I have a white cotton dress that was returned to the store. The customer claims WE put the stains on her dress. She wants us to fix it or pay her $ 120.00 to replace it.
We used everything we had but couldn’t fix it. Please help.
Signed, Lee Adams American Cleaners, Roswell, New Mexico
Dear Lee,
As Kenney Slatten would ask… “How much do you charge for putting stains on garments??!!” HaHa.
This is not an example of an invisible sugar stain or oxidized oil stain appearing over time with heat or age. There is no way your process would have produced these stains onto the garment…
While the origins of the stain will remain a mystery. The solution to removing the stain will not.
The good news is the dress is white and made of cotton, so we don’t have to worry about pulling color so we can use every tool in our toolbox of chemicals, including bleaches.
PermaGo, is potassium permanganate. It is violet purple in color. It is the absolute best tool to remove old, unknown permanent type stains.
You can only use PermaGo on whites, and it has to be neutralized to stop the bleaching action.
Apply PermaGo directly onto the stain. It will turn from violet purple to a UPS brown. Apply steam.
After two minutes, use ExGo, Hydrogen Peroxide or sodium bisulfite to neutralize. When the brown residual stain is gone, the bleaching action is stopped, and the original stain has been removed. The dress has been restored and can be returned to the customer, like new.
Jeff Schwarz “The Stain Wizard” has been in the drycleaning and laundry industry since 1991. He represents A. L.Wilson Chemical Company covering 18 states and Western Canada.
Jeff has been part of several drycleaning associations and conducts seminars and in-plant training across the United States.
He wears his stained lab coat as a tribute to Doris Easley. He writes for various trade publications as a tribute to the legacy of his closest friend Kenney Slatten.
Jeff can be reached at (201) 240-9446 or email: JeffSchwarz@Alwilson.com.
