Perhaps the profession of laundress or washerwoman is not as old as tailor’s craft but it’s also ancient enough. As you know laundering was the main occupation in the Magdalene’s asylums and even in Odyssey Homer described that Princess and her handmaidens washed their clothes with their own hands and it was not something ashamed or unusual.

Because of fast-paced progress, natural tendency to comfort and not very good weather conditions of the European Continent the first big laundries appeared here. Strict etiquette rules required certain outfit for different occasions and the noble ladies needed a big staff of handmaidens to keep wardrobe in proper condition. French Classic Emil Zola gave very detailed and bright description of one of Paris laundry in the famous novel “Entrapment”. Gervaise, the main character, doing laundry for a living. She works closely with hundreds of other Parisian laundresses. High humidity, constant contact with water and hard physical labor were their eternal companions.

Literary evidence of the eldest sources says that first dry cleaning methods were familiar even to the ancient Romans. It was they who invented the well-known “grandma’s method” to sprinkle fresh spots with salt which absorbs the source of dirt. Speaking about dry cleaning as a chemical process, history gives the garland to the Europeans.

The owner of dye-house Jean Baptiste Jolly accidentally flipped over a bottle of turpentine on the tablecloth covered with greasy spots. And in a while when liquid evaporated, there was no trace of them. Thus the successful Frenchman found a pot of gold and very soon he opened dry cleaning atelier in Paris which brought him fame and fortune.

However there were some traps and pitfalls round: the combustible solvents used for cleaning were very inflammable and dry cleaners very often suffered of fires at that time. Trying to solve this problem, William Joseph Stoddard, a dry cleaning specialist from Atlanta, invented the so-called Stoddard solvent, better known as white spirit. It was much more less fire hazardous, but long contact with this substance affected in not very good manner on staff health.

The invention of perchlorethylene became a real revolution in the field of dry cleaning. It is almost non-flammable and has the ability to remove the most persistent stains without damaging clothes. While it can fairly be considered a real panacea for all stains, you can’t just load clothes into the dry cleaning machine drum, fill it with solvent and just leave them, hoping to get them out clean in a while.

At this point the highly qualified professional machine operator perhaps is more important that all cleaning means. All clothes and items are checked and sorted very carefully before cleaning. Buttons, fasteners and all demontable accessories are taking out and the items that impossible to remove are covered with special protection. Clothes made of very delicate fabrics can be packed in special perforated bags. Spots of different origin require different time of perchlorethylene treatment. In other words, final success and the great appearance of the item depend on many important details.

Today European dry cleaners still remain the ideal model of quality throughout the world. We take into account not only many years of experience and a track record of western colleagues but also specific features of Russian climate and city conditions. We closely monitor the latest trends and achievements in the field of dry cleaning and constantly improve the skills of our specialists. Trusting us to take care of your clothes you can be sure that we do our best to achieve the impeccable result and provide high-class service.