r/drycleaning

As someone who works around garment care, I've realized that most customers only see the finished result—a clean, pressed garment ready to wear.

What they don't see is everything that happens beforehand.

Every item has to be assessed first. Is the stain removable? Will the fabric react safely to cleaning? Are there loose buttons, damaged seams, delicate trims, or special care instructions? Sometimes more time is spent inspecting and treating a garment than actually cleaning it.

Special garments can be even more challenging. A bridal gown, for example, isn't just another dress. Different fabrics, lace, beading, and invisible stains all require careful handling, which is why professional wedding dress cleaning is often much more involved than people expect.

I'm curious to hear from others in the industry.

What's the hardest part of working in dry cleaning that customers rarely think about?

• Stain removal?
• Managing customer expectations?
• Delicate fabrics?
• Pressing and finishing?
• Identifying damage before cleaning?
• Explaining why some stains simply can't be removed?

I work on the professional garment care side of the industry, so I'd love to hear different perspectives from people who have been doing this for years.

I've always been curious about this because a lot of people say their wedding dress looked perfectly clean after the big day, so they packed it away and thought, "I'll deal with it later."

But then months—or even years—later, they take it out and suddenly there are yellow marks, faint brown stains, or discolouration that definitely wasn't there before.

I didn't realise until recently that sweat, perfume, makeup, body oils, champagne, and even clear drinks can leave residues that stay invisible for a while before slowly showing up over time.

It made me wonder how common this actually is.

• Did you have your wedding dress cleaned straight after the wedding?
• Did you store it for months before thinking about it?
• If you waited, did you notice any changes when you finally took it out?

I've heard some really mixed experiences. Some people say their dress was perfectly fine after years in storage, while others wish they'd had it cleaned much sooner.

While reading about how to care for a wedding dress before long-term storage, I realised there's a lot more to preserving delicate fabrics than I expected.

At New Image Dry Cleaners, we've seen both situations—dresses that cleaned up beautifully after years in storage and others where old, oxidised stains had become much harder to remove. It made me wonder how many people simply don't realise that a dress can look clean while still holding invisible stains.

I'd love to hear your experience. Looking back, would you do anything differently?

Just dropped off a basic polyester maxi dress with no adornment, ruffles, etc. It is a dark brown straight cut dress and was quoted $50 for basic dry cleaning. I got him to go down to $40.50 but this honestly feels egregious for cleaning one basic item.

Before I post the body of my story which is actually a Google review, I want to clarify that the bill I received back was in the EXACT same condition it was when I left, aside from maybe the smell of solvent, which I cannot confirm because I refused to entertain the idea.

On Wednesday July 22nd I took my 3 piece suit in to be dry cleaned. It didn't NEED to be cleaned, I could have lint rolled it and pressed it at home, but I like to try businesses out for the first time when the opportunity arises.

The young lady at the counter was very friendly and professional, I asked for a rush job and was told that they're the only drycleaners in the area, but they could schedule it for Thursday (the next day), for a $9 upcharge, great! I took my slip and off I went. I'm sure they see stuff left in pockets every single day, so I left a crisp 100 bill, quad folded in my left jacket pocket, quite the juicy find, sure to test the honesty and professionalism right?

I haven't received a call about it around noon, which I found to be odd, surely they check pockets and hang the suit right away? I called in, and older woman answered, I explained my problem and asked if anyone had found it. I was first told that no suit was dropped under my name, (she called me ma'am, no biggie) and was put on hold for a few minutes while she figured it out. She then got back on the phone and told me there was nothing in the suit, and reassured me that they check ALL the pockets thoroughly before they get processed. I was about to object, and she ended the call.

I decided to drive right over, handed the older woman my ticket calmly and explained I had just called in. I then explained that the money was placed there on purpose, and that I regularly review local businesses. I never explicitly accused anyone of stealing the money, I simply said I wanted to see the suit to check them myself.

Meanwhile the friendly woman that took my suit that morning never made eye contact with me, never attempted to sort the situation out, and let the older woman handle the interaction. I told her that I would like the situation resolved professionally, and I told her a police report would have to be filed if the money wasn't returned.

I maintained a very calm professional demeanor throughout ALL interactions with the staff, I'm hardly the type to get loud or visibly angry over a situation like this.

They told me they could get in contact with the owner, I agreed, and I told them I would start my report, and then I left.

During the time I waited for an officer to arrive to take my report, the woman that I had believed to have taken the money left the business for some reason. (About 15 minutes) She was the only person present during the processing of the suit, which strangely was complete less than 4 hours after I dropped it off. (Not sure why I was told Thursday at 3 and then not contacted when it was done almost immediately) The officer took my side of the story, again, calm and professional, and then went inside to talk to the staff.

Once the officer came out to wave me inside, he had the bill in his hand, and the owner/manager was at the counter, visibly upset and agitated. She said explained that the money was caught in a machines button trap (so much for checking all the pockets and using a special envelope) and urged me to smell the bill to show that it smelled like solvent. I declined, considering that she assumed I would believe that the bill would survive going through a solvent wash intact, while still being crispy and STILL HAVING THE FOLDS from being placed in my pocket. That's not how dry cleaning machines work. I don't have the other side of the story but I believe the manager told the thieving employee to go home, and then attempted to cover up the crime by putting solvent onto the bill to give the impression that it had been through the machine, while still maintaining the exact same folds and condition it was in 4 hours prior.

The only person visibly worked up over this entire situation was the manager.

I paid for my dry cleaning out of the $100 that were returned, and was then formally trespassed from the store.

Incredibly disappointed and I DO NOT recommend this business to anyone. It's a shame that it's the only dry cleaner in the area.

Both situations, the phone call and the in person visit left me with alarm bells going off because of the reaction of the workers. When the manager mentioned that it could have been handled differently, I even mentioned that I attempted to handle it over the phone and by visiting myself, but I was hung up on and the visit got me nowhere. The older woman immediately retorted with "I did NOT hang up on you!" In front of the officer, when she quite literally ended the call in the middle of my sentence.

To me the entire thing screams like a confirmed coverup for an employee that made a bad call and stole some money, and their way of trying to save face is to act pissed off and incredulous in front of the officer, and trespass me from the business.