FIRST QUARTER 2019 33 During professional drycleaning, the urethane film at the armholes and collar of this dress started to peel away. NOT in Vogue There may be some difficulty processing the garments featured here. Members have indicated that the damage occurred even though these garments were cleaned according to the care label’s instructions. The garments shown are among the current top repeaters received in DLI’s International Textile Analysis Lab and are selected on the basis of the seasonality and timeliness of the problem. DLI has contacted these manufacturers to work with them on resolving these problems. The bottom portion of this bulletin details the status of this work. As these garments are currently on the market, however, and since we have seen repeated examples of damage, you may want to discuss these potential problems with your customers. Manufacturer: Calvin Klein RN: 54163 Manufacturer Contact Information: G-III Apparel Group Importer, Manufacturing, Wholesaler, 512 Seventh Ave. New York, NY 10018 Ph. (866) 513-0513 or (212) 403-0500 www.calvinklein.us or calvinklein@G-III.com Description: A tan dress made of cotton, polyester and spandex with faux snakeskin ribbon trim at the neck and arm openings made of polyurethane film. Care Instructions: Formally on similar dresses the care instruction said to dryclean. Now, this care label states: “Machine Wash Cold Delicate-Tumble dry low-Warm iron.” There are no corresponding Inter- national Cleanability Code care symbols. Problem: This dress is deceptive and appears to be a wool-like textured fabric with leather trim that should be drycleaned. During drycleaning however the urethane film binder partially dissolved causing the synthetic snakeskin leather film to separate, peel and blister. Response: The manufacturer’s customer service representative stated that once they realized that their faux leather trim garments cannot always be drycleaned without risk of damage, they changed the care label to one that will now clean these garments safely. Improperly labeled garments damaged when drycleaned can be returned to the seller. Or, contact the manufacturer directly. The manufacturer and their vendors will not be responsible for garments drycleaned when correctly labeled as washable. By Jim Kirby, DLI Textile Analyst BULLE TIN NO. 132