During this time of elevated hygiene awareness surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to clean the items in your home that may usually get overlooked: your clothes! You can bring home germs even if you’re good about washing your hands. This is because germs can remain on your clothing for several days.

Before we go any further, it’s important to define what we mean by “germs.” Germs are microorganisms, including bacteria and viruses, capable of causing disease. One effective way to kill germs that are embedded in your clothing is with dry cleaning at proper temperatures. Putting your clothes through a dry cleaning cycle helps ensure that you—and your family—stay healthy.

How Do We Know So Much About Dry Cleaning?

CRDN specializes in restoration dry cleaning, which means we remove harmful toxins from the textiles (clothing, fabrics and other soft contents) and electronics in your home after a water event, fire event, or natural disaster.  As the largest textile and electronics restoration service provider for over 19 years, our restoration processes include dry cleaning and laundry services to clean and disinfect your textile items.

This article addresses the following germ-related questions:

• How does dry cleaning kill germs (including bacteria and viruses)?
• How does the laundry process disinfect clothes?
• Is it safe to get clothes professionally dry cleaned?

How Does Dry Cleaning Kill Germs?

A dry cleaning cycle using high heat, is a very effective way to remove germs from clothing. Why? Multilayered dry heat has been found to kill germs that can often be found on fabrics. The Dry cleaning processes and pressing of items using steam heat reaching 160 degrees Fahrenheit has been proved to kill germs and viruses.

How Does the Laundry Process Disinfect Clothes?

While it is possible to kill some germs by washing clothes in warm water and drying them at home, the high heat exposure from a professional laundry service – around 160 degrees Fahrenheit – has been found to consistently and effectively disinfect by eliminating germs, including viruses and bacteria, from clothing. Your washer and dryer at home simply can’t handle these extreme temperatures.

Is It Safe to Get Clothes Professionally Dry Cleaned?

Yes! Based on the information above, professional dry cleaning and laundry processes can be effective in cleaning and disinfecting clothes. Additionally, the industry has been encouraged to adopt protocols for the safe handling and delivery of clothing and other textile items. An example of such protocols has been provided by the National Cleaners Association and can be found here.

About CRDN

CRDN, the Certified Restoration Dry Cleaning Network, was born out of a need by the insurance and disaster restoration industries to handle fabric contents of homes and businesses damaged by smoke and soot caused by fire as well as water damage. CRDN provides textile and electronics restoration. Your local CRDN is committed to providing quality textile restoration services and a seamless textile restoration process. We work to add more value to insurance adjusters and policyholders by covering a wide range of clothing and household textiles. 

Find a CRDN location near you or give us a call at the number displayed above to learn more.