I get more questions from men looking for quality cleaning and alterations services than I do of any other kind, and after I mentioned RAVE FabriCARE's Shirts by Mail cleaning service a few weeks ago I thought it useful to provide a review of the company's Jermyn Street shirt service. Five dress shirts were dispatched to Scotsdale, Arizona by FedEx and arrived back in San Francisco about two weeks later. They literally looked as good as new.
Now in my book, the world of $400 and up bespoke shirts has been waiting for someone to take advantage of today's moderately priced air shipping services and offer quality shirt cleaning from a lower cost labor area. That day has arrived. I use what I consider to be the best service in the Bay area and the results, though good, are definitely not up to RAVE's standard. I doubt if better work could be done at home by a dedicated laundress.
This is no same day service because the preliminaries take longer than that. RAVE's process begins by soaking each shirt for 12-24 hours in fluid that loosens oil-based grime from collars and cuffs without the abrasion of scrubbing. Ground-in dirt on the inside of one shirt cuff was completely removed. And the combination of RAVE's soaking process and its quality laundering also means that RAVE's finished shirts are noticeably cleaner and brighter.
Another most impressive technique is that after laundering the shirts are completely pressed by hand. They are folded gently instead of being pressed hard, so there are no creases. They are folded in half for shipping instead of into the usual third, so the entire shirt front is uncreased. And they are sealed in a heavy gauge shirt bag with a "built in" cushion of air so they resist wrinkles until they are taken out to be worn.
All is not perfect of course. Rave's service is priced at about double the cost of my current service, roughly $14 a shirt rather than the $7 I usually pay. Call that a $2,000 a year premium for remote cleaning, which is noticeable. But price is not the real barrier for me. Space is.
You see, RAVE's method of folding means their clean shirts take up twice as much space as the system I use currently, so they simply will not fit into the cabinetry that I use for storage. So much as I might be tempted to redesign my closets, I am going to stick with my current supplier.
But men who have the budget and the space are likely to be very happy that they found RAVE.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Maintenance: Whiter Whites
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13 comments:
I'm taken aback; what on earth are you up to that requires a shirt to need 12-24 hours soaking to remove "oil-based" grime?
Normal laundering, avoidance of tumble drying and a standard iron will keep Jermyn St's finest in good form for 10+ years.
For the costs you outline you could engage the services of a local person to undertake this for you. The pressing of 6 shirts will take no more than 1 hour and removes the risk of them getting lost in transit.
There is another consideration here; ecology. Putting shirts on an airplane or truck for cleaning hundreds (or potentially thousands) of miles away is so wasteful, it's not even funny.
I'm going to be the carbon footprint bore on this one, Will. Lots of waste and dubious value here. I suspect that the 24 hours in the magic juice is the truck ride to Mexico. FedEx/UPS flying from SF to hubs to AZ and back again--too much fuel for laundry that should be done at home.
Mr. Brown, any man who gets home after a party and has a glass of champagne with his wife's head on his shoulder has oil-based stains on his shirts.
And I long ago gave up rying to teach housekeepers how to iron properly. If there is one in the Bay area she's certainly charging more than $100 an hour.
Finally gentlemen, anyone who is willing to spend $14 to have his shirts cleaned is capable of spening a few pennies more to buy carbon offsets.
Will, Many thanks for your reply.
Artistic license I'm sure, if not change your champagne; oil based it ain't!
Your local difficulties with domestic aids can be traced to one word "...she...".
I know this is probably an unpopular view; however it gives me no pleasure to state the fact.
I remember reading a 50's book about society person that shipped their "good" clothes to New York City to be dry cleaned, but their "best" clothes only went to Paris. Of course, this was in the steamship days and no one had ever heard the word "carbon". I have luckily found a good dry cleaner located close to a military town, but you'd be surprised at the number of Army dress blues being shipped in there from Germany and Korea. Apparently, Will isn't the only one is having a hard time finding a good one.
A ladiies makeup and lipstick tend to be oil-based and either scrubbing or soaking is a prerequisite for their removal.
Soaking is less labor intensive.
Given that you live in California, your heat and air conditioning carbon footprint is much smaller than if you lived in, say, Boston. Therefore, don't fret over the flight to Az.
There's also the positive environmental effect of longer-lived shirts, requiring fewer resources expended in replacing them. (Not that one buys shirts only out of need... but I digress.)
On a separate point, may one inquire which service here in the Bay Area that you trust with Jermyn St-made shirts?
JCS
Alex's Dry Cleaning in San Rafael is the best in my experience by far. They pick up and deliver in the city.
At the risk of being the carbon contrarian in the peanut gallery, I will chime in to say this -- if one can swing the budget -- is a spectacular idea.
Beau Brummel (I think it was BB) used to have his stuff laundered in the country and dispatched back via stagecoach. His laundry bills were colossal.
Me?
I prefer to do my own ironing because that way I am guaranteed to have the shirts coming out EXACTLY the way I want.
But that's just me.
-J.
http://basiccivilization.blogspot.com
Hmmmm, not too sure about this! Even if I were in a position to spend $2000 a year on shirt laundry I think it would feel criminal. As previous posters have pointed out, the environmental impact is questionable too. Maybe if you turn off your air con the shirts will be dirty enough (sweaty) to justify $14 a pop on cleaning? Any way to each his own.
Will,
Have you tried SF Green Clean? They use the "wet clean" method, which is gentle to the garment and does a nice job cleaning.
seth
I do not understand why the cleaning of your shirts is such a big issue. Every good or very good shirt of 100% cotton can be laundered in the machine at 60 or even 90 degrees Celsius. Every stain will be washed away and then it only has to be ironed by an average housemaid or by yourself to look like new again!
My shirts are all bespoke (best shirtmaker in Vienna) and are priced between 300 and 400 USD (depends on the kind of cotton). As they are premium shirts I do not have any problem with the above mentioned procedure. Furthermore, I have a lot of them and I only have to change the collar and cuffs after around 5+ years.
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