Providing the highest-quality, VIP-level dry cleaning, laundry, and restoration services has been top priority at Classic Cleaners for twenty five years. We know the top three things customers want:

• My clothes back
• On time
• Ready to wear

That’s why, as your full-service cleaner, we’re dedicated to turning out beautiful results every time.

In today’s busy world, we know that, more than ever before, in addition to these three basic expectations, customers value speed and convenience.

Actually, this is hardly new. In fact, American history is filled with examples of the trend towards speed and convenience, going all the way back to the Pony Express in 1860, the “fast” mail service that carried messages by horseback across the prairies, plains, deserts, and mountains of the Western United States. Then, in 1930, Americans pioneered the drive-through concept that caught on throughout the developed countries of the world..  (Maid-Rite in Springfield, Illinois, is one company claiming to have had the first drive-through window.)

But speed by itself isn’t always satisfying and productive, and many companies learned the hard way the truth in the old saying “Haste makes waste”. “From the transcontinental railroads to the creation of the Web, companies have always had to balance ‘good enough now’ with ‘perfect too late’”, remarks Bob Lewis of Advice Line.

In keeping with our motto “the modern craft of clean”, Classic Cleaners constantly works to combine the latest in technology with decades of specialized professional experience to achieve both quality AND convenience. Classic Cleaners Express Service includes:

• Express Bag with ID tags holds drop off cleaning
• Heat seals ensure tracking and speed check-in and order assembly
• 24-hour drop off boxes in selected locations
• Lockers for secure 24-hour pickup
• e-mail notification when order is ready
• Drive-through service
• Secured credit card auto-pay

No need to balance “good enough now” and “perfect too late”. With Classic Cleaners Express Service, you can have perfect AND on time!

by Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

 ”Spotters vs. Toughies” might have been the title of Classic Cleaners’ latest film. The challenge – a white wedding dress with a big red wine stain.  The goal: demonstrate the Classic Cleaners expertise in stain removal. 

The profession of dry cleaning has challenges.  Some common “toughies” are:

• “Toughie” trimmings: beads, sequins, vinyl, feathers, fur, mesh
• “Toughie” fabrics: leather, suede, wool with spandex, cottons with silk
• “Toughie” stains: mustard, ink, caramelized sugar, oxidized oils
• “Toughie” reds – red garments, beet stains, and…wine stains!

When the going gets tough, Classic Cleaners gets going, and, as you can see from the before-and-after photos, the score was 1-0 in favor of the spotters. 

Savvy post-”game” commentators on the Spotters vs. Toughies might have mentioned several points:

1. Classic Cleaners spotters knew the stain was from red wine. The toughest stains are often those the customer forgot about; the dry cleaner needs to solve the “mystery” before deciding how to treat the stain!
   
2. The stain was recent. The sooner a stain can be treated, the better the chances for success in removing it without damaging the fabric.

toughie wine stain on wedding dress

Wine stain gone

“Sing me no song! Read me no rhyme! Don’t waste my time, Show me!” sings Eliza Doolittle in the musical My Fair Lady.

Recent Classic Cleaners blog posts have featured MuseumCare™, our wedding dress preservation system, guaranteed by all members of the worldwide Association of Wedding Gown Specialists.

Summerlot dress before restoring

While we love singing songs and reading rhymes, in today’s blog post we’re going to show

Summerlot dress after restoration

and tell you about the very special linen and lace wedding dress brought in to Classic Cleaners by customer Virginia Summerlot. Virginia’s daughter, a California resident, is getting married next year and plans to wear her mother’s 47-year old restored gown, matching gloves, train, and all. This promises to be a wedding story with not one, but two happy endings! (Who knows? With proper care and preservation, there might be more encore performances in store for this gorgeous garment!)

The special hand cleaning and preservation treatment system used on the Summerlot gown was showcased by Classic Cleaners at the

Classic Cleaners' Booth at the Scottish Rite Bridal Fair

bridal display at the Scottish Rite Cathedral on January 8th and 9th of this year. Our table features awards, photos, and the acid-free, archival quality wedding dress box we use for heirloom preservation.

Sing you no songs, you say?  Read you no rhymes?  Any time, we’ll show you!

By Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team

“The Terrible Twos are a phenomenon most parents could quite happily live without,” says suite101.com, referring to toddlers who say “No!” to everything and make throwing temper tantrums a habit, beginning around their twentieth month of life.

At Classic Cleaners, we only occasionally experience the results of Terrible Twos toddlers’ behavior in the form of some of horribly stained and ripped clothing coming in with Fluff and Fold family laundry orders (one can only imagine the tantrums!).

As members of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists, what we are trained to look for are the “Terrible Threes”.  Just as the “terrible two” toddlers stretch parents’ patience and wreak havoc on toddler wardrobes, when it comes to the terrible threes – sugars, salts, and acids – these wreak havoc on wedding gowns, doing the kind of damage with which conventional dry cleaning simply cannot cope.

Wedding dresses with lace appliqué, beading, and trim are most vulnerable to theTerrible Threes, which accumulate near the borders of the trim or beading.  Left untreated – or treated using only traditional dry cleaning methods – the at first invisible sugars, salts, and acids turn into ugly brownish-yellow areas on the dress.

The MuseumCare™ system of wedding gown preservation used at Classic Cleaners was shown to be the cleanest and safest in a blind test of four nationally-known wedding gown preservation processes. In fact, Classic Cleaners is the only dry cleaners in its area endorsed by the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists.

Whew!  With the beautiful wedding gown having been given the proper care and then preserved in an archival-quality box, the Terrible Threes will be safely out of the way.  As they begin their family, the bride and groom can spend their next few years preparing for the Terrible Twos!

By Reb of the Classic Cleaners blog team