Could we be seeing the end of ‘Mom jeans’ and age-appropriate clothing? Is the next trend in-style no matter your age?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/marisakabas/the-end-of-mom-jeans
Pictured (from left to right): Patrick Hanlon – City of Minneapolis, Environmental Services, Polly & Dave Nemec – Owners, St Croix | White Way Cleaners, Kelley Nemec – Marketing Manager, St Croix | White Way Cleaners, and Mike Nelson – MN Pollution Control Agency.
In April, St Croix | White Way Cleaners’ owner, Dave Nemec was invited to the Minneapolis City Hall to receive a “Green Business Award” in recognition for their eco-friendly cleaning methods. The dry cleaning company which is based in Stillwater, MN, switched to eco-friendly cleaning solvents in 2007 and have never looked back. “We are always looking for the next best technologies and opportunities to clean clothes with sustainable and eco-friendly practices. We have been working very hard to continue increasing our quality standards while staying as earth-friendly as possible. It’s such an honor to be recognized for these efforts,” Nemec stated.
Why eco-friendly? Because when your garments are cleaned using earth-friendly solvents, they smell better, stay brighter longer, and are softer to the touch. St Croix | White Way Cleaners has also installed a water re-circulation system, uses bio-degradable plastic bags and recycles hangers at all of their 20 Twin Cities Metro locations.
“How do you remove mud stains from “dry clean only” clothes?”
Duane: Great Question! “Dry Clean Only” fabrics ARE sensitive to water, and can get ruined if water is used to get stains off them. Mud can be a stubborn stain to remove. Follow the steps below for mud or dirt stains to keep them from setting in. Be sure to bring them in to us as soon as possible! Our award-winning stain removers love “dirty” jobs!
1. Allow mud/dirt to dry completely. Do NOT attempt to wipe away wet mud/dirt. It will spread and grind into the fabric fibers
2. Do NOT add water to the stain or use a wet cloth to try and wipe it off. This will only set the stain further into the fabric
3. When mud’s dry, gently use a plastic knife or spoon to scrape off excess, being careful not to grind the dirt into fabric
4. Gently brush at the dried dirt with small brush or toothbrush
5. Bring into your dry cleaner asap!
365 trips outside every morning, 63 rain storms, 14 blizzards and twice daily doggy slobber… your rug is begging for a “spa” day!
It’s highly recommended that rugs get a thorough cleaning about once a year, and the results are staggering!
Your rug will last longer, smell better, and withstand daily use with the right cleaning process. Here at St Croix | White Way Cleaners we combine the latest technology with hand-cleaning processes to make sure your rug looks (and smells) like brand new!
Here are a few fun facts about rugs:
Check out an awesome review our Rug Specialists received this week!
We have 20 convenient Twin Cities locations that you can drop your rug off at, OR we can come pick up your rug from your home for FREE! Call for more information: 651.491.7501
For the 6th consecutive year, St Croix Cleaners has earned the prestigious Seal of Approval for Quality Garment Cleaning & Customer Service. The Minnesota-based cleaner passed all the rigorous cleaning and customer service evaluations. Earning the Seal of Approval signifies that St Croix Cleaners has successfully maintained high quality cleaning standards and has proven their ability in complex stain removal and consistently demonstrates superior quality and customer service.
This prestigious international award program is administered by the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute, a Washington-DC-based group. To date, approximately 140 companies around the world have attained the Seal of Approval.
“Finding a good cleaner who will consistently treat you like a valued customer shouldn’t be a guessing game,” Drycleaning and Laundry Institute CEO Mary Scalco said. The 24-year veteran of the cleaning industry noted, “By becoming a Seal of Approval cleaner, St Croix Cleaners proved there is a difference between quality cleaners and their competition. Now customers know where to find a cleaner who will treat them and their garments properly – every time.”
Each year, Seal of Approval Drycleaners must renew their status with the program by successfully completing stain removal and cleaning performance tests. In addition, each business must meet other requirements such as continuing education, community service, and offering superior customer service as evidenced by the company’s standing with the Better Business Bureau.
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The Drycleaning & Laundry Institute represents the interests of the cleaning industry, clothing manufacturers, and consumer advisors in identifying those cleaning plants that provide the highest level of clothing care. The group began accepting applications for the Seal of Approval Award of Excellence for Quality Garment Cleaning & Customer Service in 2005. Visit their website or call Mary Scalco at 800.638.2627.
St Croix | White Way Cleaners is an award-winning dry cleaning company based in Stillwater, Minnesota. They have won the DryClean and Laundry Institute’s Seal of Approval 6 years in a row and have been voted “Best DryCleaner” over 10 times by Reader’s Choice. They specialize in exceptional customer service, high-quality garment care, and eco-friendly dry cleaning by using non-toxic solvents, bio-degradable plastic bags, a water conservation system, and recycling hangers. They have 20 drop-off locations throughout the Eastern Metro and within Minneapolis and St Paul.
