How do you remove coffee stains from clothes?

One of the more common stains that the professional dry cleaner encounters is the Tannin stain. Tannin is a substance found in vegetable matter, such as coffee, tea, nuts, grass and the bark of trees. Tannin stains are visible when fresh and become brown on contact with heat, as in drying and pressing. Tannin stains should not be confused with the invisible stain or also known as the caramelized sugar stain. Tannin stains are easy to identify. Often the location of the stain can be the first clue. Tannin stains will vary from a light tan to a dark brown color. The stain is absorbed by the fabric. It will not be built up or stiff and can often smell like the staining substancec (coffee) when heated with the steam gun. Tannin stains are considered a wet-side stain (meaning they will require wet-side stain removal procedures). Let's look at how to remove coffee stains. Stain Removal Agents Used In the Removal of Tannin/Coffee Stains: •Neutral Lubricant •Tannin •General Formula •Rust Remover •Oxidizing Bleach - (Bleach will be selected based on the fiber content and dye.) •Levelling agent Steps In the Removal of Tannin/Coffee Stains: 1.Pretest in an un-exposed area of the garment using the following procedures to see if the garment will withstand the stain removal procedure. 2.Place a towel under the stained area and flush thoroughly with steam. 3.Remove the towel and apply neutral lubricant to the stained area. 4.Tamp lightly with the spotting brush. 5.Apply tannin stain removal agent to the stained area and tamp lightly. 6.Place a towel under the stained area and flush thoroughly with steam. 7.If the stain remains, remove the towel and reapply the neutral lubricant. 8.Apply General Formula. (Make sure you have tested the effects of General Formula on an unexposed area of the garment, as this is an aggressive type stain removal agent.) 9.Tamp lightly with the spotting brush. 10.Place a towel under the stained area and flush thoroughly with steam. 11.If the stain remains, reapply neutral lubricant and several drops of rust remover. 12.Flush with steam. At this point, if the stain still remains, bleaching will be necessary to remove the stain. If color permits the use of bleaches sodium perborate or 3% hydrogen peroxide can be used on wools and silks. On cottons and rayons, sodium perborate or a diluted sodium hypochlorite solution can be used. Before using any bleaches PRETEST the garment on an unexposed area. Once the stained area is clear of the stain, place a towel under the area and flush thoroughly with steam, remove the towel, feather and dry, apply levelling agent and dry clean. The tannin stain is a very common stain found in dry cleaning. It is also a stain that you must be able to remove with a very high degree of success. By following these procedures you should achieve that high degree of success and be on your way to being known as the dry cleaner that gets the stains out. For answers to more frequently asked dry cleaning questions, visit: www.olddominioncleaners.com Old Dominion Cleaners, LLC. is a premier dry cleaner and launderer servicing Richmond, Virginia and surrounding areas. We offer free pick up and delivery to your home or office. We also service Chester,Va., Chesterfield,Va.,Glen Allen,Va., Mechanicsville, Va. Midlothian,Va., Quinton,Va., Sandston,Va., and Varina Virginia. Stay connected with our blog to remain informed about dry cleaning and changes in the industry.

Why do cleaners charge more for exra lare shirts?

The short answer is, “Dry cleaners charge more for extra large shirts because they cost the cleaner more to process.” Here’s why… About 80% of the cost of production in processing a shirt is the cost of labor. Most of the labor is spent on pressing the shirt. The dry cleaner uses special presses designed specifically for pressing shirts. These special presses more than triple the number of shirts that can be pressed by hand in the same amount of time. However, they only accomodate shirts within an average range of sizes. So, extra large or extra small shirts that fall outside of this range must be pressed by hand, because they will not fit on the presses. To cover the cost of labor increase caused by the additional time and handling required to press the shirts by hand, the cleaner must charge more. For answers to more frequently asked dry cleaning questions, visit us at www.olddominioncleaners.com Old Dominion Cleaners, LLC. is a premier dry cleaner and launderer servicing Richmond, Virginia and surrounding areas. We offer free pick up and delivery to your home or office. We also service Chester,Va., Chesterfield,Va.,Glen Allen,Va., Mechanicsville, Va. Midlothian,Va., Quinton,Va.,Sandston,Va., and Varina,Va.. Stay connected with our blog and remain informed about dry cleaning and changes in the industry.

Is starch bad for my shirts?

