When I purchase clothing, I like to make note of laundry/care instructions up front.  There were years in my life when the words “dry clean” just threw up a big red flag and I refused to buy.  But then I spent several years living in Chicago, where there was a low-priced dry cleaner on every corner.  During those years the dry clean clothing crept back into my wardrobe because cleaning it wasn’t prohibitively expensive.  But when I moved to State College I was absolutely stunned by the high cost of dry cleaning.  And it started me to thinking about whether “dry clean only” really means that’s the only option.

As it turns out, clothing manufacturers are only required to list one care option on the label.  In cases where they do that, they tend to list the option that offers the least chance of damage to the clothing.  In many cases that means “dry clean” goes onto the label of something that actually could be laundered.  And I really think that in this age of everyone trying to protect themselves from potential law suits, more and more labels are encouraging dry cleaning rather than trusting consumers to be able to follow care instructions for the laundry.

A couple of recent purchases have really brought this issue to the front of my mind.  I recently bought two polyester blouses.  One said “machine wash cold, tumble dry low.”  The other said “dry clean only.”  Now I grew up in the 1970’s….the age of polyester.  I know darned well that polyester doesn’t need to be dry cleaned, or my mother never would have dressed me in it when I was in elementary school.  So I took a chance.  I machine washed the “dry clean only” blouse and air dried it on my drying rack.  And it came out beautifully.  Now I feel confident that I can wear that blouse frequently without having to worry about the cost of making it clean.

And just last week I picked up three pair of dress pants at the Goodwill store (where I’m known to shop frequently) for $3.49 each.  All three pair were made of some blend of the same materials—polyester, rayon, cotton, and spandex.  Two pair said “dry clean.”  One pair said “machine wash cold, tumble dry low, or dry clean.”  And I thought, why can one pair be laundered and these others made of the same materials can’t?  At $3.49 a pair it was worth it to me to take a chance.  I washed them in cold on the gentle cycle and air dried them.  And they came out perfectly.  Didn’t even need to be ironed.  No need to pay more than the cost of the pants just to get them cleaned.  These are clothes that I’ll wear frequently and be able to launder.

Now I’m not saying that everything that says “dry clean only” can be laundered.  I would never take a chance on laundering a suit or anything that has a lining.  And I know that the higher the rayon content, the less likely it will launder well.  I keep a general rule of thumb that anything that says “dry clean only” will be air dried rather than tossed into the dryer.  But I’ve laundered a lot of dry clean labels in my day, and only once (an ill-fated wool sweater from Goodwill) have I regretted that decision.

For those items that do actually merit the dry cleaner, I usually only have them cleaned once or twice a year (ok….maybe even less than that).  In between I freshen them up with Dryel.  Just treat stains with the solution included in the Dryel kit, put the clothing items in the special bag with the Dryel sheet, and put it in the dryer on low for 30 minutes.  Things come out completely undamaged and smelling fresh (though sometimes in need of an iron).  And I can clean 20 to 30 items for less than $10 that way.  MUCH cheaper than going to the dry cleaner all the time.

Clothing can be expensive.  But it’s necessary.  So why should we have to spend a fortune keeping out clothes clean?  In short…we don’t!