In a move that shocked half the planet this month Hasbro announced they would be replacing the iron game piece in their popular Monopoly game. “Replacing the iron is exactly what drycleaning and laundry professionals do,” said Mary Scalco. Scalco is CEO of the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute, a trade association for professional drycleaners and launderers.
“No one likes irons or ironing. We were overjoyed to learn there would soon be one less iron in millions of homes around the world, even if it is a miniature replica game piece,” Scalco said. “Way to go, Hasbro!”
In today’s world, people want to look good but they don’t want to have to iron their clothes to do it. Drycleaning and Laundry professionals help eliminate the need to do tedious ironing. Readers may identify a professional drycleaning or laundry service in their area at www.DLIonline.org.
Have you been wondering what the phrases “Eco-Friendly”, “Earth Friendly” and “Non-Toxic” really have to do with dry cleaning? And why it should matter to you?
To put it in the simplest of terms, ‘earth friendly’ means that non-toxic solvents (that’s right, solvents that are NOT toxic) are used in the dry cleaning process to clean your garments. By using this different type of cleaning solvent, you will notice substantial improvements to your wardrobe including:
In addition to using non-toxic solvents, we also use bio-degradable plastic bags, online billing methods to save paper, recycle hangers, have the ONLY water-conservation system for a dry cleaner in Minnesota and try our best to design our home delivery routes to cut down on gas usage.
All of this contributes to decreasing your carbon footprint, and to helping you feel great about preserving the environment for future generations!
On December 6th we had a special visitor at our IDS Center location! The infamous “Grinch” from The Children’s Theater Company’s production of, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” came out to visit our store, take photos with customers and passersby and to give away tickets to his show. It was a great kick-off to the Holiday season, and we hope to do a lot more! Check out more photos on our Facebook page!
Such a brave little guy!
At St Croix | White Way Cleaners we’re always looking for ways to improve the quality of our cleaning, while still keeping with our earth friendly mission.
Since building our new plant in 2007, St Croix | White Way Cleaners has been using a solvent known as Hydrocarbon. Hydrocarbon is an odorless, biodegradable compound, that works very well (Just look at our five straight Seal of Approval wins from the DryCleaning and Laundry Institute!) with the added benefit of being earth friendly.
Recently though, we discovered an exciting new solvent package that has all the environmental benefits of Hydrocarbon, but that cleans garments even better : SystemK4!
Before we get into what makes K4 better though, we should probably explain what Dry Cleaning itself really is. It isn’t actually the act of cleaning your clothes when they are dry. They still are saturated and become ‘wet,’ just not from water. For over 100 years, Dry Cleaners have primarily used a chemical called perchloroethylene, also known as “Perc”, as the solvent in the dry cleaning process. This is a harsh chemical which cleans your clothes very well, but with each wash can fade the colors and roughen the fabrics Perc is also responsible for the chemical smell most people associate with Dry Cleaners.
But besides just bad smells, Perc is also considered a hazardous chemical and some researchers have declared it to be a carcinogen. It is taxed by the government to use, and must be disposed of properly. Every dry cleaner in the nation must pay into a drycleaners’ “superfund” for hazardous waste cleanups (even if the dry cleaner doesn’t use Perc!). If there is a spill in a dry cleaning facility, it can be very expensive to clean up.
K4 has no such risks; K4 is completely non-toxic, 99% organic and 100% biodegradable.
One of the benefits of Perc was its aggressiveness against oil, fat and grease based stains. While Hydrocarbon could clean such stains, it wasn’t as effective and sometimes required multiple cleanings.
K4 on the other hand, tackles those stains as well as Perc did, something our dry cleaning geeks love! It also cuts down on the need for pre-spotting because previously hard to get stains lift out on the first wash.
Other K4 benefits include:
As you can see, K4 is a “win win” for us at here at St Croix | White Way; we get the cleaning power of Perc and the environmental friendliness of Hydrocarbon. We’re thrilled to be using such a state of the art system, and think you’ll be just as thrilled when you see the results for yourself!
As we’ve talked about before, on this very blog, being environmentally friendly is more than just lip-service for us here at St Croix | White Way Cleaners.
We have been leaders in “Green” dry cleaning technology; from our state- of- the- art water circulation system to the use of earth friendly solvents, St Croix | White Way has been committed to do our part.
Now though, we need some help from our amazing customers as well!
We are excited to announce our participation in the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute’s “Cleaners Care: Hanger Recycling Program.”
DLI’s goal is a big one, as the group is looking for its member drycleaners to recycle 25 Million hangers in 2012.
To put that into context, 25 million hangers is roughly equivalent to 750 tons of steel -enough to create six Statues of Liberty!
So far, along with us, nearly 300 environmentally-conscious drycleaners from around the world have pledged to reduce, reuse, and recycle more than 19 million hangers and the resources it takes to make them. With your help, can we make it to 25 million?!!
So be sure to drop off your extra hangers with us on your next visit, and remind others to do so too! With your help, and continued support we’ll be able to meet our goal, and DLI’s!
