Got Couture? How about that special holiday top with sequins that you spilled a little red wine on? The St.John splurge you couldn't live without? The fine Italian wool suit your husband brought abroad last year? Trusting your fine garments to just and dry cleaner may be riskier than your latest stock trade.
Discerning North Shore residents are choosing Lake City Cleaners, specializing in the caring and cleaning of high quality garments, outerwear and fabrics for a clientele serving Chicago to Lake Bluff. The only dry cleaner in Illinois accredited by America's Best Cleaners, Lake City has been recognized as the . To earn this distinction, a dry cleaner must undergo a rigorous screening process, be recommended by top fashion designers and retailers in their respective markets, and meet strict criteria established by the world-renowned Hohenstein Institute in Germany. The German laboratory sends monthly fabric sample tests to accredited dry cleaners that are required to clean the fabric and return the sample for testing.
It's clear that Victor and Janice Seyedin, owners of 80-year cleaning business since 2004, are knowledgeable and committed to staying on top in this niche market. That's why they invest in what Victor refers to as "The Lexus of equipment. You can buy a pants machine for $20,000 or $70,000. The higher-end machine will not leave impressions near the seams. This is very important to our customers."
To the end, the Seyedins are eagerly awaiting arrival of the state-of-art Solvair cleaning machine - the latest environmentally friendly and very costly dry cleaning equipment guaranteed to clean 90 times better than anything else out there even Perk, the standard (but non-organic chemical) solvent used by most dry cleaners for over 50 years. The Solvair will not wear out fabrics as standard machines with mechanical reactions do. It also uses no heat, guaranteeing no shrinkage and making stains easier to remove.
This is just one step that sets Lake Cleaners apart from others.
"We use the most advanced software in the industry", explains Janice Seyedin, who oversees the finance and human resources for the company. "We can communicate with our customers online they can send us messages with specific instructions (e.g. please note the red wine stain on the green dress), check on the status of an order, or pay their cleaning bill." She adds "We take care of a garment the way it should be taken care of. We import the finest soap from German, for example." and the Seyedins know how important it is to have the staff to back up their claims.Their drivers, for instance, must have appropriate interpersonal skills to interact with a sophisticated customer base. They must provide attention-to-detail and make sure they follow the customer's specific instructions, such as whether the pants should be hanging long, folded over or on certain hangers.
Longtime and experienced employees in the cleaning shops range from chemists, who figure out how to attack a certain stain, to hand-finishers who ensure that a shirt has no creases or fold marks or that a special dress hangs just right.
A long-time retailer, Victor Seyedin, oversees operations for Lake City and has researched the dry cleaning industry extensively. He recently toured Italian factories and mills where textiles and other goods are manufactured for designers such as Zegna Canali and Brioni to familiarize himself with the complexities of quality garments. He attends regular training and conventions with America's Best. In 1997, ob Hope presented the USDA Best Retailer of Year Award to Victor for excellence in video industry.
Lake City Cleaners has locations in Chicago Highland Park, Evanston and Lake Forest and pick up and delivery to service the entire North Shore. For more information, contact Victor Seyedin directly at 847-420-1700.
I always look for opportunities to give testament to our advertisers. During a resent photo shoot in the Bahamas for an upcoming issue of our new Sheridan Road magazine, our model was wearing a Zac Posen gown in white silk. At the end of the shoot, I wasn't looking forward to returning to the designer - the wind and sand on the shoot had taken some of the "white" out of it. But then I remembered our advertiser, Lake City Cleaners (selected as one of America's best cleaners). I dropped it off on a Sunday and picked it up the following day - it looked brand new! Great job by Victor at Lake City Cleaners - he saved me from a very uncomfortable $5000 discussion...
J.W.CONATSER
Founder and Publisher
jwc@jwcmedia.com
