fbpx

We Don’t Really Dry-Clean! We Use a New Eco-friendly Wet Cleaning System Instead

There’s been a huge focus on the environment lately, and rightly so. Everything we do as consumers impacts on the world around us and we’re being made increasingly aware of the impact of the choices we make.

Even your laundry has an impact. The products you use and how often you use them or how efficient they are all relates to the impact you can have.

Dry-cleaning, which uses chemicals, is a big area for discussion. The chemicals are one of the reasons we don’t dry clean – we wet clean instead!

Bye, bye, smelly chemicals…

Traditional dry-cleaning uses chemicals that give you that ‘dry-cleaning smell’ we’re sure you’ll be familiar with. You know the one, don’t you?

Despite its name, dry-cleaning isn’t actually a dry-cleaning process at all. The clothes are actually soaked in a liquid solvent called Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) aka "perc”. Alternative solvents trichloroethane andpetroleum spirits are also used. Tetrachloroethylene is considered hazardous to our personal health as well as the environment. It’s toxic to fish, plants, and other marine life, and has been outlawed in certain parts of the world.

So, what’s the alternative?

We dry clean (wet clean) with Lagoon, instead.

The Lagoon system, developed by Electrolux is, “Environmentally friendly, solvent-free ‘dry-cleaning’ that uses no toxic chemicals, as water is the solvent. Lagoon offers outstanding professional textile care”.

The Lagoon system is economical enough that we don’t have to put mixed loads in, too.

Unlike dry-cleaning where they reuse the same chemicals all week long, and only do light colours when the chemicals get changed, the Lagoon system is fresh every single time.

The waste is also fully biodegradable, and the results speak for themselves.

Protects the environment

The main aim of the Lagoon system is to protect and care for the environment whilst caring for your clothes and giving you great results. It’s certainly a huge step forward.

Lagoon doesn’t smell terrible, it’s not using dangerous chemicals, and it also gives great results.

We still tell people we do ‘dry cleaning’ because that’s what the clothing manufacturers suggest for the garments and print on the labels. It’s hard to explain to everyone that there are significant benefits of going wet! So, for ease of conversation, and for the good of our business, we’ve actually left it as a dry-cleaning service on all our marketing and brochures.

Big name clothing manufacturers support the system and Lagoon is fully backed by leading brands Hohenstein and Woolmark.

Faster than old fashioned dry cleaning

The benefits keep on coming, too. The Lagoon systems is actually ready for collection one hour after cleaning, so unlike dry cleaning we can turn the service around in the same day - all things being well.

Lagoon is simply brilliant and excels in the short space of time, which our customers love when they’ve remembered they need an item cleaned at the last minute!

This system wasn’t cheap to bring on board! The team needed training, and the machine was expensive, but the longer-term benefits to the clothes, the business, and the environment far outweigh the upfront investment.

Fresher smelling

Not only does our Reading cleaning shop stay fresher, but so do the clothes. Now that the chemical residue isn’t present, the clothes leave here smelling far fresher and our customers are happier.

Some hotel chains are using the system for its speed and also its fresher smelling process. The speed and absence of harmful chemicals means that Lagoon fits in perfectly for a high end added service to customers.

All round better solution

As you can see, the Lagoon wet ‘dry cleaning’ system is better for the environment, your clothes, your nose, and your time. Why would we use a traditional and potentially damaging method when this new kid on the block ticks all the boxes?

So no, we don’t do dry cleaning, but we do wash all your dry clean only clothes to a very high standard.

If you’d like us to ‘dry clean’ your clothes just pop in to our shop or give us a call. 

Comments are closed.