Does Dry Cleaning Reduce Clothing Life?

April 16, 2014

Does frequent drycleaning shorten the life of a garment?

On
the contrary, frequent cleaning prolongs the life of a garment. Not
only do stains set with age, making the garment unwearable, but
ground-in dirt and soil act as an abrasive, like sandpaper, causing
rapid wear of fibers. Also, insects are attracted to soils such as food,
beverages, feces, perspiration, and oils from hair on the clothes and
will cause further damage.

Research was conducted by the
Department of Clothing and Textiles at the University of North Carolina
at Greensboro in cooperation with the School of Textiles at North
Carolina State System, which was developed in Japan. The research showed
that the various drycleaning processes have no negative effect on the
properties of wool in men’s suiting fabrics.