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Many of you have been asking me about how is the best way to clean stains in clothes? So I decided to make an interview to a specialist, Gabriel Rusell, the owner of one of the most prestigious drycleaners in Buenos Aires.  Gabriel’s father, created the first branch in Recoleta in 1964.  Since then, the business had grown and in 1982 they opened a second branch in Palermo.  Currently they have 19 employees and their income goes up to 700 thousand Argentinean pesos.

¿What is the expertise of your business?

G: It is a handcrafted work, some drycleaners offer to clean your clothes in 1 or 2 hours, we dedicate a lot of time in each garment to be sure that is clean and in perfect shape.  We take off all buttons before washing it, then we retouch the hem and lining if it is needed, then we clean it, iron it and then we sew again each button. When the garment is ready, we wrapped it individually. For all of the above, we are one of the most recognized drycleaners in Buenos Aires.

Let’s talk about fabrics, how do you divide them? How do we need to take care of each one?

G: Let’s divide them in two groups: men and women clothes. Men’s suits have to be always clean at the drycleaner, specially the ties because the silk is usually very delicate.  Women’s clothes are more complicated to clean since each garment has usually a big variety of fabrics. For example, it can be a mix of polyester or silk with spandex and all those mixes are complicated to clean, all depend of the case, or we have to wash the dress by hand or apply specific treatment to remove the spot. Sometimes we have to follow our instinct and experience more than the clothes care tag.

How can we take care of white clothes? Why do you think the white clothes as not as white as before?

G: 
If we use the typical dry cleaning process in white clothes, it usually end up a little darker, that’s why is better to wash it by hand if it is possible, depends on the fabric and the design of the garment. The fabrics today are not as before, their composition had changed.  To whiten something that is yellow you can apply lemon, chlorine (diluted) and it always helps to hang outside (the sun always help).  Deodorant spots are remove from white clothes the same way, although sometimes is complicated due to the fact that deodorant and sweat can burn the fabric and make a permanent stains.

How can we take care of the black in black clothes?

G: Originally fabrics are white and then they follow a dyeing process to get the color, so that’s why the black color will always go away losing their original tone. With the dry cleaning process, the black becomes dark gray; it always looses the original tone.  Sometimes is possible to recover the color with aniline but all depends on the fabric, it has to be cotton or a simple fabric to get dye, and if it is a mixture of fabrics it will be very difficult to dye it.

How can we clean the following stains?

Coffee – cold water and white soap.

Deodorant – on white clothes we already explained it. If it is a colored fabric it will very difficult because it leaves a white halo and generally it burns the color. Try to clean it with white soap and cold water.

Red wine – it is not removed with anything. Sometimes, depends on the fabric, white wine will help, but it will not clean it completely (and I thought it was the best!)

Balsamic vinegar – same as red wine, also Fernet and Coke leaves a stain.

Blood – cold water

Oil – grease – it is usually necessary to apply a solvent on the whole article to avoid spots. When you get the stain you can put salt on it but the best that you can do is not touch the spot. And specially, PLEASE do not touch the spot on ties it is PROHIBITED because you will damage it permanently (it will always look little white on the spot), take it directly to a dry cleaner that will know what to do.

Beet – normal washing.

Strawberry – sometimes with cold water, but sometimes need to be treated at the dry clean.

Always at home use white soap, soft detergent and cold water to take off any stain, the stain removers that you can buy at the supermarket are not usually effective. Delicates clothes can be also washed in your bath, but never use the washing machine to spin it.

What do you think about the quality of Argentinean fabrics?

G:  I think it is worst than before, the economy had affected the quality. But it is important to consider that not always expensive clothes mean high quality fabrics.  When you find small balls in your clothes, try to take them out with a used razor or small scissors; this small balls usually are more notorious after the dry cleaning process.

Ironing is always a problem, what can we do to avoid end up with burn or shine clothes?

G: You can use a protector for your iron, the famous humid rag that our grandmother used, or iron the clothes upside down. Obviously always take care of the temperature.

