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The Chicago thread - local recommendations, trunk shows, goings-on, etc.

Kansai22

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Does anyone have any dry cleaner recommendations in the Chicagoland area? Specifically places you would trust to press a suit without ruining it?
 

Dr Nemo

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I have taken a few of my better items to Davis Imperial <http://www.davisimperial.com/> and had good results. While I have seen a few posts commenting their prices were higher than expected, in my experience cleaning/pressing and service were excellent and prices were reasonable.
 

nevaeh

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I’ll second the recommendation of Davis Imperial. I’ve had great results for suits, trousers, and shirts. Their pickup and delivery service is also great. For shirts, I normally wash them at home; only send to Davis for really bad stains. They’ve always been able to remove those stains.
 

krudsma

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+1 on Davis Imperial, they're top notch and the pickup/delivery option is so worth it.

For something cheaper, Richard from Richard's Fabulous Finds (a truly phenomenal vintage shop for those who don't know) sends all the stuff he buys to Advanced Cleaners on Western. Definitely more of your typical dry cleaner, but he has some really delicate older pieces so they must know what they're doing. I've taken a few trousers there but no jackets.
 

Duke Santos

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I have taken a few of my better items to Davis Imperial <http://www.davisimperial.com/> and had good results. While I have seen a few posts commenting their prices were higher than expected, in my experience cleaning/pressing and service were excellent and prices were reasonable.

For run of the mill things like shirts and basic sweaters, I generally use a cheaper option. For tailored clothing and cashmere, I'll use DI. One thing to keep in mind with their pricing on tailored clothing is that everything is hand pressed, which makes the price much more reasonable to me.
 

Kansai22

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Thank you everyone for the recommendation on Davis Imperial Cleaners. I took a new suit into them today to have cleaned and pressed. I will report back when I pick it up.
 

letsgofire

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Red Star Cobblers in Wicker Park are extraordinary for sneaker cleaning and suede shoes cleaning. They do lots of other things but I wanted to highlight those areas in which I was especially impressed.
 

nevaeh

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Thank you everyone for the recommendation on Davis Imperial Cleaners. I took a new suit into them today to have cleaned and pressed. I will report back when I pick it up.
Against @Despos's always great advice 🫢, I sent a new suit jacket to Davis for a light hand press (no clean). Trousers, I have now learned to press myself!
 
Last edited:

just_one_more

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I've bought two 1970s tweed ralph lauren suits from Richard's and took them both to Advanced. The woman there is hilarious and very opinionated and snobby but I really liked her. For one suit, She found vintage leather buttons to match the jacket and replaced all of them on the suit since several the original buttons were broken off or damaged. The bad reviews are all about how shes overpriced, which is true, but I do find her trustworthy. She did a great job. I really like Richard's, too.

I need to take some shoes in to Red Star cobbler. I've been on the fence because I didn't know if they were good but the endorsements in this thread have encouraged me.
 

Duke Santos

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Stopped into Richard's for the first time. Didn't buy anything, but I had a great time speaking with him. Great place, and I'll be back.
 

Kansai22

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Against @Despos's always great advice 🫢, I sent a new suit jacket to Davis for a light hand press (no clean). Trousers, I have now learned to press myself!

I did as well. My experience with Davis Imperial was OK. When my suit arrived there was a light powder on one of the shoulders. I asked and they fixed it right away there was no noticeable damage.

The press was good.
 

krudsma

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I've bought two 1970s tweed ralph lauren suits from Richard's and took them both to Advanced. The woman there is hilarious and very opinionated and snobby but I really liked her. For one suit, She found vintage leather buttons to match the jacket and replaced all of them on the suit since several the original buttons were broken off or damaged. The bad reviews are all about how shes overpriced, which is true, but I do find her trustworthy. She did a great job. I really like Richard's, too.

I need to take some shoes in to Red Star cobbler. I've been on the fence because I didn't know if they were good but the endorsements in this thread have encouraged me.
I just took two pairs of huaraches to Red Star (one for a re-sole, one to have a bit of extra padding in the heel to make them snugger). They did a great job. It does seem like they lean more toward sneakers in what they do, so I don't know if I would necessarily take my Aldens to them but let me know how your experience goes.
 

mrFurly

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in the city where do you guys go for "smart casual" type clothes?

the type of stuff you would wear when going to a nice restaurant.
 

jimney

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in the city where do you guys go for "smart casual" type clothes?

the type of stuff you would wear when going to a nice restaurant.
Honestly not sure I have a good recommendation, seems like that part of the retail scene got hit pretty hard with Covid. Syd Jerome is somewhere I’ve heard about but never checked out myself.
 

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