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  We leave it to our Classic Cleaners customers to decide whether Molloy’s advice is outdated when it comes to men’s business attire.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

Blame the manufacturer....

The WXNT announcer is careful to explain that the opinions of Indianapolis radio talk show host Abdul Hakkim Shabazz are his own, not necessarily those of the station or its owners.  So, concludes the disclaimer, “Don’t call us….call HIM!”

Kimberly Fusaro, writing in WomansDay.com, remarks that dry cleaners across the country would often like to tell their customers “Don’t call us…call the manufacturer!”  That’s because many of the problems that arise during the dry cleaning process were the fault of the clothing manufacturer, not the fault of the dry cleaner.

Here are just a few examples that we see with garments brought into Classic Cleaners stores:

• Puckering of collars and cuffs, or linings that hang below the hem of the garment. These problems are caused when the interfacing shrinks, because the manufacturer didn’t select an interfacing compatible with the garment fabric.
• Shirt buttons that crack during pressing. Often this happens because a manufacturer used lesser-quality buttons. (At Classic Cleaners, we replace chipped or cracked buttons.
• Colors that bleed into each other.  The FTC Label Rule dictates that all components of a garment must be able to withstand the recommended care procedure. 

According to Federal Trade Commission rules, if a garment’s label says “dry clean”, ALL parts of the garment must not become altered during cleaning.  That includes:

 - the outer shell
 - the lining
 - the interfacing
 - the fusing material
 - the trim

If a problem occurs, responsibility lies with the manufacturer, who did not properly test the garment before labeling.

At Classic Cleaners, we’ll never tell you “Don’t call us.”  But WomansDay.com is right: Every so often we find ourselves wanting to point to the manufacturer’s name on the label, saying to our customer, “Call HIM!”

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

WomansDay.com lists Ten Things Your Dry Cleaner Won’t Tell You.  But, when it comes to do-it-yourself dry cleaning at home, there are almost as many things we at Classic Cleaners feel obligated to share with our customers and blog readers.

There are several products available on the market today that promise to clean clothes at home. including Custom Cleaner (Dial), FreshCare (Clorox), and Dryel (Proctor & Gamble). However, cleaning your clothes in your home dryer is not as good an idea as it first sounds.  Here’s why:

1.  You’re only spot-cleaning. Garments are never totally immersed in solvent.  (That may sound like an advantage, but it’s not.)  Professional dry cleaners immerse clothing in solvent, with computer-calculated mixes of detergent, brighteners, and sizing, all of which restore freshness and cleanliness to the clothes.)

2.  Home dry cleaning never rinses out the spotting solution.

3.  With home cleaning, there’s no way to regulate how much extraction of solution there should be for each fabric.

4.  Home spotting solutions can be effective on many water-soluble stains, but those solutions are not effective for solvent-soluble stains or on combination stains.

5.  Home cleaning doesn’t include professional finishing, such as pressing creases in trousers or steaming ruffles.

6.  Home dryers are rarely temperature-controlled for each type of fabric.

7.  Some stains are invisible.  That means stains that were not treated are going into the heat of the dryer, which can further set the stains!

Now that Classic Cleaners has told you all this information, ask yourself: Are there things you’re not telling your dry cleaner?  A large part of dry cleaning success, says WomansDay.com, depends on customers being honest about stains.

The professionals at Classic Cleaners are proven experts at removing stains.  Honest!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog tream

We like for Classic Cleaners employees to blow off steam!

Most dry cleaners use steam guns as part of their equipment.  A steam gun helps remove water-soluble stains.  The steam can also remove chemicals that have been used to spot-clean a garment.

The same gun can work the other way, using a different foot pedal.  In that case, the gun blows compressed air to dry out the moisture left by the steam.

“Blowing steam” is just one of several special techniques used to hand-treat garments, along with wire brushes and other special hand tools.  Here specialist  Theresa Golish poses along with production manager Rose Benavidez at the hand-detailing station at our Classic Cleaners Bash Road plant.