What can happen to our clothes if we ignore the tag of “Dry clean” and “we clean it at home”?

G: Depends on the fabric. If we are talking about men suits, or a coat, forget it! it has to be dry cleaning. But some clothes allow both processes so always read the care tag before doing anything.

And finally…

What are for you the attributes that define the beauty of a woman? And her style?

G: For me a woman has to be nice and modest, apart of having certain physical beauty of course, I like nice legs. The style for me is defined on the way they walk. My favorite style is contemporary.

Based on your experience, what advice can you give to us entrepreneurs?

G:  Before you start, make a deep analysis of the business that you want to do, analyze what do you need, talk to people who is already in your business and get trained if you need it. Sometimes things look easier than they really are. Before you invest do a deep research!

If you are interested in Tintoreria Rusell services (I strongly recommend them I am a client!) you can call them 4812-5583 (Recoleta) or 4825-8492 (Palermo).

I hope you find useful this information, if you like it please share it with your friends and … now there are no excuses to have clean clothes all the time!!

See you!

Fabiola Silva

No Comments | In: Uncategorized @en | tags: Drycleaner, fabrics, stains, Tintoreria Rusell. | #

Hoy es día de entrevista, varias personas me preguntaron sobre métodos de limpieza para la ropa, por lo que decidí entrevistar al dueño de una de las tintorerías más importantes aquí en Buenos Aires: Gabriel Rusell dueño de Tintorerías Rusell.  La primera tintorería surgió en 1964 cuando el papá de Gabriel inició el negocio en el barrio de Recoleta. Desde entonces han tenido un gran éxito por la calidad del servicio y el cuidado que ponen con cada prenda, por lo que en 1982 se abrió una segunda sucursal en Palermo. Actualmente tienen 19 empleados y una facturación anual de 700 mil pesos.

¿Cuál es la especialidad de tu tintorería?

G: Es trabajo artesanal, las tintorerías rápidas en 1 o 2 horas te limpian la ropa, acá nosotros dedicamos mucho tiempo a cada prenda. Se retiran los botones antes de lavar, se retocan dobladillos o forros si están sueltos, se limpia, se revisa a fondo si hay alguna mancha, planchamos la prenda y se cosen nuevamente los botones. Luego cada prenda se envuelve individualmente, por eso es artesanal y debido a ello hoy estamos dentro de las tintorerías más reconocidas de Buenos Aires.

Hablemos de telas, ¿como las dividirías? ¿qué cuidados se necesitan para cada una?
G: Lo podemos dividir en ropa de hombre y de mujer. Los trajes de hombre (casimir) siempre se limpian en seco y lo que más cuidado necesita son las corbatas porque es una seda muy delicada generalmente.
La ropa de mujer es mucho más compleja de limpiar por la gran variedad de tejidos y mezclas que tiene cada prenda. Por ejemplo: puede ser poliéster con elastáno o seda elastizada y todo eso complica la limpieza que puede ser dependiendo del caso, a mano, en seco o aplicando tratamientos específicos si es que hay alguna mancha. A veces nuestra experiencia se sobre pone a lo que dice la etiqueta ya que hay prendas que si se lavan se pueden destruir.

¿Cómo podemos cuidar de la ropa blanca, porque crees que ya la ropa no es tan blanca como antes?
G: La ropa blanca si se lava en seco se oscurece un poquito por eso es mejor lavarla a mano, aunque no siempre se puede, depende de la tela y el diseño de la prenda. Las telas de ahora no son iguales a las de antes, cambió la composición. Para blanquear algo que está amarillo se puede aplicar limón, lavandina diluida y colgar al sol, eso siempre ayuda. Las manchas de desodorante se quitan igual, aunque a veces son complicadas ya que generalmente el desodorante y la transpiración queman la tela.

¿Cómo podemos cuidad el negro de la ropa negra?
G: Partamos de la base de que la tela es blanca y se tiñe para dar color, por lo tanto el negro siempre va a perder su color original al lavarse, y si es en seco queda como “arratonado”, medio gris. A veces se puede recuperar el color con anilina pero depende de la tela, tiene que ser un algodón o tela sencilla si tiene mezcla es difícil teñirlo.

