STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

littlebean · Kate Spade

dry cleaning rant

boobaby · Kate Spade

Well, in my insane logic, I like to do it in spurts. A couple of pants here, a jacket there. Then it doesn't seem like I'm paying too much. Fooling myself is all that matters. smile

Teresa · Kate Spade

I know, its ridiculous. I'm trying to take up sewing so i can do it myself. (not hte cleaning part, just the heming, etc.)

Lilykind · Hermes

ITA. I'm procrastinating taking my clothes to the cleaners and getting a pair of jeans hemmed at the moment. Also, I only will go to places that have coupons to lessen the blow.

NCshopper · Hermes

FYI, hemming pants can pretty easily be done on your own. Just fold the existing seam under and you can stitch it in place by hand. (I've never hemmed jeans though and I'm thinking that would be much different.)

FWIW, Dryel's dry cleaning products do a really good job at freshening up your clothes. I wouldn't say that it replaces the need for dry cleaning entirely, but you won't need to dry clean as often.

I've been taking better care of my clothes this year too and it makes a huge difference. I have a lot of clothes and it's nice to go into my closet and realize that most of what I have is totally wearable instead of half of it being dirty or needing repairs.

atlgirl · Gucci

It *is* expensive, especially depending on where you live. Whenever I buy something, I try to add in the price of tailoring (if necessary - but a lot of my clothes get tailored) - and see if I still think the overall price of the item is worth it. Sometimes I've deliberately *not* bought something because I don't want to go through the tailoring hassle. But I've found if I assume an extra $10 - $20 when I am making the initial purchase, I have less sticker shock at the tailor.

But y'know, it's so worth it to me - my clothes fit a lot better when tailored. And feeling good in my clothes is worth every penny!

XtinaStyles · Marc Jacobs

Totally agree. I dropped off 2 jackets and jeans once and it came to $70. I also had a suit tailored and it cost about $75, I thought to myself, I could have gotten a much better suit if I wanted to spend $75 more!

It makes the difference though so maybe its worth it.

AllieGurl · Marc Jacobs

wow, you guys spend alot on drycleanning! My cleaners is only $2.25 an item regardless of what it is (unless its a wedding dress or something).

My tailor is even cheaper - she heems for only $8 and takes things in for $11. Usually if I bring her several pairs of pants at once she discounts it and makes it even cheaper.

I agree about the dryell mentioned above --- try using that to space out time between dry cleanings.

littlebean · Kate Spade

Man, I need to go to your drycleaner, AllieGurl!

Unfortunately, I think that I live in a very expensive area and there just aren't those sorts of prices. I should learn how to sew! Do you ladies use Dryell on sweaters?

cahabo · Kate Spade

Hmm, I should check out the local tailors around here. $8, wow! Most regular pant lengths are too long on me, and the shorts are too short. I don't like my pants touching the ground, and don't like them above my ankles, so sheesh! I did a really good job hemming a pair of corduroys though.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

tailoring is insane! After paying $70 to have a skirt taken in and a zipper replaced I broke down and bought my own sewing machine. Hemming really isn't difficult (even jeans aren't bad) and it's basically free to do youself.

I use dryel on my seaters and pants to freshen them up too.

NCshopper · Hermes

I use Dryel and sweaters and it's not a problem. If they pill at all, I just use a sweater shaver.

ViViDogWear · Kate Spade

Littlebean - ITA. FI also lives in a high cost area. I took quite a few things in there and my bill was a whopping $130! I was in total sticker shock as I hadn't asked about pices before. Well, my nice dresses cost about $13 to dryclean. I have NICE dresses, but I usally buy things at a really good bargain price. Some things cost the same as a couple trips to the cleaners. I also bought a nice shirt for 1/2 price ($40) for FI and he they wanted $16 (at 2 places - same price) to make the sleeves shorter. He said forget it.

I try to let my grandmother hem all my pants to save $. It's average $8 to hem pants here too. Tailoring is NUTS (in price here) but really essential to making things fit right. *sigh* I need to go where Alliegurl lives. :)

jacL · Coach

I have a new dry cleaner and I really them. The girl always remembers my name even though I don't go in that often--that kind of service really stands out to me.

But I have a problem that I never experienced with any other cleaner before. My BF gets all his work shirts laundered and pressed and I have noticed that my new cleaner charges double for a couple of his shirts that are blended with a bit of spandex. She said they had to clean it differently because the spandex is delicate. Okay, I get that, but I have never been charged extra for that! Has anyone else ever heard of this or am I just being cheap? Honestly, I do not think $4 is worth it to clean and press a single shirt!

Kelly · Hermes

I had a similar shock a few months ago - I brought in a skirt to have the waistband taken in a little bit. It wasn't a complicated skirt or a complicated fix - but it cost me $30.

Suasoria · Chanel

I'm pretty sure Alliegurl, like me, is in Los Angeles, not exactly a low-rent part of the country, and I agree that some of you are paying exceedingly high prices for cleaning and tailoring.

I don't think I've ever paid more than $8 for plain hems (not jeans, dress slacks). The last pair of pants I took in were $14 to have them hemmed and pegged (slight flare taken in), and the seamstress was apologizing up and down for charging me so much. The same place launders Da Hubby's dress shirts for $1.25 each with a minimum order of 3 at a time. Most other things are $2 and jackets I think are $3. My usual bill for cleaning and laundry is $20-$25 if that.

For a two-piece suit I think it's acceptable to spend up to about 20% of the purchase price on tailoring. Anything beyond that and the fit is probably not good to begin with. I feel in general that "better department stores" ream you on tailoring compared to what you can get done at an independent place. The people who do alterations for stores are keeping half the fee, so figure that's what it should cost.

JacL, it could be that they decided to dry clean (versus launder) the shirts with spandex so that could account for the price difference, but if you didn't specify the shirts were to be *laundered,* they should not have charged you extra. I had a fight with one dry cleaner over some of DH's water-washable shirts that they opted to dry clean, so the bill was more than twice what I expected. Ooh, I had a fit. Needless to say I did not go back.