Pay less to clean your shirts!

I want to illuminate one of the most frequent complaints I hear about drycleaners.
“I wanted my shirt laundered. Why did you dryclean it? I don’t want to pay 3 or 4 times what you charge for the laundered shirt!”

Even worse – the public often get the impression that their cleaner charges more for women’s clothing than men’s. That is illegal! Unfortunately, the clerks working at many cleaners don’t understand why the prices are what they are. Poorly trained Customer service reps re-enforce this common misconception.

Before I address the WHY, here are my tips for buying shirts so that you won't experience this:



First: Buy 100% cotton! Rayon, spandex blend, silk, etc. CANNOT BE Machine Finished! The machine has 400F plates that close on the WET material. These materials melt, tear or otherwise cannot withstand the process!

Second: Select shirts with standard buttons. - Pearl buttons, snaps, etc. will break or melt!

Third: Do not buy shirts with pleats, tacks, ornamentation or linings that can flop around.

Lastly: Buy your shirts between a size 6 and 12 - anything too large or too small SHOULD cost extra because it won't fit on the machine.

Shirts can be finished by 3 methods: Machine Only (Least costly), Touch up - Machine and then touched up with an iron (More Labor intensive), Hand Finish - Ironed the old fashioned way (If you have ironed your own shirts, you know what I'm saying when I say this is the most labor intensive. A skilled finisher with the best equipment can still take up to 15 minutes to properly iron a linen or cotton blouse!)

The reason drycleaning is expensive is because of the time, supplies, labor and utilities involved.



So the natural question would be "Why don't they make machines for other types of clothing?" Well there is no garment as uniform and frequently used as a man's dress shirt.





I hope this photo of the shirts as they come off of the machine (no touch-up) make my point. Every one is a different brand. Some are short sleeve, some are button down. But they are notably all alike.



Try this with women's blouses and you will begin to understand your drycleaners dilemma!

So let's review why these shirts are so inexpensive: First off, shirts are not dried. There are no utilities necessary to dry the shirts, because they are pressed wet. The shirt machine is “dressed” with a wet shirt, and then 2 400 degree hot metal plates close on the shirt drying and pressing it at the same time.

So besides the savings in natural gas (which is huge, by the way!) one person can press over 50 shirts an hour!!!! Try that on your ironing board at home. Even with all the fancy technology, pressing a rayon, silk or even (I should say especially) a cotton or linen blouse takes up to 10 minutes. Cotton and Linen hand pressed shirts are even more time consuming.

That being said, shirt pressed by machine feel different. They are a little stiffer than hand finished shirts – That is the your preference.

Also, shirt that are machine finished only last (according to the Laundry & Drycleaning Institute) 52 washings. That is a life of one year if you wash your shirt weekly. Hand finished shirts will not wear out that quickly.

The key to avoiding this:Communication!

AND

You get what you pay for (and what you want)!

A Matter of Life or Death Denim

Content taken from Dr Denim

"According to the experts, denim/jeans should not meet detergents or washing machines for the first six months after purchase. That's why (he) decided to write this blog and document the life of (his) new jeans for the first six or so months of their life"

Dry cleaning your jeans is OK, and as far as I understand, won't shorten their shelf life. However, you need to find a dry cleaner that knows what they're doing. It's the same with everything in life. You don't go to the first car mechanic you find. You look around a bit, and ask people who have used dry cleaners in your area before.

"Dry-Cleaning in certain solvents will return the jeans looking like new or better with no shrinkage." If you're living in the US, have a look at http://www.americasbestcleaners.com/, for the top 50 dry cleaners. According to Dependable Drycleaners in Denver, they did a test for a local TV station, where they dry cleaned a pair of pants 10 times, and washed an identical pair 10 times. When they compared them side by side, the dry cleaned pair looked as good as they did on day one, only softer, where the pair that was washed looked older and lost color.

My test, however, has nothing to do with washing vs dry cleaning. It has to do with "wearing in" the jeans for 6 months, and then washing them, in water, for the first time, so that the raw denim would shrink the 1-5%. That will, according to the experts, give me a really good fit -- Darryl De Necker

Americas Best Cleaners

I am in NYC right now learning from many of America's best cleaners. We are discussing topics that range from "The fashion industries sustainable future" with presenters including Doug Shriver from Brooks Brothers and Nicholas Regine from Swarovski Crystals (As a side did you know that some of the Cristal used for ornamentation on garments are still made with lead?!), to "The Green Economy" and Bogner Winter 2008 Ski Wear and Why I only trust ABC by Edwin Abreu of Brioni.

I know that just talking and sharing ideas with this diverse group makes my business more valuable to my customers. I recommend that you look for a cleaner with affiliations. This sort of training and continuous improvement is something less than one in ten drycleaners bothers to do. Any cleaner that cares enough to invest time in this sort of growth, is delivering their customers greater value. I also believe it is a huge benefit to our employees, making us a better community citizens.

America's Best Cleaners is one way we can regulate or "certify" the quality of the cleaners in the association. The group is there to serve the garment industry and is currently partnered with Hugo Boss, Brioni, and Brooks Brothers. In exchange for these clothiers recommending America's Best Cleaners, the organization created an objective program to ensure that the customers (you) will have the best dryclean experience and value.

What makes a cleaner one of America's Best?

1. Review of all aspects of production before cleaner is accepted
2. Monthly solvent testing - for cleanliness and ph
3. Quarterly secret shop for quality
4. Quarterly secret shop for service
5. Direct customer service surveys

All members must maintain good standing on every one of these items in order to be included.
Drycleaning aside, it is fascinating to by in NYC right now discussing business!