How we care for your clothes

Wash or dry clean?We follow your care label. Washing costs less; dry cleaning lifts oil.

Every garment has a care label, and we follow it. If it says dry clean, we dry clean it. If it says hand wash, we wash it by hand. If it says machine wash, it goes in our washers.

If it can be washed, we recommend washing

It costs less and it's quicker. Asking for "everything dry cleaned" isn't always best for your clothes: some fabrics are made to be washed, and some can't take water at all.

For an expensive garment, dry cleaning is worth paying for: it's the gentlest care and the best press we can give it.

Cotton shirts: wash, or dry clean?

Washing is our standard. Dry cleaning costs more, but our solvent is a grease eater. It takes out what water can't:

A big grease or oil spot.
The film around a collar. Sweat and skin oil build up there. Even after we treat the collar for dirt and grime, a faint mark like a watermark can stay: that's oil, and dry cleaning lifts it.

Dark shirts come out of dry cleaning perfect, with no fading. White shirts won't come out quite as bright white, so for a tiny oil spot we don't recommend it.

StarchOnly cotton and cotton blends take starch. Never silk, wool or soft fabrics.

Starch bonds with cotton and cotton blends. On other fabrics it won't hold, so we don't charge you for something that won't work, and we'll tell you so up front.

Can take starch

Cotton and cotton blends: dress shirts, uniforms and work shirts, jeans, khakis, cotton work pants, and cotton shorts if you ask. Choose none, light or heavy.

Starch is pressed in wet. The moisture lets it go on thin and even, so you get a crisp finish, not flakes.

Never starched

Silk, wool and wool-like fabrics, dress slacks, and soft fabrics like 100% polyester, polyester with spandex and 100% rayon. You bought those for how soft they feel and how they fall on you, so they come back feeling the way they did new.

Sizing instead

Polo shirts, t-shirts, and cotton blouses and small shirts that don't fit our shirt machine get a light spray of sizing and a little water before pressing. It isn't starch, but it gives them a much neater press. Soft fabrics get neither.

Creases & pleatsA crease on all pants unless you say no. Pleats are priced at the counter.

Creases

All pants get a crease down the front unless you ask for no crease.

No crease

Joggers and sweatpants with gathered ankles, tights and leggings never get a crease: the line can't form straight on them. Bell-bottoms and flares aren't made for one either. If you ask, we'll put one in, but we can't promise how it will look.

Pleats

If you'd like every pleat in a dress or skirt pressed back in, each pleat is charged (priced at the counter). Not every maker sets pleats to last: some come out in a wash, in the heating and cooling of drying, or just from wearing. We'll press them back in, but we can't make a pleat last longer than the garment was made to hold it.

Garment by garmentHow each kind of garment is cleaned, starched and finished.

"As the label says" means we follow the care label: dry clean, hand wash or machine wash.

Shirts & tops

Cotton dress shirts

Cleaned: Washed (dry cleaned if you ask)
Starch: None, light or heavy
Finished on: Our shirt unit: collar and cuff press, sleeve press, then the double-buck body press

Uniforms and work shirts

Cleaned: Washed, if cotton or a cotton blend
Starch: None, light or heavy
Finished on: The shirt unit, the same as dress shirts, at no extra charge. Police, fire and EMS uniforms are usually discounted, depending on the fabric

Polo shirts and t-shirts

Cleaned: As the label says
Starch: Never; a light sizing instead
Finished on: Cotton ones on our cotton presses

Cotton blouses and small shirts

Cleaned: As the label says
Starch: A light sizing
Finished on: Our cotton presses, when they don't fit the shirt unit

Linen shirts

Cleaned: We recommend dry cleaning
Starch: If you ask
Finished on: Pressed by hand up to the buttons, which are often plastic or color-matched and can break

Silk blouses and shirts

Cleaned: Dry cleaned
Starch: Never
Finished on: The silk press only

Polyester, rayon and other soft shirts

Cleaned: As the label says
Starch: Never, and no sizing
Finished on: The silk press

Pants

Dress slacks, suit pants and women's slacks

Cleaned: Dry cleaned
Starch: Never
Finished on: The puff topper for the waist, then a legger for each leg, one at a time

Jeans, khakis and cotton work pants

Cleaned: Washed
Starch: None, light or heavy
Finished on: Our double leggers (both legs at once) and double toppers, pressed wet

Shorts

Cleaned: As the label says
Starch: If you ask
Finished on: With starch, on the jeans presses

Jackets, dresses & coats

Suit jackets and blazers

Cleaned: Dry cleaned (washed only if the fabric and label allow)
Starch: Never
Finished on: Shaped on the Susie, then the lapels, collar and sleeves by hand

Dresses

Cleaned: As the label says
Starch: Never
Finished on: The Susie; silk dresses on the silk press

Dresses with beads, sequins or embellishments

Cleaned: As the label says
Starch: Never
Finished on: By hand. Costs extra: priced at the counter

Coats

Cleaned: Dry cleaned (washed only if washable)
Starch: Never
Finished on: Steamed on the Susie

Down and puffer jackets

Cleaned: As the maker says: some dry clean, some machine wash, some hand wash only
Starch: Never
Finished on: Steamed

Knits & accessories

Sweaters

Cleaned: Dry cleaned or washed, as the fabric needs
Starch: Never
Finished on: Steamed back into shape, then folded over a hanger so they don't stretch

Ties

Cleaned: Dry cleaned
Starch: Never
Finished on: Steamed; a badly wrinkled tie is first pressed straight on the silk press, our gentlest

Buttons, beads & trimsWhy some buttons crack or pop off, and how we replace them.

