WHAT WENT WRONG


very expensive items. One of the worst group of labelling faults comes from the indiscriminate use of the P in a circle symbol, which gives false reassurance to the cleaner that the item is in fact drycleanable and has led to many justified complaints for which the maker is culpable.


There are many other groups of faults, but the ones described indicate just some of the problems which give rise to justified complaints. 2. Explanation of what has caused the fault: (pic 3 refers) your description must be in clear, non-technical terms which the consumer can understand. You should include the key clues which indicate the true reason for the damage or change.


At this stage it might still be possible to allocate the blame for the fault, so your written explanation must be accurately worded.


3. Explain what the care label means:


the adequacy of the care labelling is frequently critical, because this is often misunderstood and following incorrect labels may well cause unexpected damage.


4. Describe your company policy for addressing complaints: many professional cleaners have a policy of addressing complaints promptly without bias, paying compensation if they are at fault, assisting the customer with a claim where they are not at fault, and seeking independent expertise to resolve any points of dispute.


5. Help your customer to determine a realistic value for compensation: many cleaners base compensation on the current replacement cost, less an allowance for wear and tear based on both age and condition. The TSA published a Fair Claims Guide to its members some years ago, prepared in conjunction with the Institute of Loss Adjusters, which gave


charts showing typical life cycles and the progressive reduction in value with time or excessive wear.


Conclusion


There are frequently good reasons for the high number of justified complaints raised by a dissatisfied customer, but two reasons are quite scandalous: the poor knowledge and skills of a great many cleaners in some regions and the atrocious quality of labelling of a great many garments and household textiles worldwide. LCNi offers regular monthly updates, and our experts can give prompt and clear answers to most queries, but these two problems stubbornly remain.


If you have problems you would like the authors to examine, please send with a good quality, high resolution (300dpi/1MB at least) pic of the item to kathy.bowry@ laundryandcleaningnews.com


WHAT WENT WRONG: READER QUERY


Why did the colour bleed from this designer dress?


As this query illustrates (and our experience confirms), colour bleeds continue to be a serious and increasing problem for drycleaners


M


any textile dyes are substantive (they bond chemically onto the fabric) and are designed


for dyeing specific textiles or textile types. If colour runs during drycleaning or wetcleaning/washing, the liberated dye is strongly attracted to any similar textile types in the load. This explains why, when things go badly wrong (in, say, a load of whites), loose dye may only be picked up by one or two garments in the load. Technically, this is a form of greying (see LCN May/June 2025 issue). Loose dye, together with colour mark- off from coloured trims and buttons, can be extremely difficult (or impossible) to remove from contaminated items.


Fault


When drycleaned in D5 Siloxane (Green Earth) the colour ran, and dye was picked up by the upper white component leaving it with a distinct bluish discolouration. The white areas of the trim surrounding the waist area also appears to have been greyed by the loose dye. Following drycleaning, a rub test on the black component revealed that there was still loose dye in the black dress fabric!


Technical cause


The black dye fastness was either inadequate or there was a lot of loose dye present in the black component post manufacture, which could have been


due to inadequate rinsing following the fabric dying process. The care label instruction (‘Specialist Dryclean Only’ - circle F underlined) indicated the garment should be drycleaned on a gentle cycle in hydrocarbon solvent. It is not possible to determine at this stage if the garment would have responded satisfactorily had it actually been cleaned in hydrocarbon solvent as required by the care label. However, D5 Siloxane is an even gentler solvent, with approximately half the power (KB value 12 – 17) of hydrocarbon, and it is unlikely that the dye would not have bled had hydrocarbon been used to clean the dress.


Polyester has been marketed as a textile 37


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