Learn how to clean, preserve and Store Your Gown with Winzer Cleaners
– Wedding Season has arrived and hopefully brought along all that is good, enjoyable, and most precious of all, a light colored wedding gown. A lovely and ever so delicate symbol of ever-lasting love, the wedding gown has become a treasured heirloom. As such one would hope that it will be expertly cleaned and preserved, and one day be worn again by a family member. As explained by Bruce Barish of Winzer Drycleaners, the reality of it is that once the excitement of the Big Day has passed and upon returning from the Honeymoon, that the gown will be tossed underneath a bed, hung in a closet or even worse wrapped in plastic.
It is not until much later that thoughts of cleaning and preserving the expensive wedding gown reach the top of “things to do” list in a happy couple’s life and ends up on the counter of the local drycleaner. Since stains, especially sugar and alcohol tend to set-in fabric – and what wedding ceremony does not involve these- it is important to bring the gown rapidly to an expert drycleaners for proper treatment.
However, in some cases, even after long neglect restoration is possible when handled by expert hands. “We restored a beautiful cream wedding gown who was a hundred-year old; it had been tossed in an antic, totally yellow, from the early 1900s. A real thing of beauty” and, stated Barish, “the granddaughter wore it on her big day”.
Cleaning and preserving gowns is a job Winzer Cleaners takes very seriously. Most brides want to preserve their wedding memories every way possible. The task of preserving a wedding gown is multi-faceted. It involves:
• Proper inspection of all areas of the gown
• Proper testing of all the different beading and trim
• Selection of the soaps and solvents needed to carefully
remove all stains
• Gentle cycle cleaning in processes especially suited to
fragile items
• Careful re-inspection of all trim and soiled areas
• Meticulous pressing and stuffing with acid-free paper to
ensure no fading over time and no distortion of the
Gown’s structure
• Sewing of any loose beads or buttons or trim
• Careful placement in an acid-free museum archival
quality box to ensure safe storage over the years
It is important to keep in mind that not all drycleaners are equally expert at their trade and to investigate what their special skills are. Winzer Cleaners founded in 1908 by Ernest Winzer, known as the Master Drycleaner to the Broadway stage productions of the day takes special pride in restoring fragile garments. Family folklore has it that Winzer began by handling the costumes worn by Broadway greats of the day like George M. Cohan, Ziegfeld, Lionel, Ethel and John Barrymore, Laurette Taylor and Billie Burke. This legacy of providing service worthy of the brightest stars and Broadway shows to ALL consumers continues to this day.
Today, Bruce Barish is the third generation of the Steinhorn/Barish family to preside over Ernest Winzer Cleaners and as such, is a prominent member of the National Cleaners Association (NCA) of New York. According to Nora Nealis, Association Director of the NCA, “As an NCA Board member for the past five years, Bruce has played a pivotal role in setting the direction for the organization which has taken us from a ‘neighborhood’ association to a national one. During his tenure on the Board he voted in favor of our offering on line training to drycleaners worldwide, reaching out to garment manufacturers in a cooperative spirit as opposed to a combative one.”she went on, “Bruce is our only board member who is a third generation drycleaner presiding over an almost 100 year old business.” So keep in mind that with the proper preservation your wedding gown may be around for generation to come.
Ernest Winzer Cleaners offers radio dispatched Pick-up and Delivery Services in the Tri State Area together with shipping and receiving worldwide. Call: 1-877 WINZER 1.
For further information and to set up an interview with Mr. Bruce Barish, please write or call Anne Howard at 310-295-9578 or at anne@annehowardpublicist.com