Theatrical Costumes
Skilled in cleaning and finishing
Over the years, our business – caring for designer, high fashion, specialty and couture garments and accessories – has exposed us too many unusual and wonderful garments and accessories with trim and embellishments.
This exposure has allowed us to become highly skilled in cleaning and finishing these garments and accessories, many of which would be routinely rejected as “uncleanable” or “extremely risky” by the overwhelming majority of dry cleaners.
At RAVE FabriCARE, we can expertly, safely and effectively clean almost any garment or accessory with trim and embellishments. Whether it’s beads, sequins, rhinestones or pailettes; plastic, vinyl or rubber; paint, glitter or silkscreen; feathers, appliques or embroidery; suede, leather or fur.
Costumes from musical productions
Our expertise in expertly, safely and effectively cleaning almost any garment or accessory with trim and embellishments is the reason why many theatrical touring companies that stage their shows in the metro Phoenix area have entrusted their ornate, heavily embellished, one-of-a-kind costumes to RAVE FabriCARE.
It’s not uncommon for some of these one-of-a-kind costumes to cost upwards of $5,000 each.
In recent years, RAVE FabriCARE has cleaned costumes for musicals such as Kinky Boots, La Cage Aux Folles, Les Miserables, Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Porgy and Bess, Wicked, The Book Of Mormon, Finding Neverland and An American In Paris.
Costumes from opera and ballet productions
Our expertise in expertly, safely and effectively cleaning almost any garment or accessory with trim and embellishments is the reason why Arizona Opera and Ballet Arizona have, in the past, entrusted RAVE FabriCARE with their ornate costumes.
After the final performance of each production, RAVE FabriCARE cleaned and pressed the production’s entire wardrobe, whether the wardrobe was owned outright by the opera or ballet company or loaned to it by another opera or ballet production company.
It’s not uncommon for the Arizona Opera or Ballet Arizona to have a costume investment of $250,000 or more in a single show.
In the past, RAVE FabriCARE cleaned costumes for many Ballet Arizona productions, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake and many Arizona Opera productions, including Carmen, Rigoletto and The Magic Flute.
All our services to these two organizations was pro bono.
RAVE FabriCARE offered these free services in return for certain marketing-related commitments to be undertaken on our behalf.
Over a period of years, RAVE FabriCARE spent over $75,000 in direct labor costs providing costume care services to these two organizations. Unfortunately, these organizations repeatedly failed to fulfill their commitments to RAVE FabriCARE. Accordingly, we terminated all services to them.
As a result of this experience, we will only undertake the cleaning and pressing of costumes for a theatrical company if:
(1) all work is priced at full retail, and
(2) satisfactory arrangements for full payment is made prior to commencing any work.
Costumes from collectors of theatrical memorabilia
At RAVE FabriCARE, we serve individual collectors who collect costumes and other textile-based artifacts related to specific theatrical productions.
For example, one of our clients collects Phantom of the Opera costumes and other memorabilia (with provenance) from the first Broadway run and from the 2004 movie.
We recently cleaned, finished and preserved the “Think Of Me” dress worn by Emmy Rossum and Carlotta’s “Il Muto” dress worn by Minnie Driver from the 2004 movie.