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

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

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

Table linen care at Classic Cleaners

If you’re like most families, it’s not an everyday occurrence, dining at home on a table spread with tablecloth and fine cloth napkins, that is.  Still, there’s no denying the fact – nothing adds elegance to a meal like crisp, clean, perfectly pressed table linen. 

And, at Classic Cleaners, we know table linen.  We give linens the old one-two-three :

1.   Our first task is removing stains. We’re so proud of our stain removal process that we guarantee removal of 100% of fresh stains (or the cleaning is free)!
2. Next comes laundering the linen in a special cleaning solution that helps restore the original beauty of the cloth.
3. At Classic Cleaners, drying and pressing happen in a single stage, which is possible only because of our large, professional press. Try as you might, it’s impossible to duplicate our process at home.  In fact, most dry cleaners cannot provide this kind of finish for table linens.

Two important reminders for you:

• Linens are breathers, too! Avoid storing clean table linens in plastic bags. (Tip: Clean pillowcases make great storage bags for fine linens.)
• It’s important to bring in all the pieces of a matching set to be cleaned at the same time.  Even if only seven of the dozen matching napkins were used, it’s best to bring in the entire set. As yourvalet.com points out, the same advice  holds true for matching sets of drapes and seat covers, sets of bedspreads, pillow shams, and drapes, and the top and bottom halves of suits. 
  

With Classic Cleaners’ professional expertise, you can be sure the color will be a perfect match! 

 by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

While Classic Cleaners’ General Manager Steve Arnold and the other 24 members of the 4th Virginia Company were cooking wild turkey at Conner Prairie Village’s civil war re-enactment last month, Arnold realized, their vintage uniforms were absorbing the smell of the campfire.

Interesting.  Although Classic Cleaners has earned a reputation for expert stain removal, it’s often true today that garments with no stains still need dry cleaning in order to remove smells.

Back in Civil War times, clothes were left out in the open air to get deodorized.  Today, Classic Cleaners’ technicians use an ozone-making machine the size of a small space heater. Clothes are exposed to the ozone within a closed-off room.  Just a few minutes with the ozone machine equals the effect of a couple of weeks leaving clothes to air outside!

Classic Cleaners Partner Steve Arnold at 4th Virginia Company

Clothing in Civil War times was made to last for many years.  Battlefield soldiers often didn’t have the luxury of owning several changes of clothes (average monthly pay was $11!).  Still, the hand-brushing soldiers used to restore the “nap” to fabrics is still used as one of several garment hand-care techniques at Classic Cleaners today.

You may not be in the habit of cooking wild turkey over a campfire, but clothing absorbs odors from many sources, and clothing needs periodic professional deodorizing.

When Classic Cleaners returns your garments to you at the counter or at your home, you may be assured those garments are not only clean and pressed – they can pass the smell test!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

It seems like only yesterday that Delores Godwin left her position as RCA group manager to manage the Classic Cleaners store on 62nd and Allisonville Road.  Thankfully, the rest isn’t history, because, 22 1/2 years later, Dee’s still very much an important member of the Classic Cleaners management team.

Now district manager at Classic Cleaners, Dee is greeted with hugs when she stands

Dee Godwin smiles for customers, not for spots!

in at the counter at any of the eight district stores and is spotted by longtime customers. Biggest change in the business she’s noticed over the years?  The new fabric blends.  (In Dee’s early years at Classic Cleaners, most of the clothing was pure wool, silk, or cotton.) One thing that has not changed at all in Dee’s world – the importance of customer service.  “Be friendly, outgoing, and let your customers know you really care about them and their clothes,” Dee teaches new employees.

Asked to identify her favorite aspect of working for a dry cleaners, Dee immediately mentioned stain removal.  “It’s like being a detective.  You don’t always know what the stain is, and you’ve got to use clues, then try the right combination of chemicals and techniques to get that stain out.”

Dee recalls her very first day on the job, when Classic Cleaners’ founding partner Carl Arnold called her attention to something at the back of a machine which he was illuminating with a flashlight.  “Do you see that?” he asked.  “Will you tell me what I’m looking for?” she replied.  Inside the machine, Carl pointed out, was cleaning solution that needed to be “cooked down” to take out dyes and oils and impurities so that the solution could be reused.  Carl was teaching Dee to recognize what level in the machine the solution needed to reach so she’d know it had been fully purified. That lesson would be useful to her for the next twenty two and a half years!

Dee resides with her husband of 46 years, James Godwin (now retired from the former Allied Grocers), and with their two female Jack Russell terriers, P.J. and Peety-Boo. Meanwhile, at work, Dee helps carry on the company’s culture of customer service that helped earn the Classic Cleaners’ “ Best Dry Cleaner in Indy” rating.

The famous Lady Macbeth line from Shakespeare is “Out, Out, Damned Spot!”. But, unlike the evil Lady Macbeth, Dee Godwin is interested in doing her very best to serve Classic Cleaners’ customers!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

Commenting about mistakes, well-known author and sales trainer Zig Ziglar had this advice: “Some of us learn from other people’s mistakes.  The rest of us have to BE other people!”Of course we know everyone makes mistakes. But since the professionals at Classic Cleaners work hard to remain the best dry cleaners in Indy, we don’t want our customers to be making garment care mistakes other people learn from!

Deteriorated wedding gown

Knowing that wedding gown restoration is a specialty at Classic Cleaners, a customer brought us a dress in hopes it could be restored.  Unfortunately, too much time had passed; too much damage had been done. As you can see from the photo, the sleeves of the dress had already deteriorated and were starting to come apart.  Mildew had rotted the front area of the garment. We needed to break the bad news to the owner that, while it was possible that the original color of her dress might be restored, the fabric would not hold up under  total stain removal treatment.

What “O.P.M.” lessons can be learned from her story?
 
Never put away a garment with stains (even if you suspect something might have been spilled on it).

Exposure to any of these can set the stains in and cause deterioration of the fabric:

• The warmth of a closet or car trunk (especially when the garment is in a plastic bag!)
• Light
• The atmosphere
• Insects
• Heat
• The wrong combination of chemicals
• Rubbing

Always tell your dry cleaning professional if there has been a spill, even if there’s no sign of a stain. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to recall the important information your dry cleaner needs to treat your garment.

While the wedding gown could not be fully restored for wear, the technicians at Classic Cleaners were able to gently clean the gown and preserve it in one of our archival wedding gown boxes.

(See, Zig?  We’re offering our Classic Cleaners customers every O.P.M. opportunity to learn about garment care  the easy way!)

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

“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

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