Actually, D.A., most of the kiltmakers with the heavy credentials seem to agree that washing beats dry cleaning. One of the reasons often cited is that dry cleaning removes the essential oils from the wool. Having a lot of Shetland Sweaters that have been dry cleaned over the years, I have to agree with this observation. Some of the wool washing aids claim that they contain lanolin and that they are actually "therapeutic" for wool...not being the testing lab technician, I can't agree or disagree with this.

Add to this the number of tales that we've heard of dry cleaners totally screwing up on the pressing and there's a compelling argument for careful washing, drying and pressing. Procedures have been discussed here several times...just do a search.

Best

AA