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Why would you pay $8 to $10 for a $2 to $3 laundered shirt?
By: Stu Bloom
Some cleaners claim that they gently clean and then hand iron all their laundered shirts. As a matter of routine.
Can this be true?
Of course it’s not true.
Show us a cleaner in the metro Phoenix area – other than RAVE FabriCARE – that gently cleans and then hand irons all your laundered shirts as a matter of routine, and we’ll show you pigs that fly!
By way of background, here’s what happens to your laundered shirts – even at the so-called “better cleaners” or self-styled “couture care specialists”.
Your shirt is laundered using conventional washing techniques – scrubbing; hot water; harsh, caustic, industrial grade detergents; and bleaches.
Then it’s pressed on a series of machines, one for the body, one for the sleeves and one for for the collar and cuffs. Typically, at a rate of 40 to 50 per hour per presser.
Finally, your shirt is “strategically touched-up” by hand. If deemed necessary. If you’re lucky. And the, typically, only on the sleeves and underarms.
This is the shirt that’s passed off to customers as a “hand ironed laundered shirt”.
Unfortunately, a 2 to 3 minute machine pressed, touched up laundered shirt aka a “hand finished laundered shirt” is not an 8 to 12 minute hand ironed laundered shirt.
To qualify as a hand ironed laundered shirt, the shirt must be PARTIALLY steamed by machine and then COMPLETELY pressed by hand (that’s a hand ironed laundered shirt).
Not COMPLETELY pressed by machine and then PARTIALLY touched up by hand (that’s a machine pressed, touched up laundered shirt aka a “hand finished laundered shirt”).
At RAVE FabriCARE, we’re very different…
- We soak your fine shirts in our odorless, dermatologically friendly, fabric gentle, chemically- inert, non-fragranced dry cleaning fluid – the some type of fluid we use for “dry clean only” bespoke, made-to-measure, designer, high fashion, specialty and couture garments.
This is the only way to safely and gently dissolve oil-based stains – such as food oils, food fats, body oil, creams and lotions, and other grease deposits – without scrubbing your collars and cuffs with nylon brushes.
This is also the only way to ensure that, when your shirt is finally hand ironed, those oils, fats and grease deposits don’t transform or oxidize through heat into difficult-to-remove yellow stains.
- We soak your shirts in special water-based solutions to relax the fibers and release soil and water-based stains. For a minimum of 8 hours (12 hours for shirts with french cuffs). Why is soaking critical to the care of fine shirts?
Because soaking reduces the wear and tear that would result from the use of conventional washing techniques (aka the scrubbing/hot water/industrial detergent/bleach method).
- We gently launder your fine shirts in specialized, computer-controlled wet cleaning machines, where microprocessors control water temperature, cylinder speeds, mechanical action and moisture removal to exacting specifications.
Using only the finest pH balanced, fragrance free, phosphate free Sanitone® detergent.
And we do all that in cold to cool water for about 5 minutes (no need for a 30 to 45 minute, hot water wash as all the stains that could possibly be removed have already been soaked out).
- Finally, every laundered shirt is steamed out and hand ironed. Not machine pressed and then “strategically touched up”… if deemed necessary … if you’re lucky.
At RAVE FabriCARE, we’d never pass off a machine pressed, touched up laundered shirt aka a “hand finished laundered shirt” as a hand ironed laundered shirt in the hope that you’d never know the difference between a $2 to $3 machine pressed, touched up laundered shirt aka a “hand finished laundered shirt” and a $8 to $10 hand ironed laundered shirt.
Any ordinary cleaner can “clean and press” a shirt in 4 to 6 hours.
But only RAVE FabriCARE crafts an extraordinary shirt.
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Author
Stu Bloom
Stu Bloom is Founder and President of RAVE FabriCARE. RAVE FabriCARE, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, cares for fine garments, household textiles and accessories and serves clients throughout the USA and Canada. Stu is the author of various ebooks on these subjects, all of which are available from www.ravefabricare.com/freestuff. He is an evangelist for true quality cleaning and is a contributor to and editor of True Quality Cleaning, RAVE FabriCARE’s blog. You can find Stu on Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
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