Dry cleaning has become a part of our society as one of the best solutions for washing and caring for clothes, linens, and other fabrics. Today, sending out clothes for dry cleaning has become routine for many professionals. Dry cleaning has been around for centuries, but have you ever wondered how it all started?
Dating back to the ancient Romans, the ruins of Pompeii have records of “fullers”, professional Roman clothes cleaners. Fullers utilized ammonia and lye for laundering, as well as a type of clay known as “fuller’s earth”, used to absorb grease and soils from clothing.
Dry cleaning that bears more of a likeness to today’s methods is attributed to Jean
Baptiste Jolly. A dye-works owner in 1825 France, Baptiste Jolly noticed that oil had evaporated from an area of cloth where his maid spilled spirits of turpentine. After conducting further tests with turpentine, Baptiste Jolly and his son-in-law, Petite Didier developed a process for cleaning clothing they called “nettoyage á sec”, or dry cleaning.
As time has passed, dry cleaning methods have changed. Petroleum based solvents were done away with because of their highly toxic and flammable properties as well as lingering scent. While the dry cleaning industry has made strides in cleaning solutions and techniques, there is still a push to provide the best possible service with the least environmental impact.
We are proud to offer a safe, silicone solvent that cleans garments without hazard to you or the environment. In addition to our solvents, we offer reusable garment bags to reduce waste. We’re proud to make a difference through our Advanced Dry Cleaning methods and services, offering better and more efficient service for you, our customers.