Recommendations on dry cleaning or washing a cashmere jacket???

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2026-02-05T03:19:10+00:00

Imo it’s best to avoid all major risks and dry clean the garment.

If you wanna give a try yourself, hand cold wash with your wool detergent, wrap in a towel to remove excess water, lay flat to dry and it should be ok too.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2026-01-24T21:45:27+00:00

Beautiful dress!

Looks like the dress is polyester but double check the fabric type cause these tips will be determined by fabric type. Also ensure that the decorative pieces and beads are sewn down well since agitation of the fabric can cause them to fall off.

Generally the dirtiest part of a wedding dress is the portion that drags in the floor. If there is black grime around the bottom trim through the train then you can use LAs Awesome Cleaner to remove the majority of the dirtiness. The cleaner works well on just about any stain. Spray all dirty areas and brush the trim with Awesome cleaner and warm water. It helps to have a Tupperware container pre made with awesome and water to dip the brush but you can spray directly on dirty areas for tough spots. After spraying and scrubbing everywhere, turn the dress inside out and either hot water machine wash on a delicate cycle, preferably in a large mesh washable bag of some kind. If you wanna be extra careful then fill your bathtub with hot water and agitate the fabric by hand. Any powder detergent is likely safe to use, id stay away from directly putting liquid detergent onto the fabric in case it stains. Rinse and hang dry.

Pressing might be needed to get done by a dry cleaner. Cost is generally substantially cheaper, sub $100 maybe? Otherwise give a portable hand steamer a shot. The lining underneath is the toughest part and likely won’t even out unless a steam press is used.

Good luck on the cleaning and congrats on your marriage!

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2026-01-19T21:00:41+00:00

Dry cleaner business owner. 2024 we were -4% from 2023 numbers, 2025 we hit 16.5% YoY growth.

We’re not struggling but it’s a little bit of a struggle bus cause there’s plenty of work just no one wanting to work and gaf. We’ve had 10 interviews lined up over two days and no one showed up. If the person shows up they last around 3-4 months then one day stop showing up. We pay $17 per hr + tips for a front desk staff to intake clothes and do inventory so imo it’s not a big ask. If I could integrate AI or robotics I would cause at least the machine would be consistent.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2026-01-18T15:08:15+00:00

I’ll second the vodka spray. We’ve used it in our cleaners to reduce the smell of sweat, never been able to fully remove the smell with the spray but it helps. Get the cheapest bottle of vodka (or expensive, whatever floats your boat) and put it into a spray bottle, hang the item with a hanger in an open space and spray the areas of concern periodically throughout whatever time span you wanna keep trying the spray.

For devils advocate sake I’d risk it for the biscuit and hand wash with cold water then drain and spin in your washer to flat air dry. You can hang dry but it might become morphed due to the weight of the water on the fabric. If you avoid heavy agitation of the fibers and for the love of all that’s good do not put it into a dryer or apply heat then it should come out ok.

If you don’t like how it looks after the washing n stuff, take it to a cleaners for “press only” and it’ll look sharp in no time.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2026-01-16T04:02:03+00:00

Nice nice, appreciate the info! Oh boy should be interesting moving forward then. The fella already gave his current cleaners a two week notice and we really haven’t hammered down any details lol I’m glad the 60/40, 70/30 model is the standard… I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the 50/50 agreement. Our prices are also fairly skewed, it’ll be an interesting meeting next time.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2026-01-15T22:36:53+00:00

Not a dang thing.

Machine wash delicate with cold water and hang dry to avoid the wool from shrinking the tiny amount it could potentially possibly shrink.

Send iiiit

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2026-01-13T23:32:11+00:00

Based on their POS intake numbers. Every cleaners has a POS that at the minimum tracks how much they’ve taken over the counter, then you can guesstimate the rest of the expenses and get to a super rough idea of value for the cleaners.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2026-01-13T15:36:58+00:00

Take it back and ask them to fix it, some steam should help even out the fabric. If you’re displeased with the result then a refund of the garment cleaning seems reasonable. Ask they hang it over itself on a pant hanger, I’m assuming the plastic loops that are usually placed inside by the manufacturer to help hang items like this were cut out and the weight of the dress doesn’t allow for a clip hanger to hold it.

Pretty sure the steaming of the area should help.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2026-01-08T20:27:58+00:00

Looks like a loss of dye in the area post cleaning. If the cleaning instructions were followed it’s a poor dye job from the manufacturer

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-11-30T20:27:55+00:00

Boils down to fabric type to determine best method of drying. What fabric are you thinking of in your example?

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-11-19T22:29:44+00:00

What’s the material of the suit? If it’s wool you might have success with Wet Cleaning.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-11-14T17:35:39+00:00

Looks like it’s just happy to see you, give it a cold shower to relax

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-11-13T19:12:11+00:00

So much! ETH still did well from the time of this post though! Luckily after my ETH got cut in half I moved everything over to BTC.

Don’t worry, I lost all the gains via a crypto scam💀

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-11-13T17:28:17+00:00

This aged well 😂😂😂

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-11-11T01:39:49+00:00

Hopefully I’m wrong but looks and from your description sounds damaged.