¿Cómo quitamos las siguientes manchas?

Café – jabón blanco y agua fría.

Desodorante – si es blanco como se explicó antes, si es de color es complicado ya que deja aureola blanca y generalmente quema el color, intentarlo con jabón blanco y lavarlo a mano con agua fría.

Vino tinto – no se quita con nada, a veces el vino blanco lo medio limpia depende de la tela y el color. (Y yo que pensaba eso era infalible! )
Vinagre balsámico (aceto) – igual que el vino tinto y también el Fernet y la Coca Cola manchan intensamente.
Sangre – con agua fría.
Grasa – Aceite – hay que aplicar un solvente en toda la prenda no solo en la mancha. Cuando te manchas puedes poner sal, pero lo mejor es no tocar la mancha. Y sobre todo …  por favor en corbatas NUNCA toquen la mancha PROHIBIDO porque raspan la tela y la decoloran, llévenla a una tintorería y que alguien que sepa la limpie.
Betabel (remolacha) – sale con el lavado normal.
Fresas (frutilla) – a veces con agua fría sino hay que aplicar un solvente en tintorería.

En casa siempre usen jabón blanco o detergente suave y agua fría para desmanchar, los quitamanchas del super no sirven de mucho. La ropa delicada la puedes lavar en la bañera y no hay que centrifugarla.

¿Cómo consideras la calidad de los tejidos de la ropa en Argentina?

G: Creo que ha bajado mucho la calidad por una cuestión de economía. Aunque ojo que no siempre lo caro (marcas fuertes) es sinónimo de calidad, a veces he recibido ropa europea que es muy mala y no aguanta bien el lavado. A veces a la ropa que no es de muy buena calidad, le salen bolitas y con la limpieza en seco se resaltan, eso se puede quitar con un rastrillo usado, con cinta scotch en la mano o con tijeritas finitas.

Planchar siempre es un problema, ¿que consejos nos das para no brillar o quemar la ropa?
G: Pueden usar unos protectores de teflón en la base de la plancha, el famoso trapo húmedo que usaban nuestras abuelas o planchar al revés la prenda, obviamente siempre cuidando la temperatura.

¿Que le puede pasar a mi ropa si dice “Lavado en seco” y la “lavo en casa”?
G: Depende del tipo de ropa, si es un traje de hombre o mujer, seguro se echa a perder, un tapado (abrigo) ni hablar!,  pero hay prendas que permiten los dos procesos, hay que siempre leer la etiqueta de cuidado de la prenda.

Y por último  …

¿Que es lo que define la belleza de una mujer para ti? ¿y su estilo?

G : Para mi una mujer debe ser simpática, agradable y sencilla además de tener cierta belleza física me gustan las buenas piernas. El estilo de una mujer se ve en su forma de caminar, para mi debe de ser  de estilo contemporáneo.

¿Qué consejo nos das a todos los emprendedores en base a tu experiencia como emprendedor?
G: Antes de arrancar hay que analizar bien el tipo de negocio que se quiere hacer, asesorarse con gente que ya lo está realizando y capacitarse. Muchas veces parecen las cosas más fácil de lo que realmente son, antes de invertir investiguen bien!

Si les interesa mandar la ropa a Tintorería Rusell (se los recomiendo muchísimo de verdad son muy cuidadosos, yo soy clienta!) pueden llamar a los teléfonos 4812-55 83 (sucursal Recoleta) o 4825-8492 (sucursal Palermo).

Espero hayan encontrado útiles estos consejos, si les gusto compartánlo con sus amigos y ahora … no tienen excusa para no tener una ropa muy limpia y muy bien cuidada!!!

¡Hasta la próxima!

Fabiola Silva

No Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: limpieza de ropa, manchas, telas., Tintorería Russell. | #

The objective of this blog is to help you to find YOUR personal style having fun in the process! I am going to help you to transform your image to what you really want, and for this you don’t have to loose 10 pounds, win the lottery or grow 5 centimeters … I am going to show you how to look good just the way you are right now!!! You are going to be able to find YOUR personal style, which will make you feel comfortable and happy in your own body.

