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July 28, 2014 In Fashion, Uncategorized

Dress To Keep Cool

As the humidity and heat continue to rise, its important to do what you can to keep cool. We’ve done some research on how to stay cool this summer. From the color of your clothes to the fabrics its made of. Making the right clothing decisions can influence how well we handle the heat.

The color of fabric you choose to wear can effect your body temperature. Black tends to absorb heat where are lighter colors such as white, pink, lime green, and yellows reflect it.

The type of fabric you choose can also have an impact. Many of the fabrics that can keep you cooler are natural fibers. Listed below are the best and worst fabrics to beat the summer heat

Best: Cotton and Linen
These two fibers are all natural and light weight. They tend to be more breathable than other fabrics which allows for you to stay cooler in them.
cotton

Cotton is what most people go to in the summer. Widely available in many styles and is very affordable. Cotton also absorbs moisture which helps keep you cooler as well.

Linen is extremely durable and softens as it ages. It also resists deterioration due to sun and wear. It dries quicker than other fabrics allowing for you to keep cool.

Worst: Polyester and Wool

plum polyester

Polyester is a tightly woven synthetic fiber that can serve as a heat trap if you’re in extreme heat.

Wool is also well known for keeping you warm in extreme cold. All though it is a natural fiber, its not as light weight at cotton or linen, its heavier which helps it serve as a great way to stay warm.

Quick Fix For Chap Stick Stains

Ever forget to check and miss that chap stick
that’s hidden at the bottom of the pocket before putting your clothes in the washer or dryer?
We’ve seen more than our fair share of stains due to grease and chap stick come through our doors.
Some of these stains can be taken care of right at home! They often look similar to the image shown below. The fabric will appear darker and splotchy.

For a quick fix at home, try laying a piece of cardboard or paper bag under the stain and using a hot iron, go over the stain. The cardboard or paper will act like a sponge and absorb the grease or wax (depending on the brand). Its best to catch the stain before putting it in the dryer because the heat can cause the stain to set.

When all else fails bring it to us and our team will work on the stain!

June 25, 2014 In "Geeky" Stain Tips, Dry Cleaning Tips, Green Cleaning, Specialty Cleaning, Uncategorized

Grass Stains

In honor of the world coming together in the world cup games in Brazil, we thought we might remind you on how to remove the notorious grass stain.

Grass contains chlorophyll which is the substance that makes plants green. The green is what you see on the surface of this stain. Bleach can work great on white items however use caution with this because sitting in bleach too long can cause damage to the fabric. If the garment is not able to withstand bleach, try soaking it in a solution of water and detergent, then gently brush or dab the area. Be sure not to rub the stain because that may cause the stain to spread. After, wash the item. Before drying it be sure to check the stain is gone. Drying a stain such as this can cause the stain to set and make it very difficult to get out.

The quicker you deal with the stain, the better chance you have of getting it out.

When all else fails and the stain is a bit stubborn to get out at home. Bring it to us and our experts can work on getting the stain out.

June 12, 2014 In "Geeky" Stain Tips, Dry Cleaning Tips, Green Cleaning, Press, Specialty Cleaning, Uncategorized, Workplace

Eco Friendly Dry Cleaning

As you know, we pride ourselves on being an Eco-friendly dry cleaners.
But what exactly does that mean? What sets us apart from our competitors?

We offer numerous green options in all aspects of our product.
Including biodegradable plastic bags, recycling hangers, and most importantly our actual dry cleaning solution.

You may have heard of the harmful effects of PERC recently on the news.
Studies have shows that PERC can cause harmful effects to the body if exposed.
This is why St. Croix Cleaners had decided to be one of the few cleaners to offer a newer, organic, option called K4.

K4 is a extremely innovative solvent that is safer for you and your family.
It has very different properties than conventional dry cleaning solvents.
It is Halogen free, 99% pure, and not to mention its outstanding cleaning ability that keep your clothes looking great.

For more information on K4 visit our About section on our website or go directly to the source at http://www.systemk4.com/en/products/solvonk4.html

June 3, 2014 In "Geeky" Stain Tips, Dry Cleaning Tips, Green Cleaning, Specialty Cleaning, Uncategorized, Workplace

How Does Dry Cleaning Work?

As Featured on WCCO’s “Good Question”:

What happens between the time you drop off your most treasured garments at the cleaners and when you pick them up?

John Lauritsen of the WCCO team asked this “Good Question” last week, and we invited him to take a tour with St Croix Cleaners’ Owner, Dave Nemec, of our main facility here in Stillwater, MN. There’s a little more to dry cleaning than you might think! Take a look:

Or watch the video here: Check out the video here: CBS Minnesota’s Good Question

May 2, 2014 In Dry Cleaning Tips, Green Cleaning, Press, Specialty Cleaning

Winter Storage Tips

We stopped by the Twin Cities Live studio yesterday to share some winter storage tips for your favorite garments!

