05/30/2018

Cleaning Your American Flag

“Mom,” asks Gray, “does every single country in the world have a national flag?”  “I would assume so,” I replied.  “But how do you know for sure? Don’t you think you should as Siri?”  And so, I undertake a 30-minute research project trying to answer my son’s question.  The best I could determine is that as of 2017, Northern Ireland had no official flag of its own and uses the flag of the United Kingdom, but Northern Ireland is not an independent country.  Therefore, there are no sovereign nations in the world without official flags.  He seemed satisfied with the answer.

His questions typically lead me to come up with my own set of questions – How did flags originate?  When was the first flag used?  I found that historically flags were used for things like messaging, signaling, identification, decoration, and military purposes and can be documented back to the Zhou Dynasty of China, 1046-256 BC.  Today flags are national symbols; something that brings us together to say we all belong to the same community, organization, or nation. 

And given that they are a national symbol, A Cleaner World believes in taking proper care of such an important piece of fabric.  Here are some important tips when it comes to caring for an American Flag:

• Dirt and air pollution can make colors on your American Flag look dull and can cause damage to its fibers.
• Outdoor American Flags that are washed or dry cleaned regularly will maintain their brilliant colors and last longer than flags that are not properly cared for.
• To clean your flag at home, wash it with a mild soap on the gentle cycle and remove it from the washing machine promptly to avoid having the colors run, then lay it out flat and allow it to air dry.
• But better yet, bring your flag to any A Cleaner World location because we clean American Flags free of charge – every day.