Steam gun for hand-treating clothing at Classic Cleaners

You know how, on TV, when they show a dangerous stunt, the announcer warns “Don’t try this at home!”?  Don’t try to steam clean your own garments using an iron.  Irons can easily damage delicate fabrics. In fact, if you iron over a deodorant streak, you may permanently damage the fabric of your garment, Andrew Rivkin of Embassy Cleaners in New York told WomansDay.com.

Feeling as if you need to blow off steam?  Try running around the block . Leave the job of steam-cleaning  garments to the professionals at Classic Cleaners!

Heirloom toy dinosaur

Dinosaurs haven’t roamed the earth for 65 million years – except for one very special one, that is, who showed up at Classic Cleaners last month. According to the Guardian, most dinosaurs did well to survive thirty years; our Classic Cleaners’ find was fifty years old!

So what’s the story? The dinosaur is a stuffed animal given to our customer fifty years ago as a birthday present from her brother.  Now, she would like to give it to her grandson, so she asked the professionals at Classic Cleaners for help cleaning and repairing the creature. As you can see, our dino friend survived handsomely!

To preserve treasured heirlooms of any kind and of any age, we use the same advanced technology and techniques we employ for wedding gown restoration, carefully cleaning, treating, and repairing each item to bring it back to life. Dino is not only prepared for immediate enjoyment by our client’s grandson, who knows? He may bring joy for generations to come!

In a different restoration assignment, a Classic Cleaners’ customer brought in a once-beautiful pair of cloth-trimmed shoes.  Because the shoes had been stored for fifteen years in plastic, the leather on the shoes had turned the lace overlay yellow.  While we normally don’t recommend preservation for shoes, this pair, we were informed, held great sentimental value. With expert and painstaking hand treatment, our Classic Cleaners technicians were able to bring the shoes back to their former beauty.

Before

Shoes after restoration

At Classic Cleaners, we try to bring beauty back to the eye of every beholder!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Color guards are the folks who raise, lower, and safeguard the American flag in flag-raising ceremonies, but Classic Cleaners can help guard the colors of your flag!

In fact, at Classic Cleaners, the cleaning of any flag 3’X5’ or smaller is done free of charge.  With Memorial Day approaching, now’s the perfect time to freshen up that old Red, White, and Blue.

Did you know…The red of the stripes signifies valor. The white signifies purity and innocence. The blue field behind the stars stands for justice. (Red, of course, is one of the more difficult fabric colors to maintain, making it all the more challenging to keep a U.S. flag in good condition.)

The first official U.S. flag was established June 14, 1777, with thirteen stars for the original 13 colonies.  Today’s flag consists of 50 stars representing the 50 states which comprise the United States.

According to Last Frontier Boy Scout Council, “A worn or faded flag should be retired with respect.  Fold the flag and place it on a fire.  The ashes should then be buried.”

On Memorial Day, the proper way to display the flag is to fly it at half mast in the morning. Then, then, at noon, the flag should be raised to full staff position.  At sunset, the flag should be stored for the night.

This May, let the professionals at Classic Cleaners be your “Color Guards”!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

“Patriotism is at the heart of Girl Scouts” , according to Deana Potterf, Director of Communications for Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. Two years ago, the girl scouts in Junior Troop #2019 in Carmel adopted the 38th Military Police Company of the Indiana National Guard, then in the process of deploying from Camp Atterbury to Iraq. This year, for the second time, Troop #2019 held a Beanie Baby drive, sending the toys they collected to their adopted military unit to hand out to Iraqi children as a token of friendship.

Girl Scout Troup #2019's Beanie Baby Drive

Patriotism’s at the heart of Classic Cleaners as well. The Classic Cleaners store in the Village of West Clay serves as the donation site for Girl Scout Troop #2019 Beanie Baby drive, with Classic Cleaners partner Carl Arnold supplying funds to support the shipment of the toys to Iraq.

