Fashion Cleaners blog

FRSTeam by Fashion Cleaners Helps Victims of The Recent Catastrophic Events

Years ago, Fashion Cleaners created a fabric restoration company to address the needs of property owners who have suffered a loss due to either smoke, fire or water. 

Nearly five years ago, we joined the national network of FRSTeam, creating FRSTeam by Fashion Cleaners. 

Items damaged by fire, smoke, or water require specialized processing to return them to their pre-loss condition.  The services include on-site damage assessment, evaluation of restorability, odor control and elimination, smoke and soot removal, and long term secure storage. 

FRSTeam is a national network of fabric restoration experts. 

The area of coverage of FRSTeam by Fashion Cleaners includes the entire states of Nebraska and Iowa, the western half of Missouri, the eastern part of Kansas and the southeastern regions of South Dakota.  All of those areas are covered by FRSTeam by Fashion Cleaners’ staff and facilities in Omaha, Kansas City and Des Moines.  Our entire staff has gone through extensive training in remediation and customer relations. 

As you may be able to imagine, these are catastrophic events for the people involved.  Our job is to begin the process to bring a level of normalcy to their life. 

As you receive this e-letter, multiple teams are on site in Joplin, MO helping the victims of the recent F5 tornado.  The pictures,  which you may have seen, barely provides the viewer a sense of the devastation.  The support vehicles of the Salvation Army and the Red Cross are welcome sights at the job sites.  Keep these people in your prayers.

 

New Solvent Added to Fashion Cleaners Clean Green Arsenal

Fashion Cleaners was the first to bring eco-friendly dry cleaning to Nebraska. Green Earth changed the way we cleaned your clothes and we loved it. Green Earth helped us make your clothes cleaner, brighter, softer and with no odor.  With Green Earth we have managed to eliminate our hazardous waste production to ZERO!

 At Fashion Cleaners we are always trying to make our commitment to technology a priority.  “We’ve always been very environmentally-conscious about the products we use,” says Engh. That is why when the opportunity to test out a new organic cleaning solvent came about we tried it.  Its name isn’t fancy but SYSTEM K4, a German  engineered  organic  cleaning solution, was  another organic opportunity that Fashion Cleaners couldn’t miss out on.   “Once we found there was a new product available that was another environmentally option and could be used on 100 percent of our garments, we didn’t hesitate to make the investment,” says Engh.

Adding K4 will only enhance our capabilities at cleaning in an organic way.  With Green Earth we made clothes softer and more supple, with K4 we will have cleaning capabilities that will aid us in providing our customers the most extensive organic cleaning available while still making it absolutely safe for our water, soil, air and of course our customers.

  We were excited to be the first Omaha Dry Cleaner to have SYSTEM K4. “We know our customers will appreciate the difference it makes—for both our environment and for their clothes.”

Greening up for Earth Day

Earth Day is upon us, and here at Fashion Cleaners being green is very important. We strive to make little changes:  like recycling our hangers; to big ones: such as completely changing the way we clean clothes, i.e. GreenEarth®  We’ve always strived to do enough of each that we make a difference in our lives and our customers. By switching to GreenEarth we not only reduced our hazardous waste output to zero; we’ve also eliminated the dry cleaning odor and irritant that many customers were sensitive to.  In our book it’s a win, win situation and we strive to make sure our company’s practices are beneficial as well as relevant.

Take for example our home and office delivery, it is a free service that we offer to all who want to participate. We come twice a week to your home picking up and delivering your clothes. It is a convenience that you would hardly think about until you have to go without it. We’ve figured out that in one year we save our customers $138 dollars and everyone combined $96,600 dollars in gas. But what could be better than almost $100,000 dollars? We’ve saved our customers 17 hours a year or a grand total of 9, 555 hours. What could you do with 17 extra hours? And what is your hourly rate? If you take that into consideration then we’re saving you more than just $138 dollars a year.

Did you know that while we were trying to do something that would benefit our customers we inadvertently made a greener practice for you and Fashion cleaners?  With our delivery drivers on the road instead of our customers we’ve managed to take over 700 people off the road for 9,555 hours. That is a pretty big deal and we couldn’t be happier about it. We’ve always said that small changes can lead to larger results

OOOOH She-la, Fashion Cleaners shops again

Right in the heart of Countryside Village, She-la; a high fashion boutique known for their exclusive lines such as: Escada, LaFayette, Zenhobia, J-brand and Velvet have been dressing Omaha women for over 10 years.  Jamie Chamberlain, She-la’s clothing buyer took some time to speak with Fashion Cleaners about what is new for spring and at She-la’s. 

Fashion trends this spring are all about the neutrals; Jamie mentions that with those neutral colors you’ll need to have pops of color like yellow, and royal purple. Those colors are being focused on this spring and at She-la. 

Another fashion trend that Jamie is excited for are jeans with more of a wide leg look, “ Skinny jeans are still in style, but it’s nice that the trend is also accepting some wide leg flare to them, almost can be seen as a 1970’s revival especially with the ruffles and one shouldered shirts.”  She pointed out that J-brand jeans have come out with a new type of skinny jean with a mico-flare, that way they accommodate everyone.

