Luxury Dry Cleaners??

[Carbonless]

I just brought back a couple of Chan and Peter Lee suits and shirts from HK and was browsing the numerous threads regarding cleaning and care and came across a thread on "Luxury Dry Cleaning." I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on using them as a happy medium between regular dry cleaners and handwashing shirts/going a full year without drycleaning my suits. Someone pointed out this place on SF as one of the highly regarded dry cleaners in the country...just so happens that I have 2 of the best in my area....but they arent cheap ($30 for a suit and $5-10 for a shirt). They seem to do handwashing among other more delicate services.


http://www.margarets.com/prem_dry_cl...tm#drycleaning

 

[Will]

RAVE Fabricare in Scottsdale is probably the best cleaner in the country. I use their clean by mail program.

More expensive though.

 

[LabelKing]

I've used Hallak Cleaners in NYC. They claim they are couture cleaners.

 

[comrade]

Check out Davis Imperial Cleaners in Chicago:

http://www.davisimperial.com/about/about_us.html

 

[farfisa23]

any in LA to recommend?

 

[stubloom]

There are probably fewer than 10 dry cleaners in the USA offering garment care programs that are specifically tailored to bespoke garments. This service typically involves a sponge and press during the season and a clean and press at the end of the season prior to storage. As regards price, the service price will more likely be $50 to $75 for a two piece suit and $10 to $20 for a shirt. For more information on caring for your bespoke garments, please refer to the following 2 blog posts: Caring for bespoke garments (part one) http://ravefabricare.com/true-qualit...part-one).aspx Caring for bespoke garments (part two) http://ravefabricare.com/true-qualit...part-two).aspxtwo) Website: www.ravefabricare.com Daily blog: www.truequalitycleaning.com

 

[IBJanky]

Luxury dry cleaning? What's next? Luxury shoe shining? Some of you guys are too much

myke

 

[stubloom]

Myke: By your comment you seem to imply that all dry cleaners are created equal. They're not. Far from it. First, Carbonless uses the term "luxury dry cleaning". A better term would be "true quality cleaning". Second, there are 26,000 dry cleaners in the USA and very few are able to deliver true quality cleaning on any consistent basis. With that in mind, ask yourself whether you would entrust a $3,000 or $8,000 bespoke suit to the overwhelming majority of these cleaners. By his question, Carbonless recognizes these cleaners wouldn't know the difference between Attolini and Abercrombie. And that the best he could expect from these cleaners is to have his Chans and Lees tossed into a dry clean machine with an entire load of Men's Warehouse-quality garments and then machine pressed to a paper thin crisp. If you don't believe that this is how ordinary cleaners operate, I challenge you to take a tour of the back operations of 3 or 4 dry cleaners in Long Beach. Objectively assess how they handle their garments. And then tell me that you would entrust your WW Chan or Peter Lee suits to any of them. And, yes, I know I have a bias. But it's a bias that's been fine tuned over a period of 20 years, having personally observed the internal operations of dozens of ordinary cleaners. Website: www.ravefabricare.com Daily blog: www.truequalitycleaning.com

 

[medwards]

In the Washington, DC area:

Parkway Dry Cleaning, Chevy Chase, Maryland

 

[Carbonless]

Thanks for the insight. I cant find the thread, but someone posted a website that listed the top dry cleaners in the country and Margaret's was on there. Apparently they are the only place licensed to use that Sanitone cleaning fluid in San Diego. I'd prefer to use a local place rather than ship my clothes via mail. Any thoughts on whether the service compares to RAVE Fabricare?

 

[stubloom]

Sanitone is a brand of top-of-the-line dry cleaning and wet cleaning detergents. Just like you add detergent to your home wash, dry cleaners add a detergent to their dry cleaning solvent or fluid (the primary dry cleaning solvents or fluids used today are perchloroethylene, synthetic petroleum and siloxane). The fact that a dry cleaner is a Sanitone licensee does not, in and of itself, mean that a cleaner is a true quality cleaner. On the other hand, I know Margarets very well and they'll know how to take care of your WW Chan and Peter Lee garments. For a list of Sanitone licensees in the USA, go to http://sanitone.com/ Hope this helps. Website: www.ravefabricare.com Daily blog: www.truequalitycleaning.com

 

[Bounder]

I have used Margaret's a couple of times and the results were uniformly underwhelming. They did some very basic stuff wrong. On one suit, for example, they pressed the sleeves so that the crease at the end of the sleeve was in the wrong place. As a result, I got this very weird effect where the interior part of the sleeves sort of bloused out. I had to take it back to my tailor to fix it. It gave him a good laugh. They made other mistakes, too. Worse is their pricing scheme. They price their dry cleaning so that they can afford to compensate you when they ruin something. They actually charge you based on the brand of the suit. My MW was in the bottom tier but my Baroni set me back a packet! They also charge you based on the number of buttons. In theory, this is because they take them off before cleaning and then put them back on again. In practice, I know for a fact that they do not do this all the time. They also, and this is more normal, charge based on the material. The end result of all this, though, is that it ends up being harder to figure out your dry cleaning bill than it is to do your taxes. All in all, I found Margaret's a great disappointment. My preferred dry cleaner is now a local one that is run by a woman who actually pays attention to things. You can consult with her about something like stain removal and she will personally see that it is done correctly. (She does have a tendency to overpress but we are working with her on that.) She is probably 1/4 the price of Margaret's and does a much better job.

 

[teddieriley]

^^Where are you located bounder?

 

[RSS]

When it comes to my suits ... I return them to the tailor for cleaning and pressing.

Shirts are laundered and ironed at home.

 

[Will]

Originally Posted by Bounder

Worse is their pricing scheme. They price their dry cleaning so that they can afford to compensate you when they ruin something. They actually charge you based on the brand of the suit. My MW was in the bottom tier but my Baroni set me back a packet!


Why should a good cleaner do it any other way? Some men wear $200 suits. Others wear $6,000 suits. Pricing based on their claims history lets them charge significantly less to clean the $200 suit.