The history of professional garment care traces back to ancient Pompeii, where the earliest cleaners, known as "fullers," utilized lye and ammonia for laundering, and a type of clay known as "fuller's earth" to remove soils and greases from garments too delicate for traditional laundering methods.
The first documented use of turpentine, derived from pine pitch and known under various names such as oil of turpentine, spirits of turpentine, and camphene, dates back to 1690 for removing tar and varnish from fabrics. By 1716, turpentine began being regularly used as a "dry cleaner" for grease and oil stains, enhancing the wet cleaning processes of the time.
Before the adoption of organic solvents for immersive garment cleaning, the term "degraisseur" (degreaser) was used in France to describe specialists who removed grease and fat stains from textiles. These cleaners, also referred to as teinturier-degraisseur (dryer-degreaser), were skilled in both dyeing and cleaning garments.
In the early 20th century, dry cleaners began utilizing spirits of turpentine, termed "camphene," as a dry cleaning solvent. The French firm Jolly-Belin is credited with pioneering its commercial use, leading to widespread adoption across Europe and into the British Isles, spearheaded by John Pullar and Sons in Perth, Scotland. This method became known as "French Cleaning," a nod to the high skill required and its origins in France, a term still used today to denote a process involving exceptional craftsmanship.
Today, Kennedy's Cleaners aims to safely clean fabrics while preserving their color, striving to restore garments to a nearly new condition. Dry cleaning is defined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the Care Label Rules as:
A dry cleaning machine is specifically designed to consider the chemical properties of the solvent, along with relative humidity and tumble dry temperatures. Garments are placed dry into the machine, come into contact with the solvent, and are removed dry. Once cleaned, garments are finished using commercial steam presses and steam air finishers.
831 N Segrave St
Daytona Beach, Florida 32114
386-258-7343
3758 Roscommon Dr
Ormond Beach, FL 32174
386-672-3389
