Well, I did it. I own a dry cleaner and I made the single biggest mistake possible in clothing care.

I have a lightweight white jacket for my morning walks with Champ. When the temperatures dropped a couple of weeks ago, I pulled it out of the closet only to find a big yellow spot right on the front that looked a lot like mustard. On my white jacket!

I’m sure you know to always put your clothes away clean when the seasons change. I didn’t do that so I was at the mercy of the fabric, the stain and the knowledge of my dry cleaner…who happens to be Ric Pevey (luckily Ric and our Plant Managers, Terry Hal, are “Certified Garment Care Professionals” and know all about spot removal, fabrics and cleaning techniques). They can’t guarantee that they can get out every stain, but if anyone can, Ric and Terry can do it.

Fortunately for me, Ric removed the spot from my jacket without fading the color of the jacket in the area of the stain.

So the biggest mistake you can make in caring for your clothes is to not keep them clean. And while this may sound a bit self-serving since I’m in the dry cleaning business…it’s just the truth about clothing care. 

Here are my suggestions for protecting the investment in your clothes:

1. Clean your clothes soon after wearing them. Don’t wait several weeks between visits to your laundry room or to Champion Cleaners. And when the season changes, don’t put your clothes away dirty.  Stains have a better chance to set in and they won’t be ready to wear when the season changes again.

2. Clean your clothes often enough. Trying to get extra time wearing a dress shirt, your favorite blouse, or even those dress pants might seem like a frugal thing to do. But food spills, perspiration, and even deodorant can cause stains. The sooner you tend to the problem, the better chance you have of not having to replace the garment early.

3. Don’t try to treat those spots yourself unless you really know what you’re doing. Magic formulas of hairspray or Windex to remove ink on a dress shirt rarely work and most often compound the problem. If you find a spot, blot it off and let us help with it…right away.

We have a regular customer in Boston who ships any garment with a stain to Ric to handle. Ric does his magic and ships it back…because Ric really knows what he’s doing!

On-Site Cleaning = Access To Professional Dry Cleaning Management

At Champion Cleaners we do our dry cleaning and laundry on site.  This gives you access to professional dry cleaning management in Vestavia Hills, Hoover, and Calera, all with Certified Garment Care Professional credentials.