The good news is that most of the time, dry cleaning is enough to nix bad smells from your dry clean only garments. Sometimes however, dry cleaning doesn't combat the smells or can result in exchanging one smell for another.

"Dry clean only" means the item should be dry cleaned, as it may have sensitivity to water exposure. "Dry clean recommended" means you may be able to wash the item at home, but we highly recommend performing a wash test before you proceed with washing.

Whether or not dry cleaning is more effective than washing really depends on the garment we are washing. For oil-based stains, yes, dry cleaning is more effective than washing. For clothes that have an odour, especially items with body odour from perspiration, washing will be much more effective than dry cleaning.

Depending on the type of fabric, the dry cleaner will now press, iron or steam each garment to get rid of wrinkles. Many dry cleaners use a form finisher for this step. Form finishers are machines that iron a garment using air or steam in the position that it is worn.