Most cleaners offer different levels of starch for their laundered shirts. The choices are typically; no, light, medium, and heavy. I recommend choosing “no starch”, for several reasons. 1. Comfort - Using no starch on your shirts is much more comfortable than using starch. Starch will make your shirts feel stiff, may cause itching, and it will prevent the fabric from breathing. Starch can be especially uncomfortable on warm days, because it blocks the evaporation of your perspiration. 2. Wrinkles – Starch will give your shirts a smooth finish during pressing, but as you move around during the day, the inevitable wrinkles actually become more pronounced. If you use heavy starch, by the end of the day, your shirts can have a crinkly aluminum foil looking finish. 3. Lifespan - Starch builds up with repeated cleanings. This build-up causes the fibers in the fabric to become overly stiff, weak and brittle. Using starch dramatically decreases the expected lifespan of your shirts. So, is there a way to have smooth crisp shirts without using starch? Yes! In general, 100% cotton shirts finish much smoother and crisper than poly blend fabrics. Also, the heavier the fabric the better. If you love that paper smooth finish on your shirts, I recommend buying the thicker 100% cotton shirts and skip the starch. For answers to more frequently asked quesions, visit us at www.olddominioncleaners.com Old Dominion Cleaners, LLC. is a premier dry cleaner and launderer servicing Richmond, Virginia and surrounding areas. We offer free pick up and delivery to your home or office. We also service Chester,Va., Chesterfield,Va.,Glen Allen,Va., Mechanicsville, Va. Midlothian,Va., Quinton,Va., and Sandston,Va. Stay connected with our blog and remain informed about dry cleaning and changes in the industry.

Why does the dry cleaner charge more for silk and linen?

In the dry cleaning industry, the practice of charging more for certain fabrics is called “upcharging”. When cleaners upcharge, they are passing along an increased cost of production to their customers. Some fabrics are very difficult to work with and take significantly more time, labor and skill to process properly. For this reason, most cleaners upcharge for clothes made from silk or linen. Both fabrics are made from natural fibers and present unique challenges for the cleaner. Successful stain removal is a critical step in the production process for cleaners. Many stains are removed by the dry cleaning machine and require no additional resources from the cleaner. A group of stains, called stubborn stains, require the attention of a stain removal specialist. The art of removing stains is called “spotting” and the person doing the stain removal is called the “spotter”. The spotter is typically one of the highest paid employees in a dry cleaning plant. To remove them, stubborn stains often require a combination of stain removing solutions and a significant amount of mechanical action. Silk and linen are notoriously prone to stubborn stains. For silk in particular, because of its extremely delicate nature, when attempting to remove the stains, the spotter is limited in the types of stain removing solutions he can use and the amount of mechanical action he can apply. The risk of dye loss and fabric damage during stain removal is very high. It routinely takes multiple cycles of spotting, machine cleaning, and re-spotting to safely remove stains from silk and linen. This process requires a high degree of skill to avoid damaging the fabric. Removing wrinkles is another critical step in the production process for cleaners. The removing of wrinkles is called “finishing”. Most garments require a combination of machine pressing and hand ironing to achieve the desired finish. The more hand ironing required, the more time and labor expense goes into finishing. Finishing silk and linen requires significantly more hand ironing than most fabrics. Linen in particular is very challenging. Some wrinkles in linen become so “set” that they are virtually impossible to safely remove. Linen holds wrinkles so well, that manufacturers sometimes intentionally give a wrinkled finish to their linen fabric. They intend for the garments never to be pressed! For answers to more frequently asked dry cleaning question, visit us at www.olddominioncleaners.com

Can you unshrink clothes?

Sometimes it is possible to reverse shrinkage. It all depends on the garment’s fabric. Some fabrics are much easier to unshrink than others, but with all garments, the goal is to ”relax” the fabric’s fibers. For dry clean only garments, applying steam is the most effective method to relax the fibers. In the dry cleaning industry the process is known as “blocking”. Blocking restores a garment to its desired shape by repeatedly steaming and stretching the garment until the desired shape is reached. Some fabrics, such as knits, are notorious for stretching out of shape. All knits distort with both wearing and cleaning and should be blocked by an experienced blocker after each cleaning. Most cleaners will measure a knit garment prior to cleaning it to ensure that when blocking they will return it to its original dimensions. For fabrics that can safely be washed in water, such as cotton, soaking the garment in white vinegar for an hour and then washing them in hot water will often do the trick. If that doesn’t work, try ”hand stretching” the wet fabric until it reaches the desired size, then allow it to dry flat using heavy objects to hold down the edges in place. Be careful when stretching your clothes! Just like a rubber band eventually breaks, if you stretch the fabric using too much force it will rip; usually along the seams. For answers to more frequently asked dry cleaning questions, visit: www.olddominioncleaners.com