cleaner.
Fact is, very few are.
But that doesn’t stop the vast majority of cleaners from claiming that they are. So they’re forced to misrepresent and distort the information they provide about the quality of the product they produce in general, and the processes they employ to produce that product in particular.
Let’s get specific …
Dry Cleaning
Their verbal assurances, their promotional materials and their public relations agencies tell you that they gently dry clean and hand iron all your fine garments (other than shirt laundry).
As a matter of routine.
Baloney!
Bet they don’t.
Truth is, you’re paying for garments that have been sorted into “lights” and “darks”, tossed into a dry clean machine with little or no pre-spotting, cleaned in a relatively aggressive, dye-stripping, toxic solvent (perchloroethylene, synthetic petroleum or formaldehyde dibutyl acetal) that’s supplemented with moisture/water, sizing and/or fragrance.
All this before your garments are machine pressed and then “squirted” with steam from a hand iron in an attempt to conceal any evidence of machine pressing.
What’s more, many of your cottons and linens may not have been dry cleaned at all. They’ve probably been washed or wet cleaned, tossed into a dryer, machine pressed and then “squirted” with steam.
If you've ever watched a short, promotional video on any dry cleaner's website, you'll notice that there'll always be a shot of some employee "squirting" steam onto a garment from a hand iron. The blowing steam always looks impressive in the video and leaves the viewer with the idea that that is how garments are "pressed."
"Squirting" garments with steam is an absolute a no-no in our books. In other words, "squirting" steam on a garment without the simultaneous application of vacuum to fully dry the steam is not remotely the same as finishing (aka "pressing").
Shirt Laundry
Their verbal assurances, their promotional materials and their public relations agencies tell you that they gently clean and hand iron all your laundered shirts.
As a matter of routine.
Hogwash!
Bet they don’t.
Truth is, you’re paying $10 to $20 for a $2 to $4 shirt that’s been boiled, bleached, baked and machine pressed. Then “strategically touched up” by hand (if deemed necessary, if you’re lucky) and creased down the sleeve.
Many cleaners call this machine pressed/touched up/ceased sleeve shirt a “hand finished shirt,” hoping that you’ll never understand the difference between a hand ironed shirt ($10 to $20) and a machine pressed/touched up/ceased sleeve shirt ($2 to $4).
Fine Bed and Table Linens
Their verbal assurances, their promotional materials and their public relations agencies tell you that they gently clean and perfectly finish all your fine bed and table linens.
As a matter of routine.
They also tell you that they do all their work in-house.
Poppycock!
Bet they don’t.
Truth is, you’re probably paying for bed and table linens that are subcontracted to some cheap, unknown wholesale laundry. Where they’re boiled and bleached before being run through a Mangle ironer (yes, it’s pronounced “mangler”) like bathroom tissue through a Charmin factory.
Summary
At RAVE FabriCARE, you won’t find information that sounds vaguely impressive in an attempt to sound good while hiding what’s really going on.
Why?
Because our clients can see through the smoke screen. And our clients can spot misrepresentations and distortions a mile away.
At RAVE FabriCARE, we'll tell you exactly what we do, why we do it that way and why we don’t do what ordinary cleaners do. In plain English. And we'll provide you with accurate information about our processes and craftsmanship -- with a degree of specificity that’s unheard of in the dry cleaning industry.
And why do we provide this information?
Because the more you know about our processes and craftsmanship, the better you’ll be able to differentiate between true quality cleaning and ordinary, bang and hang cleaning.
So there you have it. The truth about cleaners who present themselves as true quality cleaners but whose product – minus the fancy packaging – is, for the most part, no better than any average, ordinary cleaner.
Are you getting what you pay for?
