In Gone With the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara rips the velvet drapes from her windows and makes a dress out of them.  At Classic Cleaners, though, some frayed drapes came back to life under the loving care of master seamstress Ohi Suhre and are now once again a proud part of the homeowner’s décor.

Drapery care at Classic Cleaners

The set of eight drapery panels was brought in to Classic Cleaners for dry cleaning, but the edges, as so often happens with prolonged exposure of drapes to sunlight, had become weakened and “sun rotted”. As you can see in the photo, Ohi was able to finish off the outside edges of each panel. (Drapes are shown here before pressing and finishing, with the frayed edges placed across the white inside portion of the panel.)

Window dressings have been around a long time, but draperies (pleated and heavier than curtains) became popular in the late 1800’s. Interestingly, in 1950 Emily Post referred to the word “drapes” as an “inexcusable vulgarism”, advising ladies to refer to window hangings as “draperies” or curtains.

However you choose to refer to them, drapes serve several important functions:

• Block or filter light
• Provide privacy
• Frame the outside view of the home

Drapes come in four basic categories:

• Traverse drapes hang from a cord-operated rod and open and close.
• Casement drapes (sheers) are translucent, hanging close to the window.
• Inverted pleat drapes are stationary panels, closely gathered at the top and hanging loose.
• Tiebacks 
         
  At Classic Cleaners, we meticulously care for draperies of every type, from swags to jabots.
  Once dry cleaning or laundering and stain removal is done, we place the drapes on special equipment that gently dries them while pleats are refreshed as needed.

Unlike Scarlett O’Hara, you’ve probably no plans to use your drapes as dresses.  Nonetheless, they are dressings – for your windows. As part of a well-dressed home, drapes should be cleaned at least once every two years. 

At Classic Cleaners, we want to help your home make the Best Dressed list!

 By Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

CLASSIC  CLEANERS  SEPTEMBER  SPECIAL:

$10  OFF  DRY  CLEANING  OF  LEATHER  AND  SUEDE  GARMENTS!

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“Think of leather as skin,” is the advice offered in an About.com guide. “Just as you need to clean and moisturize your own skin, leather needs to be maintained in the same way to stay supple, pliable, and resilient.”

At Classic Cleaners, we agree – skin care is a good way to describe the special processes we use in cleaning and restoring leather and suede. After first checking for stains and damage, our technicians determine the safest method of treatment for each garment.  Detergents and solvents must be carefully balanced, for example, in order to retain the natural oils in leather.

At that point, our work is still far from complete.  We reshape each garment, and, if necessary, our expert dyers create a blend to treat any areas where the color is uneven.  Never fear – all this work is included in the cleaning price.

At Classic Cleaners, September’s certainly the month to take care of your “skins”! 
by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

In recent Classic Cleaners blog posts, we’ve been tracing the history of buttons.  Buttons, however, represent only one of the many varieties of garment fasteners we find on the thousands upon thousands of customer garments we care for at our dry cleaning plant in Indianapolis. 

Hooks, snaps, Velcro, sippers, buckles – you name it, and you know our technicians are pledged to keep those fasteners functioning (protecting our loyal customers from the type of “wardrobe malfunctions” that inspired recent media coverage).

Garment fasteners have a history all their own, no doubt about it:

• Cavemen fashioned straight pins out of thorns to hold together animal hides.
• Greeks and Romans used safety pin-like clasps.
• Snaps appeared in the late 1800’s.
• B.F. Goodrich coined the phrase “zipper”, using a “separable fastener” invented in 1913 for their rubber galoshes.
• Velcro was developed in the 1950’s.

Special tidbits from Wikipedia: The brand name “Velcro” comes from two French words: “velours” and “crochet”. There are two layers: a “hook” side, and a “loop” side.  When the two sides are pressed together, the hooks catch in the loops.  When the layers are separated, the strips make a characteristic” ripping” sound.  (Now, as a Classic cleaners blog reader, you are “in the loop”!)

Whatever form of garment fastener we encounter, at Classic Cleaners, our mission remains the same: ensuring that every Classic Cleaners customer is “well put together”!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

My Drycleaer.com  lists 10 things to look for when choosing a dry cleaner, but for me, it’s all about #3. That’s because #3 touches on what used to be my dry cleaning pet peeve, which is getting  back clothes in not-ready-to-wear shape.

