A huge savings and customer service opportunity may literally be hanging right in front of your eyes.

Dry cleaning damaged clothes and garments instead of replacing them can mean substantially lower claims costs, less hassle, and higher customer satisfaction. They key is to use a reputable, reliable dry cleaner who is experienced and qualified in garment disaster restoration.

"It is critical to identify a dry cleaner who understands the insurance claims process and how to handle it,"advises Fred Huestis, Property Claims Director for Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, Ohio, and an expert on vendor management. "The claims process has many more steps than traditional over-the-counter dry cleaning business, and the chosen vendor must be experienced in handling these steps.

A closet full of smoke- or water-damaged clothing may look hopeless, but don't be daunted. Huestis says that, if not actually burned, up to 98% of clothing can be successfully cleaned to meet the insured's expectations.

Wayne Wudyka, owner and president of Huntington Cleaners in Huntington Woods, Mich., agrees. "Garment restoration is the most under served segment of insurance claims, and I believe it is the biggest source of financial loss," Wudyka says. "We can save 98% of the worst smoke and water damaged garments as long as they are not actually burned. We have an exceptionally high recovery rate."

And the costs savings are impressive. Wudyka says that, or average, garment restoration runs 16.09% of replacement costs. Considering that the average family can accumulate wardrobes in excess of $20,000 in just a few years, the savings are significant.

He also says that one of the problems is that many homeowners, as well as agents and adjusters, do not realize what is salvageable and what is not salvageable. "Dry cleanable garments are not just clothes," Wudyka says. "Leather, suede, furs, shoes, hats and household launderable items are often salvageable as well."

Another reason to clean garments is that estimating individual clothing items can be difficult because of the wide range of prices for virtually every type of clothing. "For example, a pair of jeans can cost $30 or designer jeans can cost $120," Wudyka says. "There are really no standard industry pricing guidelines that classify garments. And, when you have a large loss, it is really impractical for the agent to go through the closets garment by garment.

It's really like the black hole of the industry, and it is much more beneficial for everyone if these items are restored rather than replaced."

In fact, Wudyka says that 95% of homeowners want their items restored and returned instead of replaced. "If you think about it, clothes are the most personal items in a home," he says. "Customers are infinitely aware of how their clothes fit and feel. So, clothing restoration becomes a customer service issue, too."

Finding dry cleaners who are qualified to handle restoration dry cleaning is not always easy, however. In fact, Huestis estimates that less than two percent of the dry cleaning industry meets the necessary standards for optimum garment restoration. Those numbers may soon rise, however, with the recent organization of the International Association of Disaster Dry Cleaners. Wudyka and Huntington Cleaners hosted the inaugural meeting for the new organization's board of directors this past fall to outline membership guidelines. So far, over 130 disaster cleaners across the country have expressed interest in joining the association.

To locate a qualified dry cleaning vendor, Huestis offers these guidelines:

• The dry cleaning company should offer emergency response.
• They should also have good inventory control. "Once in the shop, make sure there is a system of checking garments
  for pre-existing damage and verifying inventory with that which was taken on-site,"Huestis advises.
• Once in the dry cleaning plant, there should be special tools for dealing with restoration work. "One of these special tools is the process of continuous distillation of solvents," Huestis explains. "Cleaners must also use a minimum double batch process, which means they run the clothes through the dry cleaning process once, remove the solvent, re-distill to remove all products, and then introduce a fresh solvent for the second process."
• Clothes must be properly folded and stored. Check into the company's storage capabilities, too. Since damaged homes are often undergoing lengthy repairs, it may be necessary for the vendor to store clothing for the insured until it is needed.
• Since many of the clothes will be washable, dry cleaners should have good quality control programs for the wet cleaning process, too. "This includes a good water softening system and a set of chemicals designed especially for the wet process," Huestis says.

"One of the chemicals that appears to do a particularly good job in restoration dry cleaning is the Sanitone process produced by Fabritec,"says Huestis. "These chemicals have no perfumes added and react in a cationic process, both in dry and wet cleaning."

Huestis also warns against one of the biggest myths about dry cleaning. "Most dry cleaners have been taught that all garments should be ozoned prior to processing," Huestis explains. "This is a myth, and is not necessary. Actually, ozone should be used on less than five percent of garments, and even then it should be added at the end of the process. Besides health concerns, ozone negatively impacts elastics and some synthetics. Nevertheless, ozone is used by most dry cleaners and most will use it at the beginning of the cleaning process."

Both Huestis and Wudyka agree that it is imperative to identify a dry cleaner who is qualified in restoration services that are actually needed. If you don't find a qualified dry cleaner in your area, be prepared to ship the clothes to one that is.

"And it is important that the dry cleaner have a sense of urgency about restoration work," Wudyka adds. "It is important to get the clothes out of the house as soon as possible to remove non-volatile residues, which can ultimately cause further damage if they remain on the items."

For more information about Huntington Cleaners and their garment restoration services, or about dry cleaning restoration training seminars, call (248) 541-6038, or visit their website at huntingtoncleaners.com.

Typical Garment Replacement vs. Restoration Costs
As the owner and president of one of the nation's largest insurance restoration providers, Wayne Wudyka has had the opportunity to compile some interesting statistics and examples to illustrate garment restoration vs. replacement:

	Clothing Item	Est. Replacement Cost	Est. Restoration Cost
	Ralph Lauren polo shirt	$75.00	$4.95
	Jaclyn Smith skirt	$19.99	$5.25
	Giorgio Armani suit	$1,500.00	$12.50
	Donna Karan dress	$450.00	$10.00
	Haggar slacks	$40.00	$5.50
	Tommy Hilfiger jeans	$85.00	$5.50

Case Study: Typical Fire Claim
Heavy smoke and soot from fire on second floor, 370 pieces of clothing, 25 pairs of shoes, six purses, 120 tbs. bulk laundry picked up. Only 12 pieces of clothing rejected after cleaning