Staying on top of fashion and their customer’s wants is high priority for the women at She-la; they go to market at least four times a year and get new clothes in every day. “We shop for specific people and always have our customers in mind when we buy clothing, it’s a celebrity shopping experience created just for you” said Jamie.  Noticing a need for designer children’s fashion since Countryside Village neighbor Pish Posh closed, She-la’s has started carrying children’s clothing. “We just got it in about two weeks ago, and now we can dress your mom’s mom, your mom, you and your child” said Jamie.  It’s an exciting store to visit with all the new outfits coming in daily and now that you can dress your children, She-la’s has become a one stop fashion stop.

While fashion is at the forefront of She-la, their focus on green practices is a close second. The store’s floor is 100% recycled, the lighting fixtures actually came from green houses and they never use trash bags.  “We’re very passionate about being green, that’s why we recommend Fashion Cleaners, that and your clothes come back looking like new,” said Jamie.

If I could. I would. Dry Cleaning Delivery.

 

I should have known better when I woke up and got ready in 45 minutes and thought to myself, “I just might be on time today” that I was in for it. The car wouldn't start due to my amazing inability to turn my automatic headlights off or set them so it AUTOMATICALLY does it for me. It was completely dead, two jumps dead. I still had to get little E to grandpa's. And Honda's amazing anti theft policy actually just made my dashboard completely useless so I had to stop in at their service center. Compound the fact that when you're running late, people need you now! And by now I mean yesterday, with answers your Monday sized brain can't handle. Best part of this scenario, I forgot my dry cleaning. I work at the dry cleaners, this is a joke right?? Nope.

I'm wondering now if there is any way I could legitimately sign up for my own company's dry cleaning delivery service; or if I would be the epitome of ridiculous, aka the laughing stock of my company. But really, I can't remember the little things and adding the extra bag, extra step, extra anything to my already disheveled self throws me for a loop and I rarely complete the task. I don't do errands; I do what pops into my brain last minute when I finally remember on my way home.

So for people who don't work above a dry cleaning plant how do you honestly remember to take your clothes into the dry cleaner? How do you even remember to pick them up? Obviously you're amazing, and if you're kicking butt at this errand can I ask why you bother? If all you had to do was take your laundry bag and leave it and someone (ahem, Fashion Cleaners) would pick it up and return fresh clothes to you within two days why are you bothering being the superhero of the most mundane annoying errand on Earth?

I personally cannot sign up for delivery service because of the above mentioned reasons, but I am pretty sure you all have had a Monday like mine at least once. So why don’t you let Fashion Cleaners take one bag out of your car for you.

Fashion Cleaners no false modesty, no false advertising

Recently Fashion Cleaners got a letter from the BBB, apparently someone or company( most likely I'll explain shortly) complained about a few things.

1. that we at fashion cleaners have falsely stated that we were Omaha's only family owned dry cleaner. Well that is technically a truth but it was a mistake on our radio ad that we fixed immediately. We are Omaha's only eco-friendly family owned dry cleaner. BIG HUGE difference. And we noticed the mistake right away and changed that.

2. Then the BBB said that it was brought to their attention that we are telling everyone we are the only eco-friendly dry cleaners in town. Ummm, that's because we are. I'm sorry, but if you're a dry cleaner and you're using PERC then you can't be considered an eco-friendly dry cleaner. And offering reusable bagsisn't going to cut it either. (did I mention that we use bio-degradable bags? the other ones smash your clothes, we checked them out).  They suggested we start saying "the only Green Earth Cleaners in Omaha" well we're that as well, we bought exclusive rights to that. But put that aside, perc is a chemical that has been on the EPA's list of bad chemicals, therefore if a dry cleaner is using it they aren't eco-friendly they aren't green. So I think we'll stick to our way of describing our own business practices.

3. It has also come to the attention of the BBB that we should further explain how we are "LEADING THE WAY FOR PROCTOR AND GAMBLE" I suggest that you read my blog to which I explain how we are  "Leading the Way for Proctor and Gamble"

Fashion Cleaners prides itself on a lot of things (we aren't serving up humble pie today folks) but mostly on the fact that we're making waves. We're Omaha's first and only Eco-friendly dry cleaner and we're so proud people are noticing.

 

Clothing and defining the "WHY"

 

I was driving to work today when I jokingly told a friend on the phone that I was wearing a power skirt which meant that I was going to get whatever I wanted today. Being the best friend ever she said "of course you will" That said, it led me to think about how clothing affects us. We all want to look good in our clothes, but sometimes certain outfits change our whole outlook, personality, everything.

Dresses can be sexy, feminine, flirty. A suit because it makes us feel more professional easily put together. Sweat pants and an old t-shirt the moment you get home from work, because that outfit right there is the epitome of relaxation.

Clothing defines us, what we wear says (good or bad) who we are or want to be. A great line I once heard "You don't dress for the job you have, you dress for the job you want."

