PRESSED FOR SUCCESS

Crisp shirt collars, wrinkle-free sheets, knife-sharp trouser pleats, and perfectly pressed garments. All are valued, but at a time when few households have time for ironing how does one get such results? “They come here, of course,” smiles Victor Seyedin, owner of Lake City Cleaners in Lake Forest and Evanston. “But I doubt very many people know the attention to detail that goes into the process.”

A peek behind the curtain is revelatory. Lake City Cleaner’s 7,200 square foot plant in Evanston, the master hub for Lake City’s operations, bustles with activity. Perfectly pressed shirts hang by the hundreds on conveyor racking systems that click and move through the space. Workers weave in and out staffing areas filled with massive dry cleaning equipment, professional washers and dryers, specialized ironing presses of all shapes and sizes, steamers, and more.

“Many of my staff have been with me for close to 30 years,” says Seyedin. “And they specialize in different departments which means they have become experts at each job that they do.”

As we talk, we walk through, watching two women in the household goods department press and pleat draperies in a 10-foot-long ironing press. Positioned at either end of the machine, they stretch, fold, pleat and press fabric in a well-timed ballet of movements. Nearby in the shirt pressing department, workers smooth shirts over forms before automized equipment steams and presses each. From there, the shirts are removed from the forms and go to racks for inspection and hand pressing as needed.

In the next room, another six workers are busy with trousers, jackets, and dresses. Julio L., who has worked for Seyedin for 30 years, leads this team. “He is expert at all of the ironing presses used here,” Seyedin explains, “So, he can help if any of the others encounter a problem.”

As we watch, Julio is busy pressing pants, placing them first on a form for steaming and then into a specialized ironing press, which uses heat to open up fibers in the fabric, making them more pliable, and then pressure to press the fibers back into their original shape and to lock in the pants pleat. “Although clothing manufacturers put a permanent crease in pants, sometimes this comes out,” says Seyedin. “So, it takes careful attention to ensure you get the prefect crease.”

Before they are pressed, all garments (shirts, blouses, jackets, dresses, and pants) and household items (sheets, curtains, comforters, etc.) are either dry cleaned or laundered. To ensure best results that are also environmentally friendly, Lake City imports special cleaning solvents from Germany. “These are expensive, but the results are worth it,” says Seyedin.

He estimates that cleaning and pressing shirts is the biggest part of his business. While most 100 percent cotton shirts are laundered, dark colored shirts are dry cleaned, explains Seyedin. “Because if you hot press dark shirts they will get shiny. To avoid that, we dry clean dark shirts and then steam press by hand.”

Some of the most challenging items that come in include Prada and Chanel gowns. Great care is taken with these which, after cleaning, are draped over specialized forms that puff skirts with steam before the garments are carefully hand pressed.

But no matter what type of garment, each is carefully inspected after cleaning and pressing before being approved for delivery to customers. “I can’t say enough how important inspection is,” says Seyedin. “Some high-volume cleaners just skip this step. But, to ensure quality results, we always inspect and correct any small imperfections.”

And then, “As always,” he sums. “If a customer is not satisfied, we do what it takes to make it so, because the customer is always right.”

For more information on Lake City Cleaner’s services, please visit lakecitycleaners.com.