Suit cleaning (alternative to dry cleaning).

[JonB]

OK slight dilemma here. I have two suits that will need to be washed on a weekly basis and the local dry cleaners charges £10 a suit for a dry clean. Two suits equals £20 a week. Which scarily works out at £80 a month, or worse £960 a year.

This to me is just ridiculous, so was wondering if there are any settings on washing machines that wouldn't damage a suit?

Yes, I should have bought machine washable suits, but they were all gash and I had no chance in hell in finding a nice looking one with a 34" chest.
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[Annabella]

Why on earth do you need to wash them weekly!?

I have my suits dry cleaned once every six months, just keep them hung properly. If they're quality suits then you'll be able to brush off any marks on them. Just don't go throwing coffee over yourself on a weekly basis.
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[JonB]

[The Artist]

Get some more trousers that are machine washable. Less obvious than a shitty suit.

Plus, you wouldn't need to wash both each week, more like 1 week do one then the next week the other if it needed it.

[Annabella]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

I only dry clean jackets because they are a pain in the arse to iron - dry cleaners use a vertical steam jobbie. They get done when they're actually dirty, so those only get done every few months. I use the "hang the suit up in the bathroom after a shower" trick to reduce wrinkles.

I wash suit trousers in the washing machine using a normal setting and never had any problems. If you're worried, you can try hand washing the trousers in body temperature water using a mild detergent and let them drip dry, hanging up by the bottoms.
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[Tonka]

Ask KittyKat, as she's the dry-cleaning expert!

TBH my suits are only dry cleaned every 6 months or so, but then I've more than 2 and each jacket has more than one bottom half (assuming you won't be wearing dresses or skirts, but meh?) so buy at least 2 pairs of trousers for each jacket, but clean them all at the same time to try and maintain colour match.
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[D O G]

Jon, you will NOT have to wear a suit everyday, I've said this before.

Just buy some cheap, machine washable troosers, otherwise your suit trousers will get fucked well before the jacket and render the whole suit useless.

Suits are not for day to day wear, IMO, unless you are top brass who needs to go to meetings with other top brass type people.

You will be working in a car hire office, you don't need a suit. If I were to walk into a car hire place and the dude was wearing a suit, I'd think he was some sort of freak.

I'll leave you with this question.

Who is the only character in the office who always wears his suit?

I rest my case.

[Tonka]

Dear 'New to Dorset' Person, may I refer you to the correct attire for Dorchester?
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[colin1]

you dont need a dry clean only suit

machine washable ones can be fine

despite what domo says, you may be expected to wear a suit every day, or at least shirt and tie, but machine washable will be fine
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[WildGoose]

Even if you are completely obsessive about a clean suit, I still can't see why you would need to wash two a week.

Can't remember if you are living in the Sout anymore or not, but a bit of whorage here, although I don't work for them anymore.

https://www.white-knight.co.uk/door2door/Prices/OnlineQuote.aspx

They do two different service levels (hand/machine finished), delivered/collected door to door, and think they would probably be better than your dry cleaner quoted prices. Its a weekly turnaround though, picked up one week, dropped back clean the next, so you would need enough clothes to cover that.
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[WildGoose]

Oh and just to add, now that you are a super athlete..

[JonB]

Damofo. I don't know if you know this and i'm really not trying to sell their services, but Enterprise provide a service where they will pick the customers up from their house and take them to the office to sort out the rental. Basically whenever you meet a customer, or go to market a service to a prospective corporate customer it is company policy to wear a full suit including jacket, no matter how hot it is. Everyone during my branch interview was wearing a jacket (and it was hot outside) so it is a pretty important part of the "uniform" supposedly to provide a professional looking service. (Don't Ask!)

Wildgoose, i'll only be in the office for about a sixth of the day, will be driving cars most of the time.
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[Black Knight]

I do mine once a month. Register with Johnsons for a discount offer. They ususally text me once a month or so with a 2-4-1 or 5 items for £20ish.

Register here
https://www.johnsoncleanersonline.com/

I have a 2-4-1 vouncher on my phone at the moment. PM me your number and I'll forward it on to you.


p.s They do ask you to delete it after you've shown it to them but I think they're quite aware nobody ever does.
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[Liono]

At the end of the day make sure you hang your suit up and give it a quick going over with a clothes brush to remove any marks or loose dirt. This will prevent the dirt becoming ground in as you wear the suit, reducing the frequency with which you will need to dry clean it. You can use a steam iron held vertically to steam areas of the suit which helps freshen it up and remove creases. If you can, try to alternate suits each day to give each one a chance for the fabric to air out fully.

The machine washable suits are generally made from wool with a certain amount of man made fibres mixed in. I've never seen one of these suits that looked (IMO) good and I don't expect that they would hold up well after repeated washes.

[Visitor Q]

Buy a couple of cheap jackets then. Sorted.
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[kitty kat]

If the garments have more than 50% wool in them I wouldn't wash them as wool garments will lose their shape easily and will never look good again. If less than 50% wool, put them on a 30 degree wash in the machine and a low spin speed. Hang trousers up by belt loops and leave them to dry naturally, jackets just hang on a hanger and also leave to dry naturally.

When ironing them, use steam and press trousers using a cloth over the fabric, it reduces shine and a jacket iron the lining, not the outer fabric, or take them into a dry cleaners and ask them for a press only.

Be careful washing anything with a high acetate content as that creases like mad and is very hard to iron .
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[kitty kat]

Another tip, if you spill drink on anything that that is dry clean only, spray the entire garment with clean water and leave it hanging to dry. the stain should diminish, if not disappear and because you have sprayed the whole garment you will not be left with unsightly watermarks.
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