How Secure Are your Pockets

The majority of Jeeves’ family still lives on the other side of the Atlantic, so he greatly anticipates their weekly chats. Your man Jeeves is a little behind the times and has not quite figured out skyping yet, so he still relies on the telephone. When he rang his youngest brother, Alfred this week they discussed a similar trend between their two businesses (Alfred handles luxury garments as well).

The conclusion that these two gentlemen came to is the astounding volume of items left behind in the pockets of dry cleaning clients.

A study conducted in the U. K. stated that almost 5,000 memory sticks and portable devices were found in pockets across 100 dry cleaners last year alone. This study was conducted by a security firm , Credant Technologies in an effort to emphasize why information on devices such as these should be encrypted.

Your man Jeeves does not care much for what this study is implying about the general public’s disposition, but does recognize the need for concern and precaution.

If you are someone who deals with highly personal or sensitive information Jeeves recommends that you not download unprotected information or other information to portable storage devices that if lost could lead to a breach in security or worse.

• Your man Jeeves has a few suggestions to help you keep track of your personal belongings:
• Empty your pockets when undressing
• Place items of value in a briefcase or purse
• If you must place them in a pocket check to make sure there are no holes
• Take a few extra minutes before sending clothes out to check your pockets

Rest assured that anything you forget to remove from your pockets before you send it to Jeeves for cleaning will be returned to you. Jeeves’ staff carefully attends to all pockets before cleaning to ensure that nothing is ruined or lost.

Fall into Winter

Nippy day here in New York City, wet and gloomy.  Jeeves had to tie a scarf around his neck for the first time this season, then slipped on his gloves.

So, how does your man Jeeves get ready for cold weather?

• Don’t wait to have your winter coats and jackets cleaned; clean them before a stain develops.
• Check for moth damage. Wool garments that were not cleaned before summer arrived should be looked at.  Moth holes can be repaired, but invisible weaving can get costly.
• Leather, suede and shearling garments that are soiled should be cleaned before winter.  Have these garments “weather proofed”, which will help them shed water and soiling.
• Have loose buttons, hooks and other closures repaired now. There is nothing worse than having a coat that cannot be buttoned up on a freezing cold day.
• Check your other garments for open seams and falling linings. These areas take a lot of wear and should be fixed before they get worse.

Following these simple steps will insure an easy transition into Winter and save you hassle If you need cleaning advice, just ring your man Jeeves. As always he is at your service.

Jeeves can provide the ultimate in garment care for you just about anywhere around the globe. For those in New York City, Jeeves offers complimentary pick-up and delivery. Elsewhere Jeeves can ship via FEDEX.

Jeeves is only one of 23 garment care firms in the USA selected as one of America’s Best Cleaners.

Pleats? Pleats No More.

How do you maintain the pleats in a cotton jersey pleated skirt? Very carefully I might add, especially if the pleats are in the sunburst pattern. (See example to the left.)

A sunburst pleat is very tightly spaced at the top of the garment and gets a bit wider towards the bottom.

The difficulty with these types of pleats is that they cannot be re-pleated using conventional hand ironing.

When making a purchase of a pleated garment consider that if the fabric content is mostly natural fibers (silk, cotton etc.) the likely-hood of the pleats staying sharp after a few wearings is slim to none.

We received a white cotton jersey Lacoste skirt at Jeeves of Belgravia today with the pleats removed by incorrect handling from a poor quality dry cleaner.

The skirt has to be taken apart so that just the fabric panels can be re-pleated. Definitely a job not for the faint-of-heart.

Can the skirt be saved? Yes, but at a cost of over $250 for re-pleating. When you are the best dry cleaner in New York City you have to be able to take care of everything for your clients.

Ask questions, and consider the upkeep before you make a wardrobe investment. Look for the best dry cleaner in your area before sending a special item in for cleaning. You may not be happy with the end result.

Thanks for listening, Jerry Pozniak

Jeeves of Belgravia was  selected as only one of 35 America’s Best Cleaners. Jeeves also holds the Royal Warrant as “the” dry cleaner to HRH the Prince of Wales (Prince Charles and family). Jeeves is also the only world-wide garment care brand.

Tory Burch Dress

Hello all and welcome again to the garment of the week.

Today we are going to take a look at a Tory Burch dress that we cleaned about a week ago.

The client requested our Eco-friendly dry cleaning process and according to the care instructions attached to the dress this should have been “no problem”.

We were rather distressed to find that the navy printed portion of the dress was “bleeding” or transferring after cleaning.

This should not happen given the fact that the care instructions indicated that all types of dry cleaning processes were usable on this dress. Our guess is that the maker only tested one type of dry cleaning.

Through careful hand-cleaning and dye removal techniques my head cleaning technician was able to remove all of the dye which had transferred, thus saving the dress from certain doom.

Cheap dry cleaners would give this dress back to their customer and let them deal with the problem. At Jeeves of Belgravia we take care of the problem for you.

4 hours of labor went into correcting this dress for our Jeeves of Belgravia client, but your man Jeeves would not have it any other way.

Jeeves of Belgravia, the best dry cleaner in Manhattan is proud to be one of only 35 garment care firms selected as America’s Best Cleaners.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day signals the start of the summer wardrobe season. By now the soft wools and cashmere have been stored for the season.

While pastels and linens may dominate, there is nothing like crisp white to off-set the bronzing effects of the sun.

When soiled your whites will need attention. Sent to the dry cleaner they should remain well, white. Too often whites do not remain white after a “cleaning”. Why?

Not to get overly technical, but the solution used in dry cleaning must remain clean.  At our shop anything less than “gin” clear is not acceptable.

After every load of dry cleaning the cleaning solution must be filtered and distilled. Why do I sound like a Scotch ad?

Dry cleaners looking to cut costs can easily skip this step as it is costly to distill after every load.

After just one use without distillation the dry cleaning solution can take on the color of iced tea. Anything white cleaned in dirty dry cleaning solution will come out “gray”. (Imagine taking a bath in water used by 10 people before you. Yuck.)

Cheap dry cleaning is not the bargain you think you may be getting. A dry cleaner who “cuts corners” will eventually harm your wardrobe; and that is not saving money, it’s wasting money.

As in everything in life, you get what you pay for. If you want your whites to stay “white”, find a great dry cleaner.

Thanks for listening. Jerry Pozniak

How to Find a Good Dry Cleaner

If you live in NYC the chances are that you can’t go more than 2 blocks without encountering a dry cleaner. If you are fortunate the dry cleaner who is the closest may be good, but how can you tell? And what is good dry cleanig anyway?

If the dry cleaning shop looks like a disaster it probably is. I can never figure how people can drop of clothes and expect them to be cleaned in places that are filthy.

Speak to the counter staff, do they seem knowledgeable? If they aren’t, how comfortable are you going to be when you need to have a delicate garment cleaned?

Ask questions, ask around and see what kind of reputation they have. It’s probably not best to choose the cheapest dry cleaner around. As in everything in life, you generally get what you pay for.