How are things actually cleaned at the dry cleaners?

Long story short - I had bought DH an expensive wool jacket last Xmas. 2 months later, his car was broken into and it was stolen, among other things. 6 months after that my neighbor was cleaning out some shrubbery on the side of his house (public property, not fenced in) and he found the jacket. We are confident that no one wore it, I am sure they just searched the pockets and threw it in the bushes. We were going to throw it out, but we dont have a lot of money and would then need to buy DH a new winter jacket.

We were considering bringing it to the dry cleaners but how do they actually clean things there? I feel like it needs a good washing machine wash at home, then maybe bring it to the cleaners, for what ? A steam cleaning or something???

I hope it doesn't sound gross. We were skeeved at first too. But there are no stains, nothing seems to be wrong with it. It was just sitting in bushes for months, so maybe bugs would be the worst thing?

Re: How are things actually cleaned at the dry cleaners?

1st DO NOT PUT WOOL IN THE WASHING MACHINE!!!

2nd, to answer your question.

Re: How are things actually cleaned at the dry cleaners?

unless the coat says dry clean ONLY you can put it in the wash, just don't put it in the dryer. I wash wool sweaters and a coat and never have problems. If you are concerned with it getting 'pills' you can zip it up and turn it inside out or you can put it in a pillow case. Wash on gentle and lay flat to dry...i would recommend washing it on a sunny day and letting it air dry in the sun so it doesn't get the funny wet wool smell.

Put the wash load on gentle cycle and wash in cold water.

If there are stains on the coat, you can spot clean those with AFTA it is sold in a little metal can on the cleaner isle in the grocery store...it is a 'dry cleaner' like solvent that works good on tough stains.

Glad they found the coat!

As far as how things are dry cleaned, the last post explains it well.