I know … fashion blogs and sites trying to give fashion advice are plenty, but here I am not pretending to be a “fashion encyclopedia”, I am offering you a place to have an open dialog where together we will analyze your situation and achieve your objective.

I am going to take you step by step so you learn everything what you need to know about your body shape, your colors, and your style. I am going to teach you how to look the best way that you can, so you look gorgeous at any time!!!  All is about proportions, and sometimes with the help of some optical illusion tricks, effects can be created to help us to look thinner or to enlarge certain areas of our body, amazing no?

Since your image project your personality you should also analyze what do you want to project at work, what is your professional goal? The fact is that, cruel as it sounds, only our mum loves us as we look when we just wake up … looks matter and you have to take care of yours.

But don’t worry, that’s the reason of this blog, here I am planning to explain you in a simple language, with examples and fun stories, how to create your best look and how to optimize your wardrobe. You are going to stop suffering every morning wondering … what am I going to wear today? … knowing that your closet is packed!!!  Or … tell me that you don’t do that?

You are going to stop buying things that you only like at the store, and then you just put at the end of your closet and never wear it again.  I am going to show you how to improve your image using only what looks great on you.  And, it is not necessary  to accomplish this following fashion, as you can see, until now we haven’t talk about fashion.  Someone with a personal style is different from someone who is a fashion victim.

Fashion is a group of trends that in certain way amass the society, and you know what is the worst part? We not just look like everybody else; sometimes what is on “fashion” is not the best for us, and any way we wear it.

Style, on the other hand, defines your personality it reflects what you really are. You express your personality through your clothes and it doesn’t have to be always following fashion.

Are you confused? Don’t be, here I am to help you. Step by step I am going to teach you how to know your body characteristics, your face proportions and the colors that suits you the best, so at the end you are just going to look and feel great all the time!

So, welcome to this open dialog and I hope you find useful the information that I am going to share with you.

I you want to receive all the latest news, subscribe to the newsletter at the top of the page, doing that, you will also receive automatically a little welcome gift that will help you to know the different styles that exists.

See you soon!!!

Fabiola Silva

Comments Off on Why you should read Manequi … | In: Uncategorized @en | tags: beauty, fashion, Image consultant, women. | #

I hope your weekend was as good as mine, I had a little of everything, family, friends but the best is that on Sunday I closed the weekend in the theatre. I went to see the play “Avenue Q” and I strongly recommend it, you just can’t miss it!  It is a play, as they might say here in Argentina “zarpada” which means, over the edge, because they talk about what is your goal in life, analyzing every aspect of it, with no sensor at all … but always in a very funny way!!! You just can’t stop laughing!!

When I went out of the theatre, I started to think about how important is to have a goal in your life and make it happen.  I know, this is something that everybody had been telling you since you finished high school, but as it might happen to you, just didn’t do it!  In my case, I have been quite a mess, because I had goals but usually they were short or medium term and when I accomplished them it was always the question … now what?

Thank God,  life had been nice with me and I was able to decide, what was the next thing to everytime having a lot of good experiences, but no long term goal. It was until a while ago, that I really stop and think about my future, so I made a plan (finally!) and I wrote my one year plan and then my 10 year plan, a plan about my own life.

Yes, I know … until now all this sounds like the typical speech that every single teacher had been told you since you were about to enter college, but let me tell you, it is true, either you set a goal or life will be more difficult for you. I see life like being in a rowboat on the sea, where you have two choices, either you just lay back and wait where the tide takes you, or you take the oars underneath the seats and start to row toward the direction that you want to go.  What have you done until now?  What do you preffer? Did you decided or did you let the life to decide for you?

All this is relevant because when we talk about your personal image, we talk about what do YOU want to do with your life, about what is that you want to project and how do you want to look.  Your personal image is the reflection of your personality, is what you want people to see when they look at you,  it talks about you, specially at the work environment.  The internal personality is very important, but how are you going to let people see who you really are if they got distracted with an incorrect image?

