Vocational Service Outing to Boston Dry Cleaners

LAUNDRY -  the never ending story

Members of the Rustenburg Rotary Club were recently treated to a delicious lunch and a tour by  old friends of the club, Josh De Sousa and his beautiful wife Grace, owners of Boston Dry Cleaners.



Rotarian's - Dr Alan & Dr Joosby giving a second opinion

Boston Dry Cleaners is one of the many long established businesses of Rustenburg. Josh took over the ownership in the 70’s and grew from humble beginnings to an empire. Today Boston Dry Cleaners service most of the hospitality industry in and around Rustenburg as well as the many depots all over the district.

Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a chemical solvent other than water. The solvent used is typically tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) otherwise known as “perc”. It is used to clean delicate fabrics that cannot withstand the rough and tumble of a washing machine and dryers.

The ancient Romans used ammonia (from urine) and fuller’s earth to launder their woollen togas. Fullonicae were very prominent facilities, with at least one in every major town of any notability. These laundries obtained urine from farm animals or from special pots situated at public latrines. The industry was so profitable that fuller’s guilds were an important political constituency and the government taxed the collection of urine. I can only wonder if they adhere to the four-way-test.

Modern dry cleaning uses non-water-based solvents to remove soil and strains from clothes. The potential for using petroleum-based solvents such as gasoline and kerosene was discovered in the mid-19^th century by French dye-works owner Jean Baptiste Jolly, who noticed that his tablecloth become cleaner after his maid spilled kerosene on it. He subsequently developed a service cleaning people’s clothes in this manner which became known as “nettoyage á sec” – i.e., dry cleaning.



Josh De Sousa, owner of Boston Dry Cleaners and a much appreciated friend of Rustenburg Rotary Club



Josh showed us the all powerful dry-cleaning machines which is a combination of a domestic washing machine and clothes dryer with capacity of between 10 – 40kg. The solvent temperature is maintained at 30 degrees Celsius.  

Garments are checked for foreign objects which might damage textiles. Some textiles dyes are “loose” and will shed dye during the solvent immersion. These will not be included in a load along with lighter-colour textiles. Not all stains can be removed by dry-cleaning it and needs to be treated with spotting solvents, sometimes by steam jet or by soaking in special stain-remover liquids before garments are washed or dry cleaned.







Needless to say, the Rotarians were absolutely amazed at all this and the informative way Josh and his staff were presenting it. What a great vocational activity, thank you Josh, you and your staff are excellent examples of the Rotary Code Of Conduct and a true friend.





Just hanging - Dr Joosby & Johan

Laundry - 3 x times cleaner with Elsa, Wilma & Gaylen