Making garments “like-new”
with sizing
By Dr. Jerry Harlan
Proper selection and use of a sizing can
help a drycleaner improve both his image and “bottom
line.”
As Paul Eisenhaur points out in IFI
Bulletin POT 199, “Sizing imparts additional body to a
fabric, improving the hand and feel of the garment. Sizing also
helps clothes resist wear wrinkles and can significantly reduce
the time spent in finishing”.
Using a properly formulated sizing
provides the “extra touch” that the customer can
only get in a professionally cleaned and finished garment.
Today’s competitive environment requires this
“extra touch” to ensure your customer returns to
you instead of going to a competitor or using a “home
care” product. This “extra touch” can also be
used as a selling point in your advertising.
Using sizing not only increases customer
satisfaction but helps the fabric resist soil and staining
— making it easier to clean when the customer brings the
garment back. The increase in productivity from reduced
finishing time can more than offset additional supply costs.
Sizings are polymers or polymer blends
that are specially selected and formulated to add
“body” and resilience to fabric without creating
stiffness or “boardiness” to the “hand”
of the fabric (in contrast to starches).
The sizing also must not:
1. Prevent the fabric from
“breathing” (transmission of air or water vapor).
2. Dull the “luster” or
discolor the fabric, either initially or on aging.
3. “Gum up” equipment.
4. Shorten filter life.
This complex set of requirements requires
extensive research in formulation and close control of quality
during manufacturing.
Sizings meeting these requirements are
available from suppliers in solid form, pre-dissolved in
solvent, or blended with detergents for easy maintenance of an
appropriate level of sizing.
As Norman Oehlke points out in IFI Fabric
and Fashion Bulletin #339, “Many fabrics are heavily
sized during manufacture to give the fabric a desired body and
hand. However, some sizings and finishes are dissolved in the
solvent, resulting in a definite loss of body and limpness of
the fabric.”
Use of a modest level of properly
formulated sizing can enhance the hand and appearance of
garments by restoring original sizings lost through wear and
cleaning. Where practical from an operational standpoint,
special baths can be maintained for restorative work where
heavier applications of sizing are needed.
It is the ability of the professional
drycleaner to restore garments to “like new”
condition that distinguishes them from the competition and
keeps the customer coming back.
 |
