[david_claxton]

Hello,

I've had a phone call from one of my customers about a chocolate stain on a cream sofa. She contacted the makers who said the sofa could only be cleaned with dry shampoo. What is this and if you know can you recommend a product.

Thanks,

Dave

[markpowell]

Dave,
you need to go out and do a survey and a burn test, see for yourself the fibre content you are dealing with.
Prochem fibre shampoo is sometimes used to clean upholstery you mix with water in a bowl then apply the foam that builds on the top of the mixture with a sponge.
Do you know whether the chocolate stain is from a hot chocolate drink or a bar of chocolate?
You may have problems removing without using protein spotters or de-browning products, and then rinsing.
Mark

[John Kelly]

Unfortunately most manufacturers always err on the cautious side, especially over the phone as they do not want and end user cleaning the furniture themselves then coming back complaining. Thats also why you find so many suites with dry clean only labels on when the fabric is quite suitable for wet cleaning. In fact I would go as far to say a lot of manufacturers wouldn't know where to start when it came to cleaning their products.
Dry foam, or semi dry foam as it really is, is available from all the main chemical manufacturers. It is a usefull product and results in really quick drying times due to its high level of solvents which evaporate quicker.
Regarding your problem I would do a wet clean test and if ok proceed with that which would be your best chance of removing the staining.