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
“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!
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.
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!
We don’t know if you noticed, but it’s been a bit WARM lately! From swimming to skiing, here at St Croix | White Way we know that nothing beats the heat like some quality water time. That’s why we have a few tips for keeping your swimwear in tip top shape, in between us cleaning it for you, of course!
We know these tips will help keep you and your swimwear cool this summer!
We can’t all be as fashion forward as him!
Let’s face it, fashion can be confusing. Most of us can follow basic trends, but when it comes to the latest and greatest, it can be hard to keep up! That’s why we here at St Croix | White Way have compiled ten fashion tips sure to make you stand out this Summer!
6. Oversized EarringsAnd of course, be sure to bring all your fashionable garments in for regular cleaning at St Croix | White Way!
St Croix | White Way Cleaners does a lot of dry cleaning; 19 stores worth to be exact. With the amount of drycleaning and laundry we do, you may wonder how we keep track of it all.
Some cleaners use permanent marker to write a customer’s name on their clothes; others use less invasive systems like temporary plastic tags or wash resistant paper. While these options “work” they are not ideal, and can easily lead to lost garments, especially when dealing with high volumes.
At St Croix | White Way we’ve gotten keeping track of garments down to a science. Using a sophisticated barcoding system we’re able to keep track of your items no matter where they are in the process.
Barcodes like this one identify store information about your garment in our computer.
The first time you bring in a new garment, a barcode is added to that item. This barcode is then associated with your account and preferences, so that anytime you bring the item in we can instantly see who it belongs too. We can also see your cleaning preferences, such as starch levels or boxes vs. hangers for your dress shirts. It also identifies the garment by color, pattern, fabric and brand label so that we can easily identify which of your garments we have and where they are in our process at any time.
Garments move through many stages to restore them to their optimum condition. Each step of the way we read the barcode and record data about who, how and when it was processed. All of this information is available to us in our computer system. Once your garment is cleaned, pressed and inspected, it is sent to our automatic assembly system. There an employee scans your item’s barcode and places it on a hanging conveyor system attached to the bagging machine.
The computer system is smart enough to read the barcode and group it with your other garments, being careful to never put more than 4 garments inside an order. Once four of your items are on the assembly system, the computer system offloads the garments together with a printed ticket and advances them to the automatic bagger, all without human intervention!!! The bagger then pulls a custom, biodegradable plastic bag over the clothes, careful not to waste any extra plastic.
The barcoding system is extremely useful. It lets us know all the details of your garments very quickly; how many times we have cleaned a garment, who pressed it, who marked it in and where it is stored can all be figured out with one quick scan. There have been many times where we’ve noticed a customer dropped a garment in our parking lot on the way to or home from one of our stores. We give the garment a quick scan and know everything about the garment in an instant. Without our barcode we’d never know whose garment it was, much less who to contact!
Keep watching our blog for more Production Spotlights!
With the weather getting warmer and summer approaching, we thought we’d take some time this week to give you a few tips for keeping your clothes looking their best no matter what your summer has in store for you!
– Perspiration shows up particularly in underarms, collar, back and waistbands of garments. It may not be noticeable at first, but oxidizes over time, becomes darker and it ultimately stains clothing. Garments should be washed or dry cleaned regularly so the perspiration residue is removed when fresh, thereby preventing permanent damage.
–Sunscreen and sun tanning lotions contain ingredients that can cause stains. It is best to apply the lotion and let it dry before dressing. Wash your hands thoroughly before touching your clothes. When cleaning your clothes, follow the care instructions carefully. When washing, pre-treat the stain with a prewash product, then launder in the hottest water that’s safe for the fabric or have it Dry Cleaned. Remember to point out and identify the stain to your drycleaner.
–Spills seem inevitable in the summertime – outdoor parties, barbecues and light color clothing can spell disaster. If the stain is water-based, like soda, coffee, juices, wine and most fruits, and the item is washable, dab, do not rub, the stain carefully. As soon as possible, wash the item according to care instructions. Remember that sugar-based stains such as those from fruits should be washed within 24 hours to prevent yellowing.
–For oily stains, such as salad dressing, cooking oil, meat juice, butter, and lipstick, the best approach is to blot, do not rub, the stain carefully with a dry, clean white cloth. Do not use water and do not rub the stain as this can set it and break the surface fibers. Oily stains are most safely removed by dry cleaning when the stains are fresh; so do not delay in having the garment cleaned. Be sure to identify the stain to the drycleaner. If you do not know the nature of the stain, it is safest to assume that the stain is oil-based.
As always, if you have any questions about fabric care or stain removal, let us know! Our world famous “Dry Cleaning Geeks” are more than happy to help!