The Finer Points of Washing, Drying and Processing Comforters
For the next few months, my store will be inundated with customers bringing us their comforters to wash. Comforter cleaning has grown to become a sizable segment of my operation, and it can be a hugely profitable part of your laundry business as well.
One of the reasons comforter cleaning is profitable for many self-service laundries is because laundromats have the capacity for these items, whereas traditional drycleaners simply don’t have equipment to handle very much comforter business. Therefore, many drycleaners charge a premium for cleaning comforters because those jobs interfere with their basic business model.
After all, the small neighborhood drycleaner probably has only one or two washing machines, which are earmarked primarily for shirt laundry and other types of wetcleaning. A typical drycleaner just can’t wash the volume of comforters that we, as laundry owners, can. Most self-service laundries have plenty of capacity during the day.
Of course, to clean comforters in a professional manner, there are several things you need to take into consideration. To start, you need to be able to identify the types of comforters that require special attention. You also need to know something about stain treating, as well as which comforters you can and cannot dry. Lastly, you should weigh your options as to how to package the finished comforters for a professional look.
Washing and Drying
Let’s start with how to identify the cleaning process for a particular comforter. There are several things to consider when you’re inspecting a comforter – the first being what the item is made of.
If it’s a 100 percent polyester comforter and its finish is very decorative – featuring shiny materials or embellished embroidery – it’s important to clean the item with as little mechanical action as possible. The best way to do so is with warm water (no hotter 79 degrees) in a delicate wash cycle. With those comforters, you can run a regular extract on them; however, once the comforter comes out, it’s important that they air-dry. As a result, you need a place to hang them overnight – perhaps over some laundry carts in the back of your store. The comforters should dry completely in a matter of a few hours.
Another type of comforter to look out for are those without supportive stitching. These items require the exact same type of treatment as we’ve just discussed. Most polyester comforters have a filling in them that is attached within the comforter every couple of inches. However, some manufacturers attach the filling only every few feet.
The stitching is designed to hold that polyester filling in place. Therefore, when you find comforters where the stitching is 12 inches or farther apart, you need to be careful, especially during the washing process. And under no circumstances should you dry such comforters; if you do, the tumbling action could cause that filling to move all to one side. When you pull it out of the dryer, you’ll have a big wad of filling on one side of the comforter, and the rest of it will be empty. It can take up to 30 minutes to straighten out that kind of an issue, and that would destroy your profit margin on that job.
At my store, when we receive comforters like that, we’ll sometimes put safety pins through the item in several locations to hold that padding in place. Of course, we’ll use a very low mechanical action during the washing process, and then finish up by air-drying those comforters.
Another type of comforter we get a lot are down-filled comforters. We don’t want to wash down comforters on the hottest possible setting, but we certainly have the opportunity to do that if we need to bleach the white exterior. The key to this process is making sure to add a good amount of fabric softener (preferably non-scented) to the last rinse in order to revitalize the feathers. In addition, down comforters – along with comforters that are heavily stitched – definitely can be dried and quickly moved through the process. However, it’s important to note that down comforters take a long time to dry. The drying process will take as long as an hour, and as a result, we charge more for down comforters.
It’s always best to dry comforters in your largest dryers. For example, we try to dry all of our comforters in our 70-pound pockets. The larger the dryer the less the possibility of tangling, and the finished product will look a lot nicer.
In addition, it’s always best to dry comforters with a slow, low-heat process. Whether it’s a down comforter that’s holding a lot of water or a polyester comforter that doesn’t require much time to dry, you should always use low heat when drying these items.
With down comforters, you can speed up the drying process by tossing tennis balls or new tennis shoes into the dryer to help break up the feathers in the load. It’s important with down-filled comforters to ensure that all of the clumps of feathers are completely broken up and that the comforter is fully dry.
Our personal policy is to dry a comforter and then come back after letting it hang for a couple of hours to check it. If possible, we let them dry overnight. Sometimes, we’ll dry a comforter for an additional half-hour on low heat just to guarantee that all of the moisture is gone.
If you don’t remove all of the moisture from a down comforter, it will start to smell musty within a few days – and it likely will develop mold spots. Those black mold spots will alter the fabric’s composition, and they are not reversible. As a result, it’s important to fully dry all down comforters.
Treating Stains
Nearly every comforter made today will clean better in water than it will in drycleaning solvents. So, the cleaning process doesn’t require anything specific, other than a quality liquid detergent for cold water.
Clearly, you’ll face some common stains when washing comforters; these stains likely will include chocolate, food, wine, pet urine, etc. However, pre-treating these stains with the correct solution and letting that solution sit on the affected area for 10 to 15 minutes will usually resolve any stain issues.
One of my favorite, all-around stain treating solutions is Formula 409. I also like to use a quality citrus-based, di-limonene stain treater. Both of these solutions are great for pre-treating comforters – simply apply along the “neckline,” which is the top of the comforter where people tend to hold it and snuggle next to it. As a result, that’s usually where you’re going to find a line of human sweat and oils. So, we always pre-treat that “neckline”area before we process any of our comforters.
The Finished Product
There are a couple of good options for packaging the finished comforters.
The first one, which is used by many drycleaners, is to hang the comforters on an 18-inch-wide, heavy metal drapery hanger.
With thinner comforters, you can fold them lengthwise, hang them on the drapery hanger and cover them with traditional poly. It’s a nice, professional look.
The other method is to use a zippered, vented polybag, which you can purchase from most drycleaning suppliers. This is an excellent alternative to the drapery hanger, and it’s a way to return comforters to customers in “like-new”packaging. These bags are available in a variety of sizes – everything from small blanket bags to large storage bags that can hold a feather bed. Most vendors carry at least five different sizes of polybags.
At my store, we always have a few extra comforters packaged in comforter bags sitting on a display rack – just as a marketing tool to remind customers that we do indeed clean comforters and to let them see exactly how nice the finished product looks.
As a self-service laundry owner, you’re in a great position to corner the market on comforter cleaning in your neighborhood. Just follow the simple keys outlined above for tackling today’s comforters – and you’ll be well on your way.
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