please fix my pants

April 12, 2005 8:10 AM

Last summer I had a pair of black dress pants dry cleaned. I didn't check them out until a month later, at which point I noticed that there was chalk-like stains all over the pants. I assumed it was dry cleaning fluid/whatever, and took it to another cleaner to get it sorted out, to no avail. Can anyone suggest how to fix my lovely trousers?

The other cleaners said that there was no way that it could've come from dry cleaning and that I must've washed it myself. They even yelled at me and accused me of defiling the good name of the dry cleaning industry!

Apparently it may have lost some of the color (in wispy, smoke-like lines?). Is it possible to get them recolored?

(I don't remember where I originally had the pants cleaned either.)

posted by krunk to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (1 answer total)

I had something similar happen with a dress shirt, and figured it was an extra bit of whatever they use to dry clean the shirts. I think I soaked it in water for a bit, rubbed the area in question to get the stuff off, and then let it air dry. Then I took it for dry cleaning to get it pressed, startched, and in general looking proper again. The shirt is fine now, coloring and all, although I remember thinking it was ruined when I first noticed the discoloring. It was a throw away if I couldn't get it off, thus the risk of soaking it in water, but it paid off.

Recoloring is a bit of a trick I've never ventured to but some dry cleaners or coin-op cleaners still do. There is one in Waltham, MA called Rosie's, I think, that does. Call around. If one doesn't do it they'll likely have fielded the question from others and know who to contact.
posted by jwells at 9:21 AM on April 12, 2005