Truly ready-to-wear with Classic Cleaners

And, you know, as a customer, I didn’t want to debate whose responsibility it was to notice.  If a button was loose, or there was a little tear in a seam, or a thread in the hem was coming unraveled, whether it was there to begin with (and I’d just forgotten to call their attention to it when I brought the garment in) or whether it happened in the dry cleaning process – I didn’t really care.  I still wanted what I wanted, which was to be  able to take my clothes out of their plastic bags, hang them in my closet, and know they would be ready for me when I was ready for them!

As Tevye would say in Fiddler on the Roof, “Sounds simple, doesn’t it?” Well, B.C.C. (before Classic Cleaners), it wasn’t.

At Classic Cleaners, No. 3 is just part of the routine of good customer service and it’s no peeve, all gain!  Making simple clothing repairs is just part of offering the best dry cleaning and laundry services possible.  If a seam’s open, our technicians sew it up before cleaning or laundering, so the damage doesn’t get worse. Same for loose fasteners and buttons, snags or ravels – it’s all part of routine customer service and smart clothing care.

(Of course, if a garment is severely damaged and needs extensive work, a Classic Cleaners manager will contact the customer before going any further,  explaining what the charges will be. If a customer requests that all the buttons on a garment be replaced, there is a $1 charge per button.)
 
Truth is, most dry cleaners provide limited services such as sewing on buttons, and making minor repairs.  Classic Cleaners goes many steps further than that, offering complete alteration and re-tailoring services. As eighteen year Classic Cleaners veteran Ohi Suhre, Manager of Alterations, can tell you (in five languages, by the way) – it’s all about making it right for the customer.

My pet peeve about #3 is history. Like all Classic Cleaners customers, I  know – when I’m ready to wear them, my freshly laundered and dry cleaned clothes are ready for me and ready to wear!
By Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Being truly green is a multi-faceted matter, explains Darrell New, who, for the past 21 years, has worked with the dry cleaning industry to improve quality and services. “Green cleaning is a combination of environmentally responsible policies, programs, and priorities,” New adds.

At Classic Cleaners, we know.  As the very first dry cleaners in the Indianapolis area to earn the designation Certified Environmental Drycleaner from the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute, we are proud to put a checkmark next to each one of the items on Darrell New’s how-to-tell-if-your-dry-cleaner-is-green list:

Responsible waste disposal:
None of the chemicals used at Classic Cleaners ever go into city sewers or underground tanks.  Used-up cleaning agents are saved in above-ground tanks to be removed by licensed chemical companies, who either recycle the chemicals or dispose of them through state-approved processes.
 

 Recycling:
 As New points out, many cleaners accept used wire hangers and plastic bags, but the question is – what happens from there. At Classic Cleaners, we gather hangers (not just ours, but any hangers customers collect). We reuse some, and have the rest professionally recycled.   

We encourage our customers to return plastic bags to us by putting them into the cleaning bag with the next order.  Classic Cleaners has contracted with a green recycling firm to turn that plastic into trash bags and other reusable items.     

Proper machine maintenance:
At our Classic Cleaners processing plants, the machinery is constantly being updated and replaced with energy-efficient, cost and labor-saving models.  Keeping the building itself in tip-top shape in terms of insulation and repairs helps further reduce energy costs. 

Carbon footprint reduction:
The biggest “carbon footprint” reduction of all, though, comes from reducing our customers’ need to drive their cars to drop off and pick up their laundry and dry cleaning!  Our free and convenient pick-up and delivery route service adds convenience while reducing carbon emission from automobile travels.

In this case a plus and a minus equals – green!  Not just green, but true green.  At Classic Cleaners, we don’t mean to boast, but we can’t help crowing about our Indiana 5-Star Environmental Recognition award!

By Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

It’s only fitting for the “Best Dry Cleaners in Indy” to have stores and pickup/delivery routes in three of the nation’s “Best Places to Live.” With stores in Carmel, Fishers, and Noblesville, Indiana, you might say Classic Cleaners is in all the right places. 

