This time of year, we see a lot of cashmere garments at Meurice. Cashmere is among the most luxurious varieties of wool, and it’s not just for sweaters: cashmere is perfect for everything scarves to socks! Because cashmere clothing is a significant investment, it’s worth taking taking the time to care for it properly.

Fortunately, cashmere is not as finicky as it’s luxury image might lead you to believe. It’s easy to keep your cashmere looking fantastic with a few easy tips:

• Start by reading the your garment’s labels: cashmere is commonly blended with other types of wool, and care instructions vary widely with each specific textile formulation.
• Always hand wash pure cashmere garments. They’re easy to damage with machine agitation. Here at Meurice, we often hand wash cashmere, or sometimes dry clean it as needed. At home, there are a number of soaps and detergents formulated just for cashmere.
• Never wear a deodorant with aluminum chloride – this can cause cashmere to become stained around the armpits.
• Try to keep perfumes and cologne to a minimum when wear cashmere. Wool fibers absorb the scents and necessitate more frequent cleaning.
• Keep the cat away! Cat fur gets everywhere in the fine weave of cashmere, and is difficult to remove.
• Don’t pull a pill! Pulling pills will cause the rest of the textile to unravel. Use a cashmere brush or pill stone instead.
• Finally – at the end of the season, put cashmere away clean. Moth larvae feed on fibers like cashmere, and wool with residue from food, beverage or perspiration are the most tempting targets.

PS – Ever wonder why cashmere gets it’s name? Cashmere wool comes from goats in the Cashmere region of the Gobi Desert.

If your cashmere could use professional attention, just drop us a line at Meurice. Even if you’re not local, we can handle all your cashmere care.

We’ve been preserving and restoring wedding gowns more than fifty years at Meurice. I’m proud to say that we’ve seen subsequent generations wear many of the earliest gowns we preserved! With proper care, a wedding gown can be worn by daughter, grand-daughter, and even great-grand-daughter of the original bride!

When we receive yellowed, stained gowns for restoration, the most common culprit is improper storage. Most people don’t routinely store textiles for decades, so it’s no surprise they’re not aware of the safest ways to handle heirloom gowns. Fortunately, there are a few simple rules that can prevent 90 percent of age-damaged gowns:

- Store your gown in a cool, dry, and dark location. The most important thing to do is protect your gown from extreme temperature changes, humidity, and harsh sunlight. Many basements and attics are not safe. Think if you’d like to hang out in the area where you plan to store your gown. If the answer is no, it’s probably not a safe place for a wedding dress, either.

- It’s perfectly safe to take out your wedding dress whenever the mood strikes you. In fact, we’d encourage you to inspect a preserved gown when you get it back. Fabric was made to breathe, so don’t store a gown sealed up and blocked off. One caveat to this suggestion: oils on your hands can contribute to the breakdown of textiles. We suggest you wear gloves when handing a gown – gowns preserved by us come with a pair made from white cotton gloves.

- Periodically shift the folds in a stored gown, to prevent crease marks from forming. Once every year is fine. If you’re not comfortable with the process, bring it to Meurice, or any other member of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists.

- Don’t wrap your preserved gown in plastic, or any other covering. Remember, fabric wants to breathe, so it’s critical not to impede air circulation

For more information on the proper care of wedding gowns (or any other garment!) please follow us over on Twitter, or Facebook. And if you’re a Meurice client, don’t forget our mailing list offers regular discounts.

Support Meurice in Mission: Small Business!

You might wonder why we’re competing to recieve this funding. Short answer: we have a vision to bring our high-end cleaning service to a mid-market pricepoint, through a new brand we’re developing: CLEAN. We’ve been perfecting our concept since the economic downturn in 2008 forced us to shelve our plans – and with a little dose of startup capital we hope to hit the streets up and running.

Please visit the Mission: Small Business website and take a moment to located our profile. It takes, quite literally, only seconds to submit your vote. We have just one week left to build votes, and we’re counting on your support.

Here's how to log in and vote

And here's how to find us: Please note, we're in the Bronx

And, if you haven’t already, please connect with Wayne on Twitter at @ClothesDr, and say hello – we’d love to stay in touch.

Thanks for your support!

It might not be polite to brag, but every now and then we have to toot our own horn! Click the images below to for a large view, and if you’d like to read more on how we’ve built our social presence at Meurice, you can buy the book on Amazon.

Recently, we asked our clients at Meurice what questions they had for Lani Inlander, a styling and organization consultant. Lani helps men and women find the clothing and accessories they feel most stylish and confident in, and also helps tame closets to ensure you’ll never be stuck again without anything to wear.

We’ve selected our favorite inquiries, and sent them over for a professional opinion:

I have a beautiful favorite Paul Stuart blue blazer, and also a double breasted one which now seem to be very loose fitting. I also see that the brass buttons are out date. Do I change them? What color?

I suggest that if it is necessary, you alter the Paul Stuart blazer to the new, slimmer shape men are currently wearing. [Ed: This is within the realm of the work our tailor performs] If the brass buttons are in good shape, you could keep them as long as you wore the blazer with a more formal look than a regular sportcoat. Think beautiful checked shirt, tie and pocket square with dress beige pants, not cotton khakis.  If you would like to wear the single breasted blazer in a more casual manner, I would replace the brass buttons with horn ones.

