Since 2005, New York-based operator SlateNYC has provided New York residence and businesses the most convenient pick-up dry cleaning service in the world.  With their alliance with FedEx, SlateNYC provides laundry and dry cleaning services to the residents of the city’s five boroughs, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

Under the arrangement, customers can have their clothing picked up and delivered by FedEx, or can pick up and drop off their orders at any of the more than 500 FedEx/Kinko’s and FedEx shipping centers in the area.

Users of the FedEx service schedule recurring pickups at Slate NYC’s website, slatenyc.com, and pay flat monthly fees. The orders are then transported to Slate’s 4,000-square-foot Manhattan facility for what the company calls “eco-luxury” processing.  In the summer of 2010 Slate NYC opened their second dry-cleaners in Chelsea.

Cleaned clothes are delivered in custom-designed, recyclable corrugated boxes instead of poly bags, the company adds, and FedEx’ fleet of hybrid delivery vehicles further decreases the service’s environmental footprint.  Their basic laundry service starts at $40 per hamper which can fit about 8-12 pounds of clothes, which would normally represent 2 – 3 wash loads of laundry.  The average household in New York City will spend about $12.00 to $16.00 to do each load of laundry after all expenses for heat, gas, electricity, and detergents.  Add in the time at say $6.00 for the ½ hour to fold the laundry and you’re looking at $32.00 per load.

SlateNYC uses specially designed chemicals and eco-friendly equipment designed for dry-cleaners that are serious about preserving the environment.

They also offer a flat rate apartment and condo cleaning service with plans starting at $69 and a widely publicized wedding dress cleaning and preservation service starting at $349.

The Only Dry Cleaners that covers all of New York

SlateNYC has customers in all the neighborhoods in Manhattan, including, Chelsea, Times Square, the Financial District, Chinatown, Tribeca, Soho, Little Italy, the Lower East Side, East Village, Greenwich Village, Stuyvesant Town, Gramercy, the Garment District, Murray Hill, Midtown West, Midtown East, Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, Central Park, East Harlem, Morningside Heights, Harlem, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Long Island.

FedEx your clothes and travel lighter and faster

SlateNYC also has an offering where customers can send their clothes at no cost to Slate.  SlateNYC will dry clean and launder the clothes from anywhere in the world and bring them to the hotel or address where clients are staying during their stay to New York City.  Travelers who use this service avoid having to check their bags and can travel faster through airport security.

So you’re the type that stays connected to your passions with a smartphone, always ready to leap tall buildings at a moment’s notice.  And tomorrow morning, the last thing you want to do is stop by the dry-cleaners before dashing off to save the world.

As you can imagine, when people find out I run an internet based dry cleaners, the first question they ask is, do you pick up and deliver dry cleaning in my area?

It’s such an easy answer.  Because we use fedex for our pick up and delivery service provider, the answer is “yes”.  And it’s even easier than using fedex, because you don’t have to deal with them, just login to slatenyc.com and schedule your pickup and pay for