Here are a few of the tips for storing your winter garments until next season:

-Clean your clothes before you put them away. Food and beverage stains can attract clothes moths and silver fish.
-Once you get your clothes back from the dry cleaners, remove them from the plastic garment bag. Your clothes need to “breathe”. And, don’t store your sweaters on hangers.
-When storing winter bedding, make sure to wash and completely dry your comforters. Remember, comforters can take up to 8 hours to completely dry.
-Use lemon rinds and baking soda in your closet. Lemon rinds keep bugs from burrowing in your clothes. The baking soda, just like in the refrigerator, will eliminate odors in your clothes. Don’t use mothballs! These will leave a permanent odor on your clothing.

Watch the video here.

April 22, 2014 In Green Cleaning, Press

Featured in the Stillwater Gazette

We’ve got a lot planned for 2014 and are excited to continue to help our customers look and feel their very best – every single day! Check out the recent article in the Stillwater Gazette about this expansive regrowth plan:

“St. Croix Cleaners, a locally owned dry cleaning service, announces it will add two new locations and an extensive renovation and rebranding plan for 2014.

The two new urban locations will be on the skyway level of the Soo Line Building City Apartments in Minneapolis and inside Lunds in the new Penfield Luxury Apartments in St. Paul. These new locations will join a network of…” Read the rest of the article on the Stillwater Gazette’s website.

April 21, 2014 In "Geeky" Stain Tips, Green Cleaning

Ways to Prevent Color Fading on Your Clothes

Do you ever have items that seem to fade and wear out in certain parts of the garment? This is often due to wear over time. Certain fabrics such as cotton, linen and ramie are more susceptible to this kind of wear. It also depends on your lifestyle and the quality of the item itself. Unfortunately, their is no way to prevent this. But, their are ways to prevent the wearing out and loss of color on your items and we’re here to share a few helpful tips with you!

Wash darks with darks, and lights with lights. Though this may seem to be common sense to some, many people mix loads. This is a leading cause of fading in both dark and light colored garments. The best way to prevent this is doing separate loads.
Do not stuff the washer. We know that doing separate loads may be time consuming. But in the best interest of your clothes, it is important to not over stuff the washer. Your items will not get cleaned properly and it also leads to more time in the dryer which leads to our next tip…
Don’t spend all day drying your clothes. The more you over stuff the washer, the more you over stuff your drying, the more time it needs to fully dry. Too much time in the dryer is bad for fabrics. It can cause the color to fade and wear out. The clothes need to move freely in the dryer.

March 31, 2014 In Dry Cleaning Tips, Green Cleaning

It's Earth Month! Let's Conserve Water

This April (usually known as Earth Month since Earth Day falls on the 22nd) we’re excited to share more and more reasons why innovative technologies continue to make dry cleaning a relatively eco-friendly practice!

St Croix Cleaners is one of the largest dry cleaning facilities in the Twin Cities metro, if not Minnesota, and that means that A LOT of water is being used clean and press garments.

At a dry cleaning plant, though typical ‘dry cleaning’ does not use water, many other things do require the use of it. Water is used for washing clothes in some machines, for attached laundromat’s machines, and it is also used to create the heat and steam so that we’re able to press your garments to make them look their best.

With 20 locations across the metro, we were cleaning and pressing quite a few garments a day – and that meant we were using A LOT of water ever day. After a bit of research on how we might be able to save some of this water, we invested in a water circulation tower in 2010 that is now on the roof of our facility.

The water conservation tower recycles and purifies the majority of the water we use – saving over 2.5 million gallons of water a year! That’s enough water to fill over 92 Olympic-sized swimming pools!

Just another reason we love to help you look and feel your very best – every single day.

March 13, 2014 In Dry Cleaning Tips, Specialty Cleaning

Lost Sweater – Found Thanks to Dry Cleaning!

istockphoto_515023-modern-technology-up-closeWarm

A sweater found in a Minneapolis parking ramp was returned to it’s owner last week – all because of dry cleaning Technology!

That’s right, thanks to significant increases in technology over the past several years, dry cleaning has become an extremely high-tech industry.

Every time your shirt, sweater, pants – you name it – is dropped off with us, it receives a small barcode. This barcode is usually placed in an out-of-sight location so it is of no inconvenience to you and your garments, but the information it holds is extremely valuable. Within that tiny barcode holds all kinds of information about that garment, including things like:

the type of garment it is (shirt, pants, dress, etc)
the fabric, color and brand of the garment
who the garment belongs to
when the garment was checked in at our stores, where it is within the cleaning process and whether it is ready to be picked up
even the amount of times that garment has been to us!

This information allows us to use the utmost care and quality standards in handling and cleaning your garments. And, for one lucky customer, it helped her get her sweater back! Another customer found a sweater on the ground in a St Paul Community Ed parking lot after a theater performance once night. She knew we barcoded our items, so looked at the care label – and sure enough – a barcode! She emailed us with the barcode number, and we were able to locate the customer it belonged to, and to get her sweater back to her! She had just “written off” the sweater – which was one of her favorites and most expensive and never thought it could be located..!

It’s a great feel-good story for a nice Thursday afternoon, eh?!