Dress For Success Indianapolis boutique at 820 North Meridian Street

The annual Send One Suit Week 2012 drive has begun!  Classic Cleaners is going on it’s 10th year partnering with Dress for Success Indianapolis as a year round drop off location and this week we are asking for suit donations from our valued customers.

During the week of April 16 through April 20, 2012, Classic Cleaners is a donation site for the drive and we are asking our customers to donate suits to benefit Dress for Success Indianapolis.  In return, they will receive a coupon via email for $10 off a $20 or more order of dry cleaning.

The donation should be an interview appropriate full suit which includes pants/skirt and a jacket.  If you choose, you may also include a blouse/shirt to complete the ensemble.  Classic Cleaners will professionally dry clean the suits and donate them to Dress for Success Indianapolis on our customer’s behalf.

Dress for Success’s mission is “To promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life”.

Interviewing for a position can be stressful even without worrying about what to wear.  Dress for Success solves the catch-22 that confronts disadvantaged women trying to enter the workforce: without a job, how can you afford a suit? But without a suit, how can you get a job?

Job-ready women come to Dress for Success by referral only from a range of non-profit organizations. Each client works one-on-one with a highly-trained volunteer Personal Shopper, who helps her select professional attire and also provides support and encouragement as she prepares for her upcoming interviews.

Dress for Success has helped thousands of women get the professional look and self-esteem they need to start fresh and improve their lives. If you have contributed to Dress for Success, we offer our sincere thanks. If you have not yet, please consider donating during this drive. “On average, about 40% of Dress for Success Indianapolis’ annual suit needs are met through S.O.S. – Week donations”.

Year round, Classic Cleaners accepts suits and blouses at any of our 17 Classic Cleaners locations.  Or, you may donate via your route driver if you are part Classic Cleaner’s free pick up and delivery service.

Please visit the Dress for Success Indianapolis website for more information and to learn about individual and company volunteer opportunities.

- S.O.

While the Classic Cleaners’ motto is “the modern craft of clean”, actually “cleanliness” itself in the sense we now use the term is itself pretty modern.

It’s not that people in ancient times weren’t concerned with cleanliness.  They were.  The Bible tells of women going down to the river to wash their clothes, and dry cleaning actually dates back to ancient times.  In fact, in the ruins of Pompeii were found records of “fullers” who were the professional clothes cleaners of that time.

The first washing machine was invented by Sir John Hoskins in 1677, and, in 1848, the closest thing to dry cleaning as we know it was discovered by an owner of a textile dyeing factory when he found that the liquid from an oil lamp dissolved fat.

It’s just that hygiene in general, up until modern times, was viewed in extremely basic terms.  People generally washed their clothes – and themselves – in cold water unless they were wealthy. The great scholar Erasmus wrote about the bottom layer of medieval flooring being covered with rushes and left undisturbed, sometimes for twenty years, harboring spit, vomit, leakage of urine from animals and humans, and scraps.

In fact, since Classic Cleaners are wedding gown specialists, we know that one reason June became such a popular month for weddings is that, in medieval times, baths were annual, usually in may, so that June brides still smelled relatively fresh. (If not, the bridal bouquet was designed to divert attention from the odor!)

It’s obvious that our standards for both personal hygiene and the cleaning of clothes have been much refined.  Classic Cleaners is at the forefront of that trend towards spotless and sweet smelling, using the modern craft of clean!

By Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

What shade of green is C.E.D.?  Classic Cleaners knows. 

The first dry cleaners in Indianapolis to earn the designation Certified Environmental Dry Cleaner, Classic Cleaners assumed leadership early on in our increasingly “green” Indiana economy.

The C. E. D. designation comes from the International Fabric Care Institute (IFI) and is accepted as identifying “masterful knowledge of the fabric care process”.  The owners of Classic Cleaners elected to participate in the program because we believe in protecting the environment while producing quality garment care. 

Our commitment includes:

• No smoking permitted in our cleaning facilities or delivery
• Reusing and recycling hangers, garment bags, and boxes
• Proper handling of waste
• Safe dry-cleaning operating
• Reducing “carbon footprint” from autos by reducing customer trips through our free delivery route system

Each year, owners or operators of drycleaning facilities must register with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and obtain a permit to do business in compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules.

To borrow a once-popular banking slogan, “It’s not easy being green.” But, at Classic Cleaners we find it’s quite rewarding. We’re very proud of our Indiana Five-Star Environmental Recognition award – and of our C.E.D. “green”!

So, what shade is C.E.D.?  We call it Classic Cleaners green!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

With Classic Cleaners so involved in the care and preservation of bridal attire, it’s natural for us to hear all about different weddings – and about different wedding legends and superstitions!

Just the other day we were discussing with one of our recently married Eagle Creek dry cleaning clients one of the oldest superstitions surrounding weddings:

                    It’s considered bad luck for the bride to try on the entire wedding outfit – meaning the dress, shoes, veil, train, gloves, etc. – before the wedding itself.

How did the topic of wedding superstitions and folklore come up in that conversation? Well, with so many lakes and the reservoir, rainbows may often be seen in the Eagle Creek area. In fact, a very beautiful rainbow had appeared on the very day of this Classic Cleaners’ client’s wedding.  We discussed the fact that, in folklore, if a bride sees a frog, a dove, or a rainbow on her way to the ceremony, good luck will follow.

One tradition it seems everyone knows about is the “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”., with the “old” and “new” representing the bride’s life pre-wedding and post-wedding, and the blue standing for the traditional color of wedding dresses before Queen Victoria changed the fashion to white.

From Eagle Creek to Noblesville, our customers seem to honor old traditions while creating some new ones of their own.  We so enjoy being part of marriage-in-the-making!  Before the big day, Classic Cleaners professionals perform alterations and prepare dresses for travel to destination wedding sites. Afterwards, our expert stain removal process and archival box storage come into play!

Whether or not we’ve seen that rainbow or dove, At Classic Cleaners we feel lucky to play a part in the wedding tradition!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team