Andretti Race Team uniforms at Classic Cleaners

When the Andretti Auto Sports racing team was looking for the best dry cleaners in Indianapolis to take care of their racing uniforms, their manager made it clear they meant the best green dry cleaners in Indianapolis.

Since the Andretti team is highly environmentally conscious, their managers were happy to learn that Classic Cleaners was the first dry cleaners in Indianapolis to earn the designation Certified Environmental Drycleaner from the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute.

Classic Cleaners veteran Lorraine Rork (manager of the Bash Street store) took the lead on the ambitious project, organizing the pickup and delivery of the garments. The specialty laundering job includes 75 fire suits along with special flame-resistant underclothes and socks for the race team, plus nearly 200 garments for pit crews and other Andretti staff.  Golf shirts for the team are turned in with each order along with the uniforms.

Each of the Andretti garments is labeled with an individual’s name, beginning with the four principal drivers Tony Kaanan, Danika Patrick, Marco Andretti, and Ryan Hunter-Reay. The racing uniforms are made of a polyester-like, quite heavy, flame-retardant fabric called Nomex.  The undergarments and special socks are made of a special cream-colored cotton fabric (Now you know the “inside story”!).

Lorraine Rork considers the Andretti assignment one of the most exciting she’s handled in her more than twelve years with Classic Cleaners.  She’s become a regular racing fan, keeping track of the Andretti Auto Sports team’s latest two July competitions in Canada, and looking forward to cheering them on (from her Bash Street desk) as they compete in Lexington, Ohio next week and in Sonoma, California and Joliet, Illinois later this month.

It’s always a race for the Andretti team. Meanwhile, though, Classic Cleaners takes extra time and special care to protect the environment while producing top-quality cleaning results. It’s not easy being green, but Classic Cleaners knows how important it is to constantly monitor environmental issues and best practices.

It’s a green light all the way to the finish line for the team of Andretti Auto Sports and Classic Cleaners!

 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Ring the Bottle

It was come one, come all at the Summer Festival last Friday

Classic Cleaners Store  combined efforts with neighbor merchants at Bridgewater (146th St. and Gray Road) and with other area businesses to offer kids and parents a good time.  

Classic Cleaners Store #14 Manager Misty Elliott

Complete with a “bouncy houses”,  pony rides, and carnival games, the festival offered fun for family members of all ages, with plenty of pizza and Sno Cones available for purchase. (Oops! Dripped Sno Cone color or pizza sauce on your clothes? No worry – you didn’t have far to go to find dry cleaning experts to come to your rescue!) 

In addition to Classic Cleaners, participating sponsors included Gilmore Chiropractic, Fleming Family Dentistry, Cool River Pizza, Bridgewater Café, Walgreen’s, F&M Jolly Trolley Sno Cones, and the Primrose School at Bridgewater. 

Family festivals are always fun, but, invariably hard on kids’ clothes. Even washable garments need to have stains treated before they’re put into the laundry.  The weekend following the Summer Festival proved a great time for families to try out our Classic Cleaners’ Fluff and Fold laundry service, the perfect solution for families with high volumes of laundry and – not enough time! 

Pizza grease on shorts?  Tomato sauce on shirts? Blue Sno-Cone color on everything from socks

Sno Cones for everyone

to skorts? Our Classic Cleaners’ professionals are used to seeing it all following a festival.  After applying our gentle but highly effective laundering methods, we had fun folding and organizing clothes of every size and color into beautifully finished and folded piles – all ready for family fun activities to come! 

 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Classic Cleaners' Unipress machine

CLASSIC CLEANERS SPRING SHIRT SPECIAL

50% OFF  ALL MEN’S OR WOMEN’S SHIRTS 

BROUGHT  IN TO BE LAUNDERED AND MACHINE-PRESSED 

JUNE 1 THROUGH JUNE 7

 Styles and trends in men’s dress shirts have changed over the years, fashion expert Andrew Stratton points out. “A crisp, stark-white shirt will probably not impress a potential employer as much as it might make you look like a waiter,” he adds.  “Choose palettes that compliment your complexion and eye coloring”  is Stratton’s advice.

At Classic Cleaners we launder shirts of every possible shade, style, and fabric.  And, while in general, men’s clothing tends to be much more casual and relaxed than in times past, there’s nothing like a crisply pressed dress shirt to spruce up a gentleman’s appearance.

Do you wear your shirts the classic way, tucked in and buttoned up with a tie?  Perhaps you prefer a  “dapper gentleman” look, with the shirt tucked inside a sweater.  The “modern way” might consist of an un-tucked long-sleeved shirt worn open-collared under a sport coat.

Can you believe thirty five years have passed since John T. Molloy published the book Dress For Success?  We leave it to our Classic Cleaners customers to decide whether Molloy’s advice is outdated when it comes to men’s business attire.  “You will never, ever, as long as you live,” Molloy practically shouted from Page 86 of his book, “wear a short-sleeve shirt for any business purpose…”

You’ll see many different styles, and hear many different opinions about the most appropriate ways for men to wear dress shirts.  Whatever your preference, our skilled technicians devote special care to helping you look your very best.

Our newest Unipress shirt machine (operated here by Classic Cleaners technician Johana Duque) wet-presses the shirt’s sleeves, torso and collar simultaneously, with inspection and touch-ups by hand to follow.  The result: With every button in place, the perfectly pressed, starched-to-order shirt is ready to help seal a business deal, clinch a job interview, or attract compliments at the most elegant party!

 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Even though the framed needlepoint brought into her Carmel dry cleaning store proved too delicate for even the professionals at Classic Cleaners to risk hand cleaning it, manager April Tillberry keeps a photo of the piece on her cell phone. The needlepoint’s message might have been written just for her:

                           “Put  your big girl panties on and deal with it!”

"Big Girl Panties" Needlepoint

Just seven short years ago, the 26-year old, 267-pound young woman found herself in dire straits, with no means to support herself and her two children.  Lacking transportation and job training, April saw a bleak future ahead. Determined to find a way to “deal with it”, April resolved to make something of herself despite all the obstacles.  Putting on her “big girl panties”, she began working at a fast food restaurant.

As fate would have it, April’s mom, Lorraine Rork, manager at Classic Cleaners’  Bash Street store, needed a counter person. The amazing turnaround tale had begun…

In her first years with Classic Cleaners, April pared down to 135 pounds while making good on her promise to herself and her daughters to become self-sufficient. Tillberry became Classic Cleaners’ primary trainer, and manager of the Hazel Dell Carmel Classic Cleaners store. “I love my store,” she declares proudly. “This is where I needed to be. Classic allowed me to have a whole new life.”

Wednesdays are a special joy and a special challenge for April, because Wednesday is the “special” day at the Hazel Dell and 131st Street store, with skirts and slacks cleaned for $5.99 (instead of $7.19) and business shirts laundered for $2.20 (instead of the usual $2.69).    In between processing clothing brought in for cleaning and laundry, manning the desk, and organizing the store, April greets customers with a smile, calling each by name, finding out the story behind each stain.

April Tillberry, now a trim 33-year old, has taken on a big Classic Cleaners job and is certainly dealing with it in style.  Three current Classic Cleaners managers, Nancy Leonard, Jackie Wilson, and Blanca Martinez were all April’s trainees, and “April’s” Hazel Dell store is one of Classic Cleaners’  busiest and well-run locations.

Seven years and some 200 special Wednesdays later, April Tillberry has improved her life and career in a big way at Classic Cleaners.  (The only thing smaller are the “panties”!)

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team