Cameo Cleaners & Arthur Copeland

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Carpet sample from Windows on the World.

My clients tell me that trust is the most important reason why they use Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park. When you have a great wardrobe that you are emotionally attached to you need to trust your dry cleaner.

We were just given a great project that involved a lot a trust from a brand new client.

The 911 Memorial Museum needed to have the only remaining piece of carpet from Windows on the World cleaned for inclusion in an exhibit at the museum. Windows on the World was the restaurant at the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center from 1972 until 9-11-2001.

My staff and I are honored to be able to contribute in some small way to the memory of Windows on the World and those who lost their lives that day.

As a dry cleaner, who never know who or what is going to come through your front door on any given day. It makes me very satisfied that for over 25 years my clients both old and new completely trust Cameo Cleaners.

Thanks for listening, Jerry Pozniak.

The gown that almost got a first class seat!

We got an interesting phone call last week; a prospective client called from Canada. She was flying to New York for her daughter’s wedding and wanted to hire Cameo Cleaners to hand-press her Carolina Herrera gown in her hotel room right before the wedding.

She was flying in on Friday evening and the wedding was Saturday, she needed the dress by noon, time was not on our side. She also wasn’t too keen on letting the dress out of her sight.

If we couldn’t take on the project she was going to have the dress pressed in Canada and bring it on the plane. She wasn’t going to put the Herrera in the overhead bin she was going to buy the dress a seat, a first class seat.

Shop manager Marc Richardson took the call and pulled up an image of the dress off of the internet. Blake Lively wore the Herrera gown on Gossip Girl so there were pictures everywhere.

At first he was going to send our senior gown finisher to the hotel, but after looking at the construction of the gown he decided that the gown would need to go to our workshop if we were going to press it properly. Marc’s a perfectionist, it has to be right or it doesn’t go out.

He called the client back and told her to save her money and not to buy the first class seat for the gown, he had the solution. He arranged to have our driver pick up the gown on Friday night and bring it our workshop. Normally our staff is off on Saturday so he brought in our gown finishing expert, Rosanna and a cleaning technician just in case.

Rosanna spent over two hours meticulously steaming and hand pressing every inch of the gown, and thankfully the cleaning technician wasn’t needed. The gown was packaged and whisked back to the client’s Park Avenue hotel. The wedding went perfectly and the mother of the bride looked beautiful; plus she saved the cost of a first class seat.

Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park is known for never saying no. If we cannot take on your project, than it just cannot be done. We can clean and press just about anything make of fabric, leather or suede anywhere. Contact us, you will not be disappointed.

The shades suspended in the lobby of The Westin Hotel.

I remind my staff  frequently that it’s easy to describe what Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park does. We can clean anything that a client wears or has in their home or office that is made of fabric, leather or suede.

This almost got the best of me.

A call comes in from a friend of mine, “Remember when you told me you can clean anything? Can you clean lamp shades? Really big lamp shades? Five foot high lamp shades that are five feet around?”

Sure I tell him, we can clean anything, anywhere.

Next the reply comes, “Well they are in lobby of a hotel that I manage in Times Square, suspended about 15′ off the ground”.

I send my on-site team to The Westin New York at Times Square; boy do those shades look big and they are really, really high off the ground. The lobby is packed with throngs of people and an escalator runs right next to the shades.

It reminded me of the time that I had a firefighter buddy of mine helping me clean gutters. I made the assumption that he would go up the ladder. Wrong, he didn’t like ladders.

My staff ropes off the first area and gets the ladders set up. Once the equipment is secured they start hand cleaning the first shade. It’s back-breaking work, each shade is made of two layers of delicate material and from hanging in the lobby for so long, they are very, very soiled. Plus working on the top of a ladder trying to squeeze your arms into a lamp shade is no joke.

Eight hours later my team is finally finished, four enormous lamp shades cleaned on what seemed like a high-wire in the busiest location we have ever worked in.

I hate to sound like a political ad, but “Yes we can”.

If you have something that you think cannot be cleaned, give Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park a call, we love a challenge, even a high-wire challenge.

Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park has been selected as one of America’s Best Cleaners for the last four years, we have also been selected as the best dry cleaner in New York City by City Spur.

Earlier this week The New York Times published an article about zero waste design, essentially creating a garment without the normal 15 to 20% of wasted fabric going into landfills.

This design concept is not as easy as it sounds because when creating a garment the main concerns are fit and fashion. Therefore getting all of the pieces which make up the garment to fit into fabric with minimal waste involves compromises. Some of these compromises will involve supply lines and the existing infrastructure,  thus changes which can become very costly.

The zero waste campaign has the potential to be very beneficial to the dry cleaning industry, for it could initiate the shift to environmentally responsible dry cleaning. The secret to responsible dry cleaning lies in the cleaning and packaging methods.