 

It seems to me that a boxier, double breasted blazer is not a look you should be trying to resurrect, regardless of the buttons.

ML Halland writes:

Lani’s response:

Yes, Mary, too little storage space is a big issue for most New Yorkers. This is the organizational method I use with my clients who are tight on space.

1. Make more space with skinny hangers. And no, I don’t mean the kind from the corner dry cleaner! Flocked velvet hangers, such as the Huggable Hanger line, protect the shape of your clothes and use MUCH less space than wooden, metal or plastic hangers.
2. Double your hanging space for $9.99! Everyone to whom I’ve shown this simple, inexpensive fix, is amazed at the impact it has on their storage space.
3. Only the clothes you are currently wearing should be hanging in your main closet. Put off-season clothes in beautiful fabric bins which you can stack vertically on the top shelf of your closet or another out of the way place. Black tie clothes you wear once a year should also find a new home. Sandals can go in underbed boxes during the winter, replaced by boots in the summer.
4. Re-purpose furniture. I believe that out-of-sight equals out-of-mind. Why not stack sweaters and tee shirts on an open bookshelf instead of away in a dresser?
5. Throw away your shoe boxes! The original boxes, I mean. Replace them with clear shoe drawers. This allows you to stack many more pairs on the top or bottom of your closet, while making them truly accessible.

We began our route in Brooklyn a year ago, and we’ve really enjoyed serving both old clients who moved over the river and new clients who’ve had trouble finding a local cleaner to meet their exacting standards. Due to demand, we’ve extended service and created a permanent route. Meurice now serves Brooklyn every Thursday for both pickup and delivery.

As always, you can expect Meurice’s unparalleled commitment to service and attention to detail in cleaning. Our full menu of services is available in Brooklyn – from specialty goods such as handbag restoration to interior cleaning services. We also offer tailoring and alterations – we’ll even send a seamstress to work with you in your home.

Call us now at 800.240.3377 to schedule your collection time, or use our convenient online reservation page below:

I love spring cleaning each year because it’s a chance to start fresh and clean out the clutter and grime of the past year. You should love spring cleaning too, because it couldn’t be easier with Meurice.

We’ll clean your home and your wardrobe top to bottom – from drapery, upholstery and rugs to custom dry cleaning to restoring handbags. Plus, we’re extending sweet offers exclusively to our email subscribers.

Complimentary Storage: We know closet space is at a premium in the city – let Meurice send your winter wardrobe on a summer vacation in our climate controlled 15,000 square-foot storage facility. They’ll be fresh and ready for complimentary delivery when you are. Please note your winter items must be cleaned with Meurice prior to storage.

Two For One Bedding: My recommendation is to start spring cleaning with bedding. It’s critical to thoroughly clean bedding regularly, because pillows, linens and comforters absorb so much body oil, skin, even dust mites (gross!) During spring cleaning, Meurice will hygienically treat any second bedding item for free when a higher price item is cleaned as well.

Offer valid through April 30, 2012 in-store, or schedule a convenient pickup online! Click the image above for a full-sized coupon.

Activewear always takes a beating, and now is the perfect time to freshen your gear up. Simply bring in your ski jackets, ski pants, ski hats and gloves – or any other skiwear – and we’ll clean them at 20 percent off. Yes, it’s safe to clean skiwear, especially with our Aquacare process – it doesn’t get any greener. We’ll even re-apply waterproofing after cleaning. Offer valid in-store, or schedule a pickup online.

Keep Clean,

Wayne Edelman

Meurice Gift Cards Now On Sale

To purchase,  stop into any of our locations: Midtown, Downtown or Manhasset – or give us a ring and we’ll take care of all the details.

Junior League of Long Island volunteers from their March 2011 Kids in the Kitchen event

Meurice is accepting clothing donations on behalf of the Junior League of Long Island, who are seeking professional attire for local women transitioning into the workforce. It’s all part of their fifth annual First Step Program, which helps Long Island women referred from local social service agencies, shelters, and food pantries re-enter the work force by taking the “first step.” Junior League members personally assist attendees with selecting appropriate clothing for their career. The JLLI also provides lunch, manicures and child care will be provided to all participants for the day at no cost. There will also an executive business coach on hand to help with resumes and interview practice.

The event is held in conjunction with many local and state charitable organizations and social services, but they need your help too in order to secure employment for as many women as possible. Clothing in all styles and sizes will be accepted, as well accessories such as shoes and portfolios. Most women will be interviewing for entry-level positions, so business-casual slacks and blouses are especially in demand.

Donations can also be left with any of Meurice’s three locations, at 31 University Place, 245 East 57th Street, or 249 Plandome Road in Manhasset. The JLLI will also accept clothing at their thrift store on Old Northern Boulevard in Roslyn. And by the way, don’t miss out on a special discount at Donna Karan’s Americana Manhasset location! They’ve arranged an event in support of the JLLI on November 17th!

To learn more, you can visit the JLLI’s website, or find them on Facebook and Twitter.