Caramelized sugar and oxidized oil are the most common “ aged stains ”.
The summer heat has faded and the leaves are giving us a backdrop of orange, gold and yellow.
The mornings are brisk and your drycleaning customers are breaking out those sweaters and jackets that were put away last spring.
Any stains left behind are now a major undertaking, due to time and heat “setting” the stain.
I want to throw out some estimated failure rates contrasting stains that are four weeks old verses stains that are less than 48 hours old.
After as much as four weeks, you will find less than satisfactory stain removal in a silk garment about 60% of the time.
In rayon, the rate of unsatisfactory stain removal after the time period is about 50%, or half the time. In cotton, the rate appears to be 33%, while a poly/cotton blend is around 25%, or about the same as wool.
Acrylic appears to provide unsatisfactory stain removal after the four weeks about 20% of the time, and polyester seems to do best, at a 10% rate of unsatisfactory stain removal. Older stains are progressively more difficult to remove. As you can see from the numbers, natural fibers are less responsive after time. Also, the darker the color, the more easily it is chafed.
Caramelized sugar is the result of allowing a substance containing sugar to remain in contact with a garment for an extended period of time. A common example is a clear soft-drink stain that goes unnoticed. As time goes by, the sugar will begin turning dark, much like a half-eaten apple left on a counter.
Oxidized oil, on the other hand, is one of the most difficult stains to remove. It is often confused with caramelized sugar. But upon close inspection, you will notice that there is discoloration that has “wicked” its way along the yarns to form a noticeable cross pattern along the outer edge of the stained area. This cross pattern is what sets this stain apart and makes the identification of oxidized oil relatively routine. Satisfactory removal of oxidized oil is both difficult and time-consuming.
Kelchner Cleaners provides dry cleaning, cleaning services, and wedding gown preservation to people around Kutztown, Fleetwood, Topton, and Reading.