Why Your Dry Cleaner Should Get the First Shot at a Stain

Have you ever spilled something on a suit, dress, or other delicate item that needed to be dry-cleaned? It can sometimes be tempting to try and get the stain out yourself. In fact, you’ve probably tried it before with some success. But here’s the problem: if you try it and fail to get the stain out, you might be making it impossible for your dry cleaner to do it, too. Read on to learn why you shouldn’t try to treat a stain yourself.

Your dry cleaner has the professional knowledge and experience needed to remove just about any kind of stain. That said, you’ll need to let them know exactly what happened so that they can treat the garment properly. Take a coffee spill, for example: show them the stain when dropping it off, but don’t just say it’s a coffee stain. If you had sugar, cream or both in your coffee, your dry cleaner will need to know this as well. Be as specific as you can about the stain, even if it’s a little embarrassing. Getting soils out properly requires accurate information.

If you want to get around the hassle of having to communicate the details of your stain, then an alternative would be to find a high quality dry cleaner. High end dry cleaners have professionals trained in figuring out the nature of a stain and the best way to tackle it. Although the service may cost more, the difference in quality will be clear.

Trying to get stains out without the proper resources can result in worsening the stain or damaging the garment. This is especially true if you treat the stain and neglect to tell your dry cleaner how you did it. The color could end up permanently altered, and the fabric could even shrink. When in doubt, the rule is to leave stains alone and have a quality dry cleaner take care of it.