- Dependable Cleaners

Concierge cleaner
Customers willing to pay for attention to detail at Style
By Jill Radsken Thursday, November 25, 2010
You might be able to get wine stains out of your
favorite white blouse with club soda. Or you could
try money. Enter a new luxury cleaning service
called Style.
“You ask, and are willing to pay for it, and I’ll figure
it out,” said Charles Ickes, director of the premium
services division at the family-owned Dependable
Cleaners chain in Quincy. “It’s the ‘Yes’ factor.”
“Yes” means guests at the Mandarin Oriental hotel
can have their garments dry-cleaned within hours.
That the woman with the designer dress - and its
thousands of sequins - will have it returned in
pristine condition. That the bride getting married at
the Boston Harbor Hotel can have an on-site
presser for her bridal party.
“No is not an option for the right clientele,” said
Ickes, who launched Style after years of working at
Madame Paulette, a similar luxury cleaning company, in New York.
Style at Dependable quietly launched this summer, and Karen Gilman was one of the earliest
customers. The Back Bay resident started using the service after a gray metallic jacket
purchased at Bloomingdale’s came back from another cleaner a different color.
“I don’t worry about what kind of surprise I’ll get when they come back,” she said. “The attention
to detail is amazing.”
But what does that kind of attention cost? Laundering a men’s dress shirt starts at $5.96 while a
woman’s blouse is $16.78 and a dress costs $30.68. Style services typically take about four
days, but the Mandarin couple who needed their outfits within hours paid $370. And the Boston
Harbor Hotel bride paid $450 for three hours of pressing.
Said Ickes: “She tipped the presser $100.”
Style is only available at select Dependables (including Brookline and both Newbury Street
locations and the home-delivery route in Wellesley), but Ickes plans to expand to MetroWest
this winter and next spring. Forthcoming services include: online closet management (they
monitor your storage stash) and wardrobe delivery to your vacation destination.
“We want to keep it under 1,000 items a week,” he said. “This isn’t for everybody.”
But Gilman isn’t “everybody,” and wouldn’t take her Roberto Cavalli pieces anywhere else.
“I’d be paranoid at a less-sophisticated dry cleaner,” she said. “It’s so worth it to have that
personal attention.”
http://bostonherald.com/entertainment/fashion/view.bg?articleid=1298724&position=1