Dry cleaning is a very wasteful industry based on cleaning and packaging processes. Many dry cleaners use wire hangers, reams of tissue and polyethylene bags as part of the process. Though wasteful, this type of packaging does prevent wrinkling and protects the freshly cleaned garments on their trip home.

Before you get too discouraged and swear off dry cleaning listen up for there is an alternative! Many dry cleaners offer re-usable fabric garment bags as well has re-usable plastic hangers. Tissue can be removed from packacking within  the body of the garment though wrinkling may occur without this addition.

My shops, Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park and Arthur Copeland Cleansers offer “Naked Cleaning” which is our dry cleaning process that cleans clothes without harmful petro-chemicals along and offers a re-useable garment bag (from Green Garmento), no tissue packaging and re-useable hangers. What you get back is your wardrobe free of all chemicals and packed without any waste at all!

Our chemical free dry cleaning process is accomplished using the Solvair process which uses liquid CO2 in place of petro-chemicals. You can go to our website for more information.

Thanks for listening. Jerry Pozniak

Is your little munchkin messier than most?

Does he/she attract dirt and grime like a moth to a flame?

If you have answered yes to both or either of the questions above than your tot’s stroller is probably the bane of your existence. No matter how many times you try to reduce food going near this formidable mode of transportation your child’s chariot most likely resembles a fraternity house in it’s sticky and stained ratio…

Once again Arthur Copeland Cleaners & Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park have the solution for all of you moms and dads. The stroller cleaning service that we provide will have you and your little one cruising the streets in style in no time flat.

Stroller cleaning Service includes:

• Detailing
• Stain Removal & Fabric Restoration
• Sanitization
• Deodorization
• All wheels protected by Armor All

Graco, Combi, Bugaboo, or Maclaren it doesn’t matter… Arthur Copeland and Cameo Cleaners are equipped to handle the messiest of strollers return it to like new status. The same trust that you place in our stores to keep you and your wardrobe looking their best will not be bestowed upon your child and their carriage.

For the best stroller cleaning in New York and Long Island visit Arthur Copeland in Cedarhurst and Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park.

Although this warm summerlike weather may have you in a bit of a haze, one must remember that it is still spring, and therefore still prom season! After two immensely successful events hosted by local high schools in both Manhattan and Brooklyn Megan Kerrigan, President of Operation Fairy Dust was looking for one more opportunity to don her tiara and make some dreams come true.

So when Megan was approached by Oxygen Media about partnering up for an event, hosted by Oxygen’s newest fashion family, The Scalis from Jersey Couture she could hardly refuse! What was even better was that in addition to all the other gowns collected throughout the year by Cameo Cleaners for Operation Fairy Dust the Scali’s planned to donate 30 designer gowns from their boutique, Diane & Co.

With all of these plans coming together so quickly, the only detail that had not been ironed out yet was the venue. Megan immediately suggested Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park to host the exclusive prom dress giveaway event co-hosted by Oxygen Media and Operation Fairy Dust.

On Thursday, May 20 Cameo Cleaners had been transformed into prom dress central with over 100 dresses for the 20 young girls personally invited by Megan Kerrigan to shop through. Designers among the donated dresses included Oscar De La Renta, Zac Posen, and Faviana.

Oxygen certainly found a cast of individuals who enjoy ” living out loud”, as we quickly found out upon the arrival of Christina and Diane Scali, and Kimberly Gambale. These vivacious women could fill up most spaces with their personalities, so at the boutique sized Cameo Cleaners everyone present was engaged with these women.

The preliminary task on their agenda was to familiarize themselves with the gowns, so that they could better assist the young girls anxiously waiting on Third Avenue. After holding up a few dresses to their own figures, they returned outside for some photo opps and then invited the first round of girls in to begin shopping.

As this was a private event, the girls were invited in three at a time to ensure that every girl in the store had their own personal shopper to assist with their gown selection. The three women each have their specialty within the gown realm , so assisted girls of all shapes, styles, and sizes to select the perfect gown.

As the afternoon progressed one girl after another received personalized treatment from the women of Jersey Couture, and left Cameo Cleaners fully outfitted for the prom; many of them with accessories to match! One girl unfortunately was unable to fit into any of the dresses present in the store. Determined to have every girl leave a princess Diane Scali called in a favor to one of her gown retailers, and sent a messenger uptown to receive it. An hour later she returned with five gowns , one of which was a perfect fit.

By the end of the day the event had outfitted all 17 girls in attendance for the prom. A few of the selected gowns require alterations which are all being performed by the tailor at Cameo Cleaners. The girls have promised to share their prom photos with Cameo Cleaners as well as the cast of Jersey Couture, so we will be sure to keep you updated with their Cinderella stories.

To learn more about the Scali Women and Diane & Co you can watch the premier of Jersey Couture on Oxygen June 1. Who knows you may even see a few familiar faces…

A few weeks ago one of the owners of Cameo Cleaners received a panicked call from Ivy the floor manager of the Cymbeline Paris showroom located not far from the shop’s Gramercy Park location. Just before  closing on Friday afternoon Ivy had received a frantic call from one of her brides who had located a spot on her wedding dress just hours before her big day.