It’s the right time, too, because:

• Money Magazine’s August issue ranks the town of Fishers #8 on its “Top Ten Best Places to Live” list, citing Fishers’ low unemployment and its affordable housing. Classic Cleaners Store has a store at 11501 Geist Pavilion Road) and one at 9538 E. 126th St. in Fishers, with the  Westfield store (14635 N. Gray Rd.) just at Fisher’s western edge.
  
• Meanwhile, the city of Carmel won the Number 14 spot on the Money Magazine list. The article highlighted Carmel’s arts and leisure opportunities and its outstanding math and reading school test scores. Classic Cleaners has no fewer than five stores in Carmel: 5790 E. 131st St., 14550 Clay Terrace Blvd, 9893 N. Michigan Rd), 12707 Meetinghouse Rd.), and 12560 No. Meridian St..
  
• When it comes to retirement, Noblesville is golden”, writes Tom Spalding in the Indianapolis Star, noting that Noblesville was named to MSN’s Sperling’s Best Places. Another accolade for Noblesville was being finalist for the National Civic League’s All-American City Award.

Wherever you live in and around Indianapolis and its northern suburbs, you can take advantage of Classic Cleaners’ free home pick up and delivery services.  From Fortville on the east to Pittsboro on the west, all the way to Cicero on the north, and down to 42nd Street on the south, Classic Cleaners casts a wide net of customer service.

Since 1985, Classic Cleaners has taken pride in its reputation for high quality dry cleaning and laundry along with its superlative customer service.  With all the awards and praise for Carmel, Fishers, and Noblesville, Classic Cleaners can be proud of the company locations it keeps!

 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

                                                                                                                            Talk about a dry cleaning veteran! What started out as a job between high school and college in St. Louis has turned into a highly successful (forty-six year and counting) dry cleaning career for Jackie!

Chocolates for every season with Jackie Wilson at Classic Cleaners in Clay Terrace

If you’re into chocolates and dry cleaning history, you’ll want to visit with Jackie Wilson at the Clay Terrace Classic Cleaners store in Carmel, Indiana.

Rising rapidly through the ranks of her St. Louis dry cleaning employer from customer service representative to general manager of 25 stores, Jackie arrived in Indianapolis when her husband was transferred here, immediately continuing her work in dry cleaning production management.  June 19th of this year marked Wilson’s four year anniversary with Classic Cleaners.

Asked about the most notable changes she’s seen at Classic Cleaners and in the industry in general, Jackie mentions computerization as the most significant.  The Classic Cleaners process is continually modernized and automated, in sharp contrast to the manual labeling and invoicing that Wilson recalls from earlier years.

Heat seal labeling allows each garment to be scanned in and tracked, with orders assembled and tickets printed, all through an automated process. At Classic Cleaners, the combination of human and machine is the secret behind the quality.  Each week a quality control random check is performed, and the report is reviewed with production staff. When garments are checked in, every button is unbuttoned in preparation for later pressing.  The pockets on each garment are carefully checked for items that might be damaged or lost – or which might stain the garments themselves. Jackie is particularly proud of the compliments she hears every day about the wonderful job Classic Cleaners is doing on men’s shirts.

Jackie’s home, which she shares with her husband Jim (owner of the Altra I Collision body shop), is just across the way from her Classic Cleaners store in Village Farms. Many of her Village Farms neighbors have become loyal customers and fans.

Looking back over the years, Jackie has noticed changing trends. For one, people don’t keep clothes as long as they used to. In her early career days, she recalls, people owned separate suits and dresses for winter and for summer, and dry cleaners often offered winter storage services. Today it’s more common to find people wearing lightweight fabric blends year-round.

Jackie keeps up with the seasons, though, doing it with chocolates! You can always tell which holiday is soon to arrive by the assortment of chocolates on the counter at her store.  ! If you should ever get chocolate on your clothes, though, ‘fess up, pleads Wilson. Telling the truth to your dry cleaner about stains pays off in terms of successful stain removal!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

August is almost here, and with it comes Classic Cleaners’ August Dress For Success Indianapolis fundraiser.

