Recommendations-Manhattan dry cleaners for sheet/linen service

[sgt10]

I am a big believer in minimizing dry cleaning trips and doing laundry at home, however, I am getting tired of ironing hard-to-iron sheets. I am wondering if anyone has found a good sheet/linen service In Manhattan. I have tried Hallak Cleaners, which does a very good job, however they are out-this-world expensive, even when compared to the high price of “designer” sheets like Frette. Ha anyone experimented with sheet/linen service in Manhattan and had good luck?

 

[launderess]

Do a search on Google or other good search engine, few places should come up.

There's Blanc Plume out in Kansas which offers mail order service.

As tastes and other things changed demand for true "French hand laundry" services declined across country. There are only a few places left in entire USA that still do things the old fashioned way.

Everyone else is pretty much "hand finished". Meaning basically things are washed with everyone else's, dried, put through an ironer or press, then finally touched up "by hand".

There are still a few Chinese hand laundries in New York City. But their model is what it has been from day one. Things go out to a wholesale laundry and either are ironed there, and touched up when brought back to shop. Or, sent back dried and store uses a steam iron or maybe press to finish.

https://books.google.com/books?id=u...6&focus=viewport&dq=mrs+roles+private+laundry

If you want the job done well, hand laundry (French or whoever) is rarely cheap. It takes skill, effort and time not just in how things are washed, but the ironing as well. Then there is the simple fact of laundry economics 101: you can do lots of it at lower prices, or smaller amounts and charge more. It has to be one or the other mostly for places to stay in business.

When you see offers for sheets or other linens "hand ironed" for very little money that's a tip off they use wholesalers or other methods to batch process much of the work, with only some hand finishing.

New York Times did an excellent article on struggles of one Chinese hand laundry a few years ago. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/nyregion/laundry-service-in-new-york-city-brooklyn-san-toy.html

 

[sgt10]

Benefits of hand laundry/pressing?

Thank you Laundress. Prior to your comments, I had never considered whether the sheets were being machined pressed/machine pressed with hand finished/entirely hand pressed and the implications of the process for the final results. Should I conclude from your comments and references that the hand pressing produces a far superior result?

I did try googling and using yelp and can identify the “best dry cleaners”, at least for expensive suits and such. Hallak, for example, is one of the handful of recommended dry cleaners for such clothing, if one wants to be extra careful.. What is less clear to me is whether an expensive dry cleaner is the place to launder sheets. I did call up the Frette store to get their recommendation, just to see what they might say, and they too suggested Hallek. But I have only a few Frette sheets in any case, and I almost passed out when I saw how much Hallek charged for a set of sheets and pillow cases (they charged more than the cost of many new sheet sets - $300). Even mail order to the Blanc Plume Kansas City Laundry would be less expensive than that.

So there doesn’t seem to be a magic solution. It’s either do it yourself (I don’t mind the washing but it’s the frustrating ironing I object to), or pay a lot, or don’t have ironed sheets. I guest most people choose the last option, and people with more patience than I have iron sheets themselves.

 

[launderess]

Fully hand ironed is the gold standard for most anything especially linens and shirts. But it is also time consuming and an art that is largely unknown.

For linens especially if they are plain (not embroidered or with trim like lace), being machine ironed or pressed isn't so bad. Provided one is willing to put up with the odd creases and crumpled hems, and perhaps tearing at hems or selvages from being fed into machines it might be worth trade off against hand ironing.

Try searching internet under "hand laundry" or "French hand laundry" or "linens service". Dry cleaners aren't always known for offering hand ironed anything, much less bed and table linens. Hand finished yes, but not hand ironed.

That last bit is key, "hand finished" means just that. Shirts, linens or whatever are ironed by machine, then touched up with an iron (if that). Ironed by hand should be just that, something done totally by hand, period.

Don't know if Mrs. Roles is still in business, but they offered French hand laundry service.

 

[yogitunes]

How do you get shirts so clean Mr Lee?...some personal stains may require pounding with a rock to remove....

 

[sgt10]

Mrs Roles

Interesting about Mrs Roles — they turned up in a search of laundry/dry cleaners in the Franklin Report (which, by the way, seems to be a largely-defunct publication itself these days). In any case, the description of Mrs Roles sounded like it might fit the bill, but they appear have disappeared, much like the art of fine hand ironing.

 

[sgt10]

French hand laundry

The first thing that popped up in the search was a place called Allo Laverie, up near 80th street on the east side.

Laundress- Does this sound similar to the kind of service you thought might be available?
They also mention something called “cold mangle.” I know what a mangle is, but I had never heard of cold mangling before.

The French Laundry For Fine Linen - Allo Laverie

Specialists in laundering and restoration of bed & table linens, bedding, shirts, comforters, pillows, heirloom laces and antique linens.

www.french-handlaundry.com

 

[launderess]

Cold mangle is a way long practiced in Germany and many northern European countries like Sweden for finishing things made from linen, especially table and bed linens.

There are several ways both by hand or machine of doing it, but basic principle is same. It is compression of fibers by pressure but without heat.



Or:



Don't know what's going on with Mrs. Roles. Know they moved years ago to the Bronx from Upper East Side. Then owner bought and merged with another laundry, but if Mrs. Olan's/Mrs. Roles is still in business cannot say. Reach out via email or telephone and find out.

Here's another: https://www.instagram.com/rosaslaundry/?hl=en

Or,

Laundry Service NYC: Table and Bed Linen Cleaning Services

Discover top laundry services in NYC for table and bed linen cleaning. Enjoy fresh, professionally cleaned linens for your home or business.

cameocleaners.com

 

[sgt10]

The old-fangled cold mangle

I love those videos, especially the second one with the cold mangle that looks like it pre-dated the automatic washing machine.

 

[jamiel]

That second video is fascinating, and a bit weird. Logo wear and a flat sheet---finished the same way. Presume everything is dry before being pressed.