I think this outlook helps me define the "WHY” Let me back track, I was asked to define the "why" we do what we do for Fashion Cleaners and my first two responses were "because we can and we're good at it, and because we love clothes" 

Certainly the CAN is apparent, we have the people the facilities, and shoot it's nice to be good at something (ahem, voted best dry cleaner 7 years) and when you're good at something why quit? But after thinking about how clothes make a person feel, maybe our "WHY" really needs to be because "we love clothes and how we can make them look on you"

I think our definition of "why" is still in progress, but we're getting closer. At least we're past the “We love cleaning your image...up" HA, I kid, I kid.

Ja’me la’ Not your typical dry cleaner blog

 Today I was taught how to say “beautiful” in another language, in Lebanese to be exact. Mohnir the most amazing sastre at Jerry Ryan’s taught me today; as I practiced saying the word (it sounds like “Ja’me la”) over and over I noticed some of my own ja’me la’ things happening around me. 

For starters, it’s beautiful outside, what a nice reprieve from the winter months of cold grayness.  If this weather doesn’t scream beautiful I really don’t know what does.

Then walking into one of our stores I saw what could only be described as a beautiful out pouring of generosity, we have Shamrocks taking over our stores, which means our customers are helping Fashion Cleaners and Omaha Lace send 7 children who suffer from Muscular Dystrophy to a week long summer camp.  I was elated because this is the first time we’ve participated in such an event as Shamrocks and the enthusiasm of our employees and generosity of our customers is contagious as it is beautiful. 

But what I was told today made this day even more ja’me la’.  A customer gave $100 dollars to our campaign, and an employee gave $5 dollars for every child and grandchild she has, because “I was blessed with healthy children and grandchildren and this is for those who aren’t.”  I don’t think there is a better way to put it.  So many of us are blessed/lucky however you want to say it; and with a day like today it is so easy to be reminded how lucky and blessed we are.

So thank you to all of our customers at Fashion Cleaners and Omaha Lace, without you we wouldn’t be here.

Springing into Fashion

It's a wopping 30 degrees, the snow is melting and my little peep-toed shoe wearing heart is rejoicing. I don't know what I crave more spring fashion or spring itself. But the best part about spring fashion is that it comes faster than spring. In light of the new season I went on a buying extravaganza, no seriously I've managed to purchase 3 dresses, a skirt, shirt, sandals, one spring sweater and a cool springy belt. Plus jewlery to match all of it and I seriously doubt I am even close to stopping. For some reason I have it in my head that if I buy up spring fashion as it comes in it will literally change our climate faster.

This week I've stopped into and She-la's in Countryside Village and right now at She-la's she is having a trunk show for Luisa Cerano, and I am drooling over the hard cover catalog that was given to me( I think the hard cover means that they mean business) And let me tell you after opening it I see why it is a hard cover, amazing fashion in there and at She-la's.  Here are some images from the catalog and both She-la's 

Did you see the blushes and grays? Yeah I know I was right.

 I love this simple dress, with a pair of fun heels or espadrilles it is just so much fun!

  Yes print is in, and I think this print with the zippered pockets and skinny belt is perfect for our crazy spring weather we have here, wear as is or get a cream sweater and wrap the belt around the outside it's perfect for a more blustery day of spring.

Spring fashion is exciting and versatile, what's even better is that you know that once you invest in your amazing new spring frocks (yep I just used that word) that you're going to be able to trust in Fashion Cleaners and our impeccable ability to make your clothes last longer and look brand new for years to come. These retailers trust us, and have for years. Which is a great recommendation and we're proud and happy to have that from them.  So get out there and get your shopping on, nothing beats winter blues than fun spring clothes.

Shopping before the snowpocalypse hits Fashion Cleaners and you!

This weather in Omaha is killing my spirit. Every year I ask myself, "what am I still doing here" and I am sure that next year I'll do the same until finally I move; which sadly won't ever happen because my whole family lives here, and I have a job at Fashion Cleaners which pays me to do something I love to do, so I should quit my....  Anyway, in order to keep my spirit full of something that isn't snow I thought I'd go shopping.  So of course I started way out west in the Shops of Legacy and see what I could find and find out about up coming spring styles, which I think is just about as fun as shopping itself. 

Here is what I learned: Colors for Spring/Summer: Ivory, Navy,Blush.  For a pop of color: Coral, bright yellows and wasabi greens. Prints: Floral. (which is a good that Fashion Cleaners clean with GreenEarth, because that will make sure the colors do not bleed into eachother runing the print).

Styles: off the shoulder, 80's inspired, and a slight movement to the 70's.  You know with the one shoulder ruffle sweep across the collar line.  Keep your skinny jeans, jeggings etc. (stiffling a scream). 

Shoes:  Those cute wedges are still being seen every where which is a good thing because I love them. Stilettos are a yes and so ar flats. Actually it really doesn't sound like shoes are changing that much. (psst..we do shoe repair so just refresh last years)

Now here is what I've seen at Katina's and SKYZ:

It was a fun day of shopping for Fashion Cleaners.  And I totally walked away with something from each store, but I'm holding off the crazy shopping until next week when new shipments for SPRING come in! So when you've shoveled out from the snowpocalypse get in and get some new clothes, and don't worry about having to take them in the blizzard to get cleaned, we do home or work delivery for free!