Some buttons and trims aren't made to last through pressing, however carefully it's done. Here's what to look out for before you bring a garment in.

Cupped plastic buttons (curved inward, like a small bowl) are the most fragile. Their thin, curved shape cracks under even light pressure. On a laundered shirt they can break in one or two presses; even dry cleaned, they rarely last more than about five.
Plastic gets brittle with age. Over time, heat and everyday wear, any plastic button will crack eventually, however gently it's handled.
Pearl buttons, and any button or trim held on with glue, can pop off with heat: pressing and steam soften the glue.
Glitter, sequins, rhinestones and glued-on or printed decorations can loosen, dull or come off with heat, steam or cleaning.

It comes down to how the garment was made. We press every shirt the same careful way, whatever its buttons. How long a button lasts depends on its shape, its material and how it was attached: choices made by the maker, not the cleaner. A fragile button would crack the same way anywhere.

If a button breaks or comes off

Free: we sew on a standard button from our own stock, like white, black, grey or pearl. It won't be an exact match to the maker's button, so tell us at drop-off if you'd rather we leave it.
Extra cost: special or designer buttons (two-tone, patterned or custom styles) that we try to order for you, and replacing a whole set so they all match, like every button on a jacket. Priced at the counter.

What you can do

Keep the spare buttons that come with a new garment: they're the only exact match.
If a shirt has cupped buttons, ask about dry cleaning: it's gentler on them, though they still won't last long.
Point out anything glued, beaded or sparkly when you drop it off, so we can talk it over with you.

Holes & worn spotsWhy they can show up after cleaning, and what we do about it.

Sometimes a small hole appears after cleaning that wasn't visible before. That can feel like the cleaning caused it, but usually the damage was already there, hidden.

Insects

Moth and carpet beetle larvae feed on wool and silk, and on food and drink spills on other fabrics. What they leave behind fills the spot they've eaten, so it can't be seen until cleaning flushes it out. Cleaning also kills any larvae still in the garment.

Chemicals

Perfume, deodorant, hair products, bleach and some household cleaners weaken fibers where they touched. The weak spot holds until cleaning, then opens into a hole or a thin patch.

Wear and rubbing

Fabric thins where something rubs against it again and again: a seatbelt across the chest, a purse strap, a jacket worn over it, the seat where you sit, or belt loops rubbing silky or thin fabric in the car. The spot looks fine until cleaning opens it up.

The pattern tells the story. When several garments show the same worn spot in the same place, like a seatbelt line, that comes from how they were worn. A cleaning machine can't wear the same mark into the same spot on different garments.

Delicate fabrics need gentle wear. Thin silks and fine fabrics wear through fastest where they rub. Looking after them between cleanings is down to the wearer; our job is to clean them as carefully as they allow.

What we do

We check every garment when it comes in, and we may photograph or video garments as they're sorted, to keep a record of their condition. Anything already damaged is marked on your ticket as received damaged, cleaned with care, and pointed out to you when you pick it up or it's delivered. A garment that can't be repaired, like wool that has already shrunk in a washing machine, we won't clean at all. If one of our staff ever damages something, we tell you.

If you think we damaged something, tell us within 7 days and keep the garment (and its care label) so we can look at it. Our Terms & Conditions (sections 3 to 7) say exactly how we handle it.

Sources: moth damage hidden until cleaning and chemical damage that shows after cleaning (Laundry and Cleaning News); insects feeding on food stains (IFI Fabricare News, Smithsonian).

Extras & householdWater-repellent, wedding gowns, comforters, curtains, rugs, leather, alterations.

Extras

Water-repellent treatment: $25 extra per coat, for fabrics that can take it. About 3 days: after cleaning we treat the coat at least twice so no spot is missed, letting each treatment settle into the fabric before the next.
Wedding gown cleaning and preservation: each gown is cleaned on its own (a very dirty one gets an overnight cycle), then boxed for keeping.

Household items

Comforters and blankets, dry cleaned or washed as the fabric needs. Down comforters too, up to about 3 inches thick. Thicker than that isn't worth it: cleaning one costs nearly as much as a new one.
Curtains: please take all the hooks off before you bring them in. Hooks left on can damage your curtains.
Tablecloths: yes.
Rugs: small ones, we'll take a look and give it our best shot. Big rugs we can't take: our shop isn't big enough for them.

Takes longer, or not yet

Leather and suede go to a specialist. About 7 business days, sometimes longer if the item needs extra work.
Alterations: at least 7 business days. Bigger jobs take longer, and so do repairs that need a part ordered, like a special-size zipper most stores don't carry.
Wash and fold (laundry by the pound): not yet.

Our machinesThe machines and presses that clean and finish your clothes.

Every press has its own job, so every part of a garment gets the right heat and the right shape.

Dry cleaning machine: Cleans in a solvent instead of water, for fabrics water would shrink or ruin, and lifts the oil water leaves behind.
Washers: Two of them, for everything washable.
Dryers: Two: one heated by a flame, one heated by steam from our boiler.
Boiler: Makes the steam for every press and steamer in the shop.
Shirt unit: A collar and cuff press, a sleeve press and a double-buck body press, so every part of a shirt gets its own press.
Double leggers and double toppers: Two of each, for jeans and cotton pants: both legs at once, pressed wet.
Puff topper and two leggers: Dress slacks: the waist first, then one leg at a time, with no starch.
Silk press: Our gentlest press, for silk, polyester and other soft fabrics.
The Susie: A full-size steamer that shapes dresses, jackets and coats from the inside.
Two cotton presses: For sturdier cotton: shirts, t-shirts and blouses that are dry cleaned or don't fit the shirt unit.

Quick answers