Dry Cleaners to Die For

Back in the eighties and early nineties, dry cleaning was a luxury that none but the wealthy could afford on a regular basis. In the last several years, though, dry cleaning has become increasingly affordable; everybody from the CEO of a giant congloerate to the struggling businessman can afford it nowadays. If you're a first time client, here's a short guide to finding that dry cleaner to handle everything from your boxers to that Brooks Brothers suit.

Quality, Quality, Quality
This should always be the first characteristic you look for in any dry cleaner. Quality should never be compromised. All it takes is one incident at the hands of a two-bit, inexperienced dry cleaner to ruin hundreds of dollars' worth of good clothes. If it ever comes down to cost or quality, the latter should take priority over everything else.

You can't exactly quantify quality, so you might want to start by asking your friends and colleagues where they get their clothes cleaned. If you have a particularly fashion-conscious officemate (think branded clothing and high-end labels), he or she would be the best person to ask for advice. Any dry cleaner that's recommended more than once by people wearing decent-looking suits has got to be pretty good at the job.

Another way to determine quality is to check the dry cleaner's affiliations. Branches of a big dry cleaning chain, for example, are likely to give good service because chains keep a tight watch on the standards of each branch. Cleaners that are in or part of hotels are almost always top-notch, mostly because the hotels expect them to cater to a discerning clientele from all over the world.

Procedure, Please
When considering a dry cleaner, don't hesitate to ask about the procedure that a certain store uses. Dry cleaning, after all, is almost entirely about using the right chemicals on the right fabrics and the right stains. There are some chemicals like bleach that might be fine for regular, everyday cleaning but should never touch your suits and shirts unless it's a life-and-death situation.

Procedure matters a lot once you begin sending in delicate items to be cleaned. Finicky fabrics like silk require a specialist to take care of them properly. Consequently, not all dry cleaners can give you good results if you give them, say, a silk dress shirt. Many items by high-end designers also require certain procedures. While cleaners will charge extra for the special treatment, it makes your finer items last for much, much longer.

Service Comes Next
Take a look at their menu of services and see what else they offer aside from dry cleaning. It might seem like a minor trifle, but these things actually come in handy pretty often. Alteration services, for example, are a very common addition to dry cleaners' offerings. When a store offers alterations, you can ask them to repair seams that have come undone or adjust pant hems in a pinch.

Check if the dry cleaner offers things like pickup, delivery and service time guarantees. Again, these are small things that could make your life much easier once you begin going to that dry cleaner regularly. Service time guarantees in particular aren't as common as you might like them to be, and they're absolutely essential if you work in a time-sensitive position that requires you to always be well-dressed.

Everyone in the fashion industry agrees that a good dry cleaner is about as hard to find as a good, affordable apartment in Manhattan. That's why most people stick to just one or two cleaners for years, even decades. Every fashionable guy has to have one, though. What are you still doing without one?

H Pohl is the owner and founder of http://www.cheap-neckties.com/ Besides a large selection of cheap neckties and cheap bow ties, Cheap-Neckties.com offers useful, and simple to follow fashion advice for men. In Cheap-Neckties' blog section you will find anything from how to match your clothing to different dress code netiquettes such as black tie dress code, how to dress business casual, semi-formal dress code, and more.