Assuring the bride that everything would be alright Ivy placed an emergency call to the preferred cleaner of Cymbeline Paris, Cameo Cleaners. She knew they could be trusted with any and every wedding dress need as they had helped her with similar situations many times before.

Two emergency drivers were  immediately dispatched to Jersey City where the distraught bride was waiting. After battling brutal traffic the drivers arrived and assured the bride that everything would be alright and they would return her dress in no time. They headed back to Manhattan where they endured more traffic on a Friday evening so they could begin work on this gown immediately.

Early Saturday morning the cleaning technicians arrived on their day off to clean and treat this gown. 15 hours after the initial call from Ivy had been received the Cymbeline gown was returned  to the bride good as new.

For bridal gown care in New York trust the recommended cleaner of Cymbeline Paris, Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park.

The following Friday, Arthur Copeland Cleansers was featured on Fios1 Long Island, ” My Long Island TV”, for a segment by Getting Married on LI. Owner, Jerry Pozniak was interviewed at length to discuss all the benefits and details of having your wedding gown properly cleaned. When you check us out on TV look closely, you will be certain to recognize some more gowns by Cymbeline that were included in the segment.

The only choice for bridal care in Long Island and New York City is Arthur Copeland Cleansers and Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park.

We were recently introduced to a courageous young girl who at the tender age of  9 months has more fight and personality then her small body can contain.  Sadly, Minty was diagnosed with anaplastic ependymoma, a rare form of childhood brain tumors when she was only 6 weeks old.

Since then Minty has undergone countless procedures varying from surgeries to chemotherapy treatments all working hard to keep this beautiful life alive.

Mei Lai better known as ” Mama Minty” has spent the last 15 years working in the wardrobe department on many TV shoes and films such as the upcoming ” Sex and the City 2″ which has generated the enormous support for Saturday’s event. Her close relationship with the Sex and the City cast members is the cause of the main source of lottery items being offered at The Minty Python Benefit. Items include; jewlery, clothing, and even a dinner date with cast members.

Performing at the event are Luluc, Sarabeth Tucek, and Andrew Wyatt. Special Minty Python cocktails will be served by handsome bartenders. All proceeds will help support Minty and two charitable organizations. The Making Headway Foundation & Friends of Karen.

There are only 100 tickets available for the event as those close to her would like to keep it intimate.If you are unable to attend this star studded event you can also help to support Minty through donations via paypal.

For more information about Minty click here

Cameo Cleaners has been a Gramercy icon since it’s establishment in 1956. With such a longtime presence in the neighborhood Cameo Cleaners is familiar with many of the other businesses in the area.

On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, our next door neighbors The Vintage Thrift Shop are hosting a dress event for a one time shopping event featuring a spectacular assortment of vintage day, wedding, and evening dresses all for 90% off their retail value!

There is a $5 admission at the door, however once you have selected the gown of your choice that money is applicable towards your purchase.

Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park is offering an exclusive offer to all individuals who attend The Dress Event . For a limited time we will clean any wedding gown purchased at The Vintage Thrift shop for $149-$249, and any evening dress cleaned for $49-89.*

Additionally, your dress will be cleaned with our chemical free ECO2 Cleanse process which we guarantee to extend the life of your new vintage gown. If your dress does not fit you exactly how you would prefer,  drop in next door and allow the expert tailor at Cameo Cleaners to work his magic and give you the look you desire!

*Whether you have selected something old, or something new Cameo Cleaners will honor this offer through August 22,2010. Offer is only valid with proof of receipt as well as a flyer that will be distributed at The Vintage Thrift Shop.

You can find both Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park & The Vintage Thrift Shop on Third Avenue between 22nd st. and 23rd st.

They say that April showers bring May flowers, and with the weather we’ve had thus far all of New York should be in bloom in no time at all. Despite the damp weather, the temperature does seem to be gradually increasing and the need for your heavy fur, down, and wool garments has become non-existent.

Need to make room for your spring and summer wardrobe? Let Cameo Cleaners NYC and Arthur Copeland Long Island take those bulky items out of your closets and into our summer storage facility.

We do recommend that you have all your winter pieces cleaned prior to storage. Here are a few reasons why cleaning will extend the life of your wardrobe:

• If stains are not removed prior to cleaning they will set and oxidize during the summer months and it may be too late to remove once taken out of storage.
• Make sure your clothing isn’t a late night snack for moths as they are particularly  attracted to perspiration, cologne, and stains especially on fabrics such as wool and cashmere.
• You want to make sure that your clothing is fresh for wear next winter when you are ready to wear it, so that you don’t have to send it out for cleaning when you really need it.

Both Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park and Arthur Copeland are running a special now offering FREE storage for all your winter clothing when you pre-pay your cleaning order.* This offer excludes fur, leather, and suede garments