1. Avoid letting stains get comfortable. Try not to put items away with spills or stains on it. The warmth of a closet and exposure to natural or artificial light and the atmosphere can contribute to setting a stain.

2. Catch stains before they set. Bring in a stained garment as soon as possible, preferably within a few days, to prevent stains from setting.

3. Avoid ironing or drying stained or soiled clothes. Ironing will set stains and drive the soil deeper into the fabric. It’s best to have soiled clothes cleaned before ironing. Heat from ironing or drying can help some invisible stains like ginger ale oxidize and become more noticeable like the image on the right above. Setting also makes stains like this harder to successfully remove.

4. Test for colorfastness before attempting home stain removal with water or cleaning fluid to avoid creating a faded area or streak. Wet an inconspicuous area, such as an inside seam, and blot with a paper towel to make sure the color is fast.

5. Avoid rubbing stains, especially when attempting to remove a stain from silk. Blot the stained area. This will help remove the staining substance without spreading the stain and will avoid damaging the fabric.

6. Let us know of the location of specific stains and any procedures you have used to remove them, even if the stains are no longer visible.

Source: DLI Consumer News Vol.71

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Bummed that hard water ruined your favorite new shirt? One of the most common problems with hard water is how it reacts with soaps and detergents—in the washing machine, shower, and dishwasher. When it comes to doing laundry, this problem can lead to dingy, stiff clothes that are hard to clean.

Let’s define what ‘hard water’ is. It usually comes from an underground water source—either a well or water that has traveled through rock or soil. Minerals are deposited into the water at high concentrations, usually calcium, and magnesium. The presence of these minerals does not make the water dangerous. What it DOES do is combine with laundry soap to form a frustrating substance known as ‘curd.’

The presence of curd in the clothes washing process makes getting them truly clean much harder. In the laundry, hard water causes soap curd and detergent deposits to end up clinging to clothing fibers. This can affect the texture of your clothes, making the fabric feel rougher, while also, dull colors, and even giving the white fabric a grey or yellow tinge. The stress this puts on the garment can dramatically shorten its lifespan.

At Vivaglo, we do not only clean your clothes, but we care for its lifespan. The water that we use is filtered and treated with Reverse Osmosis System.
Reverse osmosis, commonly referred to as RO, is a water filtration process that removes contaminants found in water to make it drinkable.
Our RO units incorporate a 4 stage process for optimal water quality.

Some of the impurities that is removed by RO filtration technology include:

• Fluoride
• Lead
• Chlorine & Chlormamine
• Lead
• Pesticides
• Nitrates & Sulfates

Benefits of washing with filtered RO water

1. Cleaner and softer clothes
   The minerals in hard water (untreated water) interfere with the ability of soap to clean. Once the minerals are no longer able to interfere, detergents clean more effectively.
2. No more yellowing in clothes
   Iron and Manganese in water is one of the reasons for our white clothes to begin yellowing over time. In RO water, these minerals are filtered, resulting in brighter color in clothes.

Source: https://www.pelicanwater.com/blog/cleaner-softer-clothing-filtered-water/

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Drycleaners use very large and technically advanced computer-controlled dry cleaning machines. Your clothes do get wet, but the liquid solvent used evaporates much more quickly than water.  Since solvent is used instead of water, it is not drained and disposed of as a washing machine does with soiled water. The solvent is re-circulated through filters throughout the entire cleaning cycle to remove impurities loosened during the cleaning process. Then the solvent is distilled to be crystal clear and totally purifed before it is used again.

Drycleaning has two distinct advantages over cleaning with water or “wet” cleaning: Water swells the fibres. It is this swelling action which causes shrinkage and dye fading in many garments.  Drycleaning solvents are much more superior to water in the removal of oily or greasy residues which are the base component of many stains.

After your clothes have been properly cleaned, your cleaner “finishes” (presses) your garments using specialized finishing equipment.

Finishing processes used vary, depending on the garments being processed, but generally involve steaming and pressing.

Steaming is effective for relaxing wrinkles, enhancing pressing, and also serves to enhance cleaning by removing any remaining water-soluble materials and killing bacteria.

Pressing is the final step and produces crisp, smooth results difficult to duplicate at home with a hand iron. This requires considerable skill and training and allows for a final inspection of the garment.  After your garments have been pressed, they are inspected one last time and packaged to await your arrival.

Factors Determining the Cleaning Method

Four major factors determine whether a garment is cleaned in water or solvent:

1. The types of soil present
2. The fibre composition and garment construction
3. The dye present in the fabric
4. The nature of the various trims, linings, or other findings that may be used in the garment.

Many factors determine whether a dry cleaning or a wet cleaning process is compatible with a particular garment or textile article. Your professional cleaner, therefore, must use his or her professional judgment to determine which process will best restore the garment to a like “new” condition.

