Are my clothes dirty?

Does dry cleaning really get your clothes clean? How does it work? I have a few pieces of clothing that are 'dry clean only', but I feel weird about not actually washing them in the washing machine.

Hi!

Dry cleaning is a process that cleans clothes without water. The cleaning fluid that is used is a liquid, and all garments are immersed and cleaned in a liquid solvent -- the fact that there is no water is why the process is called 'dry.'

Your clothes go through the following steps:

1. Tagging and inspection - Some method, whether it is small paper tags or little labels written on a shirt collar, is used to identify your clothes so they don't get mixed up with everyone else's. Clothes are also examined for missing buttons, tears, etc. that the dry cleaner might get blamed for otherwise.

2. Pre-treatment - The cleaner looks for stains on your clothes and treats them to make removal easier and more complete.

3. Dry cleaning - The clothes are put in a machine and cleaned with a solvent.

4. Post-spotting - Any lingering stains are removed.

5. Finishing - This includes pressing, folding, packaging and other finishing touches.

So they're clean..but in a different way than doing it at home with a washing machine