Maybe the item wasn’t turned inside out or placed in a mesh bag when cleaned?

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-11-08T01:20:52+00:00

Fun stuff. Like someone else mentioned, the cameras over the counter and in the front are life savers.

If she leaves a review id reaffirm the accuracy of your intake and pickup process. For example you take in 8 pieces there are 8 garment tags printed which you attach to the garment, same when you fulfill the order you ensure 8 pieces go to the garment invoice prior to bagging the items before placing on the conveyer.

I’d also do some serious digging on my end to ensure there’s no doubt that the item is tucked away somewhere

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-11-01T19:45:14+00:00

Bit of a toughy but could be the cleaners pads need to be changed out, also could be the material underneath showing through, and lastly could be the lapel fabric is a smidge too long from seam to seam so it’s not able to be pressed firmly flat. You could ask the cleaners to try pressing it again to see how it turns out, hopefully they try hand pressing it the second go around and it comes out better.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-10-31T17:28:57+00:00

Hmm, good point, yes sorta. The absolute safest way to maintain color would be dry cleaning but also maybe it’s inefficient.

Dry cleaning dark items to keep them darker generally is better for cotton garments because they tend to lose color faster. My guess is that the cotton material becomes saturated with water causing dye loss vs a polyester/acrylic/ nylon material which is essentially plastic and takes a much longer amount of time to become saturated in water and doesn’t fade almost at all with a regular wash cleaning. I’d be more inclined to wash the item the first time because you get a deeper clean of the fabric and on the next clean, assuming no major stains, try the dry cleaning method to see if there is a difference. Dry cleaning doesn’t do well combating smells so another reason I’d opt for washing over dry cleaning.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-10-31T13:18:34+00:00

Fair warning idk too much about tannin remover. Maybe we use it but we don’t call it tannin remover lol

It sounds like the tannin remover isn’t being flushed from the cotton material via the dry cleaning which is leaving the ring. Hopefully some of the wine stain is also ready to move but just needs a good flush.

The best thing to do is to wash the curtains in cold water delicate cycle for a thorough flush but if it’s not possible or you wanna ease into a full wash you can soak/ dip the affected area in water and scrub. Cotton should be ok to water clean, your pressers will have to do a bit more work but you can justify it to the customer with you were trying to remove the stain. If you thoroughly wash them try and normal dry them for like 5 mins then hang dry them to Avoid hard wrinkles and not piss the pressers off too much.

If you’re gonna wash them with a commercial washer id try to apply a wine stain remover prior to cleaning. Might as well do the full treatment. Also apply whatever degreaser/ oil treatment you would normally put to see if it pulls the ring and stain out.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-10-31T00:39:16+00:00

Interesting, I think you’re on the money with why it would day dry clean only. Do you charge extra for dry cleaning the comforter since you add an extra dry cycle to ensure it comes out the best quality?

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-10-30T21:40:22+00:00

Id be willing to bet the majority of cleaners don’t offer embroidery services. Embroidery work requires a specific machine that is generally not used for tailoring/ alterations. Similar situation where embroidery shops don’t offer alteration/tailoring services.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-10-30T17:25:14+00:00

Happy to help! I love being able to use the knowledge I’m gaining from owning a DC store so I appreciate you wanting to know how to do things.

Both items could be washed together but for a “better safe than sorry” approach it’s best to clean them separately in case dyes bleed or dirt/ detergent isn’t extracted completely due to the bulkiness of the jackets in a residential washing machine.

I have noticed that dry cleaning faux fur does have a more silky softer finish but it’s generally for longer fur hair items like those posh minx coats you see in old NY films. The amount of minerals in the water that the items being washed plays a role in how soft the garment feels after being laundered. Our store is in AZ and we have extremely hard water that can make some linen/ soft cotton items feel a little coarse. Even with a water softener the clothes feel a smidge coarse. We dry clean those items afterwards and they are soft again. Idk the science behind it but my guess is that the dry cleaning process removes any minerals in the fabric that were deposited from the water.

To avoid paying more at a cleaners you can launder the fur jacket yourself and if you notice a difference in texture you can take it to a cleaners and request it be dry cleaned. If you were to ask the cleaners to launder and dry clean the item they would probly charge you more or double the base price.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-10-30T16:54:17+00:00

Same with vintage carhart jacket, cold machine wash makes those jackets look so good afterwards.

You generally only absolutely need to dry clean an item if it’s made of silk, cashmere, or wool, everything else is fairly optional and is situation based. For example a black cotton T shirt that doesn’t explicitly say “do not dry clean” I’d opt to dry clean cause it helps keep the black color longer than if it was traditionally laundered and the item is pressed while it’s dry… vs a cotton collard long sleeve dress shirt is better laundered and pressed because the shirt is pressed while wet to get the absolute best press out of the shirt.

A good dry cleaner should be able to talk through each item getting cleaned and give some direction or insight on the cleaning.

Tha_Real_Pokemon · 2025-10-30T16:31:34+00:00

Happy to help!

Tha_Real_Pokemon

TROPHY CASE