I invite you to make a balance of your life and see how many goals have you accomplished until now. Did you arrive to where you want to be? Are you on the way?

If for some reason you just don’t know what to do, don’t leave it! Act now! Write your goals, it doesn’t matter your age or the stage of your life, if you don’t like what you have is on your hands to change it.  Listen to your heart and don’t waste more time not doing what you really want to do.   Remember we just have one life, and we have make the best of it!

Today I was philosophical .. I guess it’s the spring …  🙂

¡Until next time!

Fabiola Silva

No Comments | In: Uncategorized @en | tags: goals, life, Personal Image. | #

Espero que tu fin de semana haya sido tan bueno como el mío, tuve un poco de todo, familia, amigos pero lo mejor es que terminé con domingo de teatro … fuí a ver el musical que se llama “Avenida Q”, se las recomiendo muchísimo, ¡¡¡no se la pierdan!!! Es una obra, como dirían aquí en Argentina, “medio zarpada” ya que hablan de que hacer con tu vida pero todo de una forma muy,  muy divertida!!! ¡no paras de reír!.

Al terminar la obra, me quedé pensando en lo importante que es el tener una meta en la vida y cumplirla. Obviamente, esto es algo que deberíamos de decidir desde el momento que eliges que estudiar … pero como seguramente te pasó … ¡no lo hiciste! En mi caso yo he tenido a lo largo de mi vida metas muy específicas y medio a corto plazo que me han traído como resultado el haberlas cumplido y luego quedarme en el vacío … sentada con mi vida como una hoja en blanco y preguntándome … ¿y ahora qué?

Afortunadamente, la vida me ha ayudado a decidir, algunas veces más pronto que otras, pero al final he terminado haciendo cosas que me han llenado de muchas experiencias y alegrías pero hasta hace poco siempre seguía sin un plan a largo plazo. Fue hasta que me senté un día e hice para mi misma, lo que había hecho miles de veces en el trabajo, y más siendo de marketing … Me hice un plan anual y luego un plan a 10 años de mi propia vida.

Si ya sé … seguro esto te está sonando al típico rollo que te han dado desde que ibas a entrar a la universidad, pero la dura realidad es que es verdad. Para mi la vida es como estar en el mar, subida en una bote en donde te quedan dos opciones, sentarte cómodamente a esperar a ver hacia donde te lleva la marea, o sacar los remos de debajo de los asientos, y empezar a remar hacia donde tú decidas. ¿tú qué has hecho? ¿ qué prefieres? ¿decidiste tú o dejaste que la vida te llevará?

Y todo esto viene al caso porque al hablar de tu imagen personal,  hablamos de  lo que TU quieres hacer de tu vida, de qué es lo que quieres proyectar y como te quieres ver.
Como te dije al principio de este blog, tú proyectas lo que eres. Tu imagen personal es el reflejo de tu personalidad, y es lo que quieres que la gente vea cuando te apareces en algún lugar, es tu carta de presentación, sobre todo en el ámbito laboral.
Si bien el yo interno es muy importante … ¿cómo vas a dejar que la gente pueda ver que hay adentro de tí si se distrajo con una imagen incorrecta?

Por eso, te invito a que hagas un balance de tu vida y veas que tal has cumplido con tus metas hasta ahora. ¿Llegaste a donde querías? ¿Estás en camino?

Si por alguna razón te pasa que no sabes que hacer, ¡no lo dejes!  escribe tus metas, no importa la edad ni la etapa de tu vida en la que estés, si no estás conforme, está en tus manos cambiarlo. Escucha a tu corazón y no pierdas un minuto más sin realizar lo que realmente quieres. Recuerda la vida es una y hay que vivirla.

Hoy estuve filosófica … supongo que es la primavera … 🙂

¡Hasta la próxima!

Fabiola Silva

2 Comments | In: Uncategorized | tags: Imagen personal, metas, vida.. | #