Source: https://www.drycleanersweb.com.au/what-drycleaning

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Yellowing that occurs on older or repeatedly washed linens usually results from a breakdown of the original brightener/fluorescent-whitening agent. New items normally contain brighteners, and will appear whiter and brighter than the older linens.

Loss of brighteners can result from several sources. Possible sources may include repeated washing with high alkaline detergents and/or bleaching agents. In addition, some brighteners will break down and discolor as the fabric ages. Water quality will also affect the brightness of the linen after repeated washing, especially if the water is not treated for iron and manganese.

At Vivaglo, our water is actually drinkable, it is filtered for impurities before being treated with Reverse Osmosis System. Our lab test, showed a very low TDS value of below 40. TDS stands for total dissolved solids, and represents the total concentration of dissolved substances in water. As a guideline, normal bottled drinking water has a TDS value of around 170.

Combined with Vivaglo’s specially designed washing process, we are able to maintain the integrity of the color better than most of our competitors. We are able to produce brighter white on old linen using our specially designed washing process, without the use of chlorine bleach.

Source: DLI

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CINET (International Committee of Textile Care) was founded 35 years ago and grew to become a global umbrella association with 100+ members (national associations, international suppliers, research institutes and individual companies). CINET aims to build a global network of experts, stimulate the implementation of innovation by exchanging information and profile the capabilities of the industry (a.o. with Global Awards).

The Global Best Practice Award Program stimulates the implementation of best practice measures, service aspects, marketing and quality of the professional textile care industry and will demonstrate its capabilities. It will provide a benchmark and platform for the new state of the art in modern professional textile care. The awards will be presented to the most sustainable and service oriented professional textile cleaning companies and industrial laundry/textile services companies with reference to standards in their own home country. The award emphasizes the focus of our industry towards new business models & services to end-users & clients, as well as for the environment and its people.

To encourage the distribution of these Best Practices in the whole Indonesian industry, ASLI (Asosiasi Laundry Indonesia) & CINET are jointly inviting the professionals of textile care to participate at the Indonesian Best Practices Awards 2018 during the EXPO Laundry.

Expo Laundry is the largest laundry trade show in Indonesia and takes place from 26 – 29 March 2018. For the first time, ASLI & CINET recognized the best laundry practice in the business through 2 different categories, International Franchise Dry Cleaner and Laundry Kiloan.

Per category there are 3 awards:

• Overall Best Practice Award
• Innovation Award
• Sustainability Award.

Vivaglo is proud being the one to receive the first Innovation Award in International Franchise Dry Cleaner Category with its latest generation of German technology and the first in Indonesia to introduced Intense®.

Intense® is the latest development of SEITZ, a highly effective solvent for state-of-the-are textile cleaning and it is suitable for sensitive, high-quality textiles with applications.

Intense® is also an environmentally neutral solvent. No harmful influences on man or the environment are known. It contains no carcinogenic substances.

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PERC is a colorless liquid solvent traditionally used by dry cleaners. While PERC is an effective cleaning agent, its toxic nature and the health risks and side effects from using, make it an unideal choice for dry cleaning.

PERC has been classified as a likely carcinogen by the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency), and the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer), meaning that long term exposure to PERC greatly increases your risk of cancer. Lower levels of PERC exposure can cause respiratory problems and issues with breathing, as well as dizziness and fatigue. PERC is also classified as toxic waste and cannot be disposed of in our water ways.

Although the use of PERC in dry cleaning is not banned in Indonesia, other countries overseas already have regulations in place to protect consumers. In 2011, California was the first state in the United States to ban PERC, due to the alarming risks posed to health. Other states including Texas and New York have also made moves towards banning the use of PERC in dry cleaning. In Europe, PERC has also been phased out in France and Denmark.

How can I be exposed to Perc?

Clothing that has been dry cleaned using PERC will retain traces of the toxic chemical.

PERC is classified as a hazardous air contaminant and breaks down very slowly in the air, meaning that the air in your home will also be contaminated by clothing which has been dry cleaned using PERC and then brought into your home.

Exposure to PERC occurs just by breathing the air in even if there is no dry cleaner nearby.

If your dry cleaner is using PERC, the amount of PERC retained in the garments will depend on the handling of the chemical. Improper handling will increase the amount of PERC retained.

How do I know if my dry cleaner is using PERC?

The best way to find out if your dry cleaner is using PERC on your clothing, is to ask them.

If your dry cleaner is PERC-free, their website, social media accounts and store information will usually reflect this.

Vivaglo is proudly PERC-free and is the first in Indonesia to use the latest generation of alternative dry cleaning solvents, called Intense®. Intense® is the latest development of SEITZ, a highly effective solvent for state-of-the-are textile cleaning and

it is suitable for sensitive, high-quality textiles with applications.

Intense® is also an environmentally neutral solvent. No harmful influences on man or the environment are known. It contains no carcinogenic substances.

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