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Dry cleaning shirts and not having them smell "DRY CLEANED"

tommboy

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How can I dry clean shirts and not have them come back smelling like that horrible dry clean smell?? And for that matter how can I get rid of that smell on stuff I have dry cleaned? Thank you god I hate this smell.
 

edmorel

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I think the organic dry cleaners should take care of this for you. The smell you talk about are the chemicals used in the cleaning process (or maybe they put a ton of starch on your shirts and that is what you smell). I use an organic place for my shirts and I tell them no starch and I do not notice any smell.
 

tlmusic

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I am not fond of the dry cleaning smell myself.

Are your shirts cotton? If so, why not have them laundered in medium to cold water, hung to dry and then hand pressed with no starch? That is the most gentle washing procedure for shirts.

Some shirt manufacturers (Turnbull and Asser) suggest that cotton shirts should not be dry cleaned.
 

tlmusic

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Originally Posted by tommboy
And for that matter how can I get rid of that smell on stuff I have dry cleaned?
Take the shirts out of the protective plastic and hang them up in a well-ventilated place. The smell will start to disappear after a few days. After a couple weeks (at most) it will usually not be noticeable.
 

tommboy

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It still smells after I have aired it out for weeks. How common are organic dry cleaners?
 

hadamulletonce

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Originally Posted by tlmusic
I am not fond of the dry cleaning smell myself.

Are your shirts cotton? If so, why not have them laundered in medium to cold water, hung to dry and then hand pressed with no starch? That is the most gentle washing procedure for shirts.

Some shirt manufacturers (Turnbull and Asser) suggest that cotton shirts should not be dry cleaned.


+1 Agreed
 

tommboy

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They are cotton, but the shirt care says hand wash or dry clean.......?????
 

jsherman02

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The company I used to deal with had a delivery driver that was a chain smoker...I was thrilled if they did not smell like 100% smoke.
 

tommboy

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It is a shirt from emergangildo zegna. Just because it says handwash does that mean I really absolutely can only hand wash it?
 

tlmusic

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Originally Posted by tommboy
It is a shirt from emergangildo zegna. Just because it says handwash does that mean I really absolutely can only hand wash it?

My drycleaners offers a hand wash/hand press option. It's about $7 a shirt.

Most cotton shirts can be machine laundered. The procedures that usually damage shirts are:

1. washing them in water that's very hot
2. Tumbling them dry in a hot dryer
3. Pressing them on the machine press
4. Using lots of starch

Exposing the shirts to lots of heat while cleaning them can cause excessive shrinkage--the dryer is probably the hardest thing on shirts.

You may want to read this about "proper laundering"
http://customshirt1.com/ASK/laund01.html
 

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