The U.S. flag that was presented to Classic Cleaners and to Carl Arnold is very special.  The flag was flown over Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah, Baghdad during a time of hostile fire. It “bears witness to the detainment and suppression of terrorist forces”.

Earlier this year, Classic Cleaners West Clay served as the collection site for Girl Scout Troop #2019’s Operation Cookie Drop.  The Girl Scout cookies sold through that program go to Camp Atterbury for the enjoyment of the thousands of soldiers who are processed and trained there each year, and who go on to serve all over the world.

Why does Classic Cleaners contribute to worthy organizations such as Dress For Success Indianapolis and Girl Scouts? Simple!  It’s our way of showing our appreciation to society and of giving back!

Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

One of our newest customers called with a question: Could we get A LOT of bubble gum out of her son’s baseball uniform?

Classic Cleaners District Manager Dee Godwin to the rescue!  The result: one very clean baseball uniform, one very happy customer, one very happy young baseball player.

Baseball jersey with bubble gum

Baseball jersey ready for the game - no more bubble gum!

Funny thing, while chewing gum goes all the way back to ancient Greece (Greeks chewed resin from the mastic tree) and Mayans (who chewed the sap of the sapodilla tree), bubble gum itself was discovered by accident in 1928.  Walter Diemer was experimenting with different gum recipes when his mixture began to form bubbles.  Diemer brought some of the gum to a grocery store to test the market, teaching the salespeople how to blow bubbles so that they could, in turn, teach the trick to customers.  All the gum sold in one day, and the rest, as they say, is bubble gum  history!

Each brand of bubble gum has its own unique formula.  But blowing bubbles, as Michael Russell explains in The History of Bubble Gum, has become a tradition with friends and families.

Bubble gum, though, can turn into a problem when it connects with hair or clothing. Ehow.com recommends applying ice directly onto the gum for about 15 minutes, or until the gum is frozen solid.  Sometimes, but not always, that allows the gum to be scraped off clothing or skin. 

             1st Rule of Gum: Watch where you sit . (Don’t you often wish others would watch where they spit?) 

             2nd Rule of Gum:  Scrap the scraping, which can leave marks and even tear fabrics.

For a “home run” in removing unwelcome substances and stains from your clothes, leave the job to the professionals at Classic Cleaners!

Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

The month of May is a special time for Classic Cleaners customers, with our May special on household items. For the whole month of May, there is a 20% discount on cleaning or laundering of all household items.

From the dining room to the bedroom, our special is designed to help the fabrics of your household “get fresh” again as spring turns into summer.

• Dining and living room:
  table linens
  drapes
  table runners
  needlepoint
  afghans
   
• Bedroom/bath
  Comforters
  Bedspreads
  down pillows
  blankets
  quilts
  bed sheets and pillowcases

Mature readers may remember grandma hanging the family’s sheets and tablecloths out on a clothesline. Provided there were no sudden rain showers, the linens would come off the line with a fresh, spring-like smell.  Of couse, with the closest neighbors a quarter-mile down the road, no one seemed to complain about the “underdrawers” spaced between the sheets. There were disadvantages to line-drying, of course, such as clothespin marks, square linen stretched into rhomboid shapes, and the difficulty of maneuvering large tablecloths on ironing boards.

Today, of course, it’s rare to see clothes and linens hung out to dry.  In fact, in the little town of Perkasia, Pennsylvania, there’s a legal battle going on among those who want to drip dry clothes and linens in the breeze and those who are offended seeing “underwear flapping about”. 

Whatever your thoughts on this matter, let’s face it.  It’s not practical for most apartment residents and homeowners to hang linens out to dry, so most use washing machines and electric dryers. 

This May, though, put Classic Cleaners professionals in the driver’s seat, treating yourself to the luxury of perfectly pressed and folded tableware, crisp, lightly starched sheets and pillow cases, and fluffy, sparkling clean pillows, spreads, and drapes.

This May, let your household items “get fresh” with Classic Cleaners!
 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team