How does dry cleaning work?

Question:How does dry cleaning not damage clothing that is delicate? They obviously don't use water/soap/etc. but then how does stuff get clean?

Answers:
Dry cleaning washes your clothes in chemicals instead of water. The most common solvent for dry cleaning is perchloroethylene. Clothes get damaged at dry cleaners too...fairly often. You can ask them to clean it by hand, usually for an extra charge.

Most clothes can be gently handwashed instead of dry-cleaned. Acetate really can't be washed (used for linings, especially common in wool pants) and some silks can't either. A lot of clothes that say they're dry clean only say that because they're not constructed very well and are less likely to fall apart during dry cleaning than laundering.