Suits and Jackets

Contrary to popular belief, you should not dry clean your suit after just several wearings. We suggest dry cleaning only when you absolutely have to; when your suit is soiled or contains an odor. You should try not to dry clean your suit more than once every three months if you can help it. The dry cleaning process uses petroleum distillates directly on the wool. This chemical depletes the wool of it's lanolin; the naturally occurring oil in the wool-fiber that keeps the fabric supple. You may not notice a difference in one dry cleaning, but with consistent laundering, the wool will become brittle and crunchy. Do you own an old suit that feels like cardboard? The long term effects of laundering may be one of the reasons why it does not feel as soft as it did when you bought it.

To get your suits or jackets looking clean and fresh, take it in to the dry cleaners and ask to have it pressed. Modern pressing machinery will give the suit the contoured shape it had when you had first bought it, and get the pleats and creases looking sharp. The steam that is shot through the suit will also serve to remove any light odors and freshen up the fabric. Pressing a suit runs between $6 and $15 depending on the service. You can have your suit pressed as often as you need to, and the process won't damage the garment in any way.

Pants and Skirts

Since pants tend to get dirty more frequently, we suggest dry cleaning wool pants after every 3 to 4 wearings, or as needed.

Shirts

Pure Egyptian cotton shirts will need to be laundered after every wearing. Shirts should be taken to the dry cleaners and laundered with light starch. Be sure to remove your collar stays from your collars before laundering. If they're not removed, the plastic will be pressed into the fabric, creating a shiny strip in the shape of the stay that's visible on the outside of the collar.
Because your shirts are cotton, they will shrink over the first 2 to 3 launderings. Custom shirts are cut to accommodate this anticipated shrinkage. A custom collar-band may have up to a quarter inch of extra width built into it for this reason. The band is designed to fit you correctly once the shirt has been laundered several times.

Laundering runs about $1.20 to $3.00 per shirt depending on the service and generally turn between one and three days. Look for these indicators for a fine shirting service.

Find a dry cleaner that does their cleaning on the premises and does not have the garments sent out.
Make sure the collar does not roll in the front and comes to a clean inverted point at the top crease.
Some drycleaners will ensure this if you ask them to hand iron your shirts for an extra fee.
The sleeves come out clean and wrinkle free.
The pleats on the cuff come out clean and crisp.
There is no warping or wrinkling on shirt pockets or the front and sleeve plackets.