 Now Classic Cleaners customers have the chance to do right by their clothes while doing right by women in our community who need a little support to help them “thrive in work and in life”.

The August fundraiser is very special, and this is Classic Cleaners’ eighth year as a very special sponsor.  Here’s how the promotion works:

FOR EVERY DRY CLEANING ORDER OF $20 OR MORE,

CLASSIC  CLEANERS DONATES $2.00 TO DRESS FOR SUCCESS INDIANAPOLIS!

A check is presented by Classic Cleaners to the DFS organization at DFS Indianapolis’ annual September fundraiser event, “Stepping Out in Style”.  In each of the past two years, Classic Cleaners’ September donation was more than $13,000!  (Won’t you help us top that this year?)

By the way, the annual August DFS promotion is just one aspect of the ongoing partnership between Classic Cleaners and Dress For Success Indianapolis.  Back in April, Classic Cleaners hosted “Super Sort” at the Bash Street plant, with DFS Indianapolis staff members, volunteers and interns gathering to help sort donated clothing and prepare it for delivery to the Dress For Success Boutique at 820 North Meridian.

August is the perfect time to organize your closets and drawers in preparation for back-to-school — or perhaps for off-to-college!  Whatever the coming fall months hold for you and your family,  your favorite outfits can be clean, pressed, and ready to make just the right impression.  Isn’t it nice to know you’ll be helping Dress For Success Indianapolis in their mission “to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support, and career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life”?

Make a special point to take advantage of the Classic Cleaners August special!  

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

At Classic Cleaners, we’ve never met a button we didn’t like. On the other hand, we’ve prepared ourselves to deal with some of the special challenges buttons can pose in the course of dry cleaning and laundering your garments.

• We have a special Classic Cleaners button guarantee: Should there be any broken or missing buttons on your laundered shirts, we sew on new ones!
• If one of your garments has very delicate buttons (rhinestone buttons on evening clothes, studs, or beaded buttons, for example), our Classic Cleaners seamstress Ohi Suhre may carefully remove those buttons, then re-attach them after the dry cleaning process is complete.

Did you know that buttons were first used as ornaments rather than for fastening? The earliest known button, dating back 5000 years, was found by archeologists in the Indus Valley.  According to SocyBerty.com, the Greeks took the button a step closer to use as a fastener by creating a loop for it out of strands of thread. Mass production of buttons came about during the industrial revolution, and the rest is button history!

One really fascinating aspect of buttons has to do with the feminist movement. In the course of campaigning for equal rights, women gradually adopted men’s clothing styles. But for some reason (there are different theories about why this is so), women’s clothes have always buttoned to the left, while men’s garments continue to button to the right!Whether you fasten your clothing east to west or the reverse, as a Classic Cleaners’ customer, you may be sure your clothes will be returned to you clean, fresh, and ready to –  button!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Put metal edges next to clothing and what do you get? Snags.

At Classic Cleaners, we see snags of every sort.  Sometimes, a wood splinter or a broken fingernail is the culprit, but more typically, garment snags are the result of metal things that go “pinch” or “pull”.

When the prongs on jewelry are loose, not only can precious stones be lost, those loose prongs can be very bad news for clothes.  Quick! Take your ring to your jeweler, while your dry cleaning professionals make the needed repairs to your garment.

Ladies, even your not-so-precious costume jewelry, especially if it hangs below the neckline, can snag your clothing.  Earrings that dangle can cause amazing damage as clothing is pulled over the head. Gentlemen’s and ladies’ belts can include metal edging or clasps that go “pinch” and “snag”.

The jury is still out on cell phone use being bad for human health. For sure, though, cell phones can be bad for clothing: the clips on belt cell phone holders often cause snags in the waistbands of skirts and trousers. Pin-on – and clip-on – name badges at business meetings? Those can snag woven fabrics of tops and sweaters.

Metal hoops in Civil War-era dresses

Repairing fabric tears is just one of the services Classic Cleaners provides, along with patching jacket elbows, replacing buttons, fasteners, and zippers, and hemming dresses, skirts, and pants.  With our decades of combined experience, you can bet those fasteners and zippers no longer go “pinch” in the night – or in the day, for that matter! 

 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team