Pearl Button - Dry Cleaner Damage

Nine times out of ten, when I get my suits dry cleaned or pressed the pearl buttons come back damaged. I have switched dry cleaners 3 times and I still have this problem. Does anyone else have this issue?

Had. Yes.

Yes. Anything with MoP buttons now goes to Alex's Dry Cleaning in San Rafael. Haven't had a problem since I made the switch.

Originally Posted by imatlas

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Yes. Anything with MoP buttons now goes to Alex's Dry Cleaning in San Rafael. Haven't had a problem since I made the switch.

I want to go to him but its just so far from the south bay.

Originally Posted by SKater

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Nine times out of ten, when I get my suits dry cleaned or pressed the pearl buttons come back damaged. I have switched dry cleaners 3 times and I still have this problem. Does anyone else have this issue?

This is so prevelent teh Sex Pistols once wrote a song about it...

They do it all the time, YEAH, YEAH. They do it all the time, YEAH, YEAH.

Dooo it all the tiiiiiiiime

Not all dry cleaners are created equal. Most cleaners are ordinary, bang and hang cleaners: your garments are in by 9:00 and out by 5:00; picked up on day 1 and delivered on day 3. That's like deciding that you want a great steak and you end up at the counter of your local Denny's.

There are no standards at ordinary cleaners. They operate a production line designed to "get everything out" in the shortest possible time and at the lowest possible cost. They wouldn't know an Attolini from an Abercrombie. For the most part, ordinary cleaners have no clue what they're holding in their hands. It's just another garment to be "processed".

True quality cleaners are different. One of the many quality standards you'll find at a true quality cleaner relates to the treatment of buttons.

At a true quality cleaners, buttons are generally handled in one of 3 ways :

1. Not covered in foil and not removed. Example: small plastic buttons on a shirt or blouse.

2. Covered with foil. Example: small MOP buttons on a shirt or blouse.

3. Completely removed before cleaning/hand pressing and replaced before final inspection. Example: larger MOP buttons on a bespoke sport coat, small MOP buttons with imprinted logos, and corozo nut buttons favored by many Italian suit and trouser manufacturers.

The decision as to whether to leave buttons untouched, to foil them or to remove/replace them involves experience and judgement. Ordinary cleaners just don't give a damn about such trivia. Their philosophy to garment care can be summed up as follows: "just get the sh*t out".

The problem, of course, is that caring is costly. I own a high-end dry cleaner and shirt laundry in Scottsdale, Arizona, where we remove and replace hundreds of buttons per day -- making sure that they are resewn with the right color and type of thread, making sure to reproduce the same type of stitch, making sure to replace the buttons in the same place from which they were removed, etc.

Your'e talking about a full time employee whose job it is to resew buttons -- all day long. So I ask you this question: Is there an ordinary cleaner out there -- anywhere -- that gives a damn about your MOP buttons? Sadly, the answer is NO.

Website: www.ravefabricare.com

Daily blog: www.truequalitycleaning.com

Originally Posted by stubloom

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At my dry cleaner and shirt laundry, for example, we remove and replace hundreds of buttons per day -- making sure that they are resewn with the right color and type of thread, making sure to reproduce the same type of stitch, making sure to replace the buttons in the same place from which they were removed, etc.

Your'e talking about a full time employee whose job it is to resew buttons -- all day long.

Wow. We have no such laundry in my area. Kudos to you. I guess. I only have MOP buttons, but still don't know if I would want them taken off at each cleaning.

Originally Posted by alexei

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Wow. We have no such laundry in my area. Kudos to you. I guess. I only have MOP buttons, but still don't know if I would want them taken off at each cleaning.

I found one cleaner in Tokyo that held this high of a standard (not sure about removing buttons).
Since I have moved to the US I haven't found one yet.
Can we compile a list of high quality cleaners?

Stubloom:
Is there an association or similar group that you know of?

The problem is not the cleaning - it's the ironing. Pay for your shirts to be hand-ironed. Runs $3-4 in NY.

Typically, damage to MOP buttons occurs in 2 places: inside the wheel of the washer and from shirt pressing machines (and especially when those shirt pressing machines have pads have become hard from wear and have not been replaced). If you request a hand ironed shirt you might still get chips and cracks in MOP buttons as a result of the buttons hitting the stainless steel drum of the washer. But hand ironing will certainly help. Now to my pet peeve.... dry cleaners who pass off a "machine pressed laundered shirt" or a "hand touched up laundered shirt" as a hand ironed shirt. Alliswell refers to a hand ironed shirt for "$3-$4 in NY". Without knowing anything about the cleaner that offers a hand ironed shirt for $3-$4, I'll go out on a limb here: it' NOT a hand ironed laundered shirt. Here's the problem: Many dry cleaners believe that they can get away with passing off a machine pressed laundered shirt as a hand ironed laundered shirt. What they do is take a machine pressed shirt and strategically "touch up" the shirt with a hand iron by ironing out all the tell tale signs of machine pressing. Some even crease the sleeves of their shirts to further hide the evidence of machine pressing. This is not a hand ironed laundered shirt. It's a hand finished laundered shirt. A hand finished laundered shirt takes about 3 to 5 minutes. A hand ironed laundered shirt takes about 10 to 12 minutes. It's for that reason I say that it's not possible to produce a hand ironed laundered shirt for $3-$4. For additional information on the subject of hand finished laundered shirts vs hand ironed laundered shirts, please read these 2 blog posts: When a hand ironed laundered shirt isn't hand laundered: http://ravefabricare.com/true-quali...ironed-laundered-shirt-isn't-hand-ironed.aspx Are you paying $6/$14 for a $1/$2 laundered shirt?: http://ravefabricare.com/true-qualit...red-shirt.aspx Website: www.ravefabricare.com Daily blog: www.truequalitycleaning.com

Point well taken. However, I can recall seeing at least one cleaner in Manhattan with an old Asian man ironing shirts in the window, with a sign saying "Hand ironed shirts, $6". That's what I meant - $3-4 more.

As to the time it takes to iron a shirt - I do my own, to my satisfaction, and can do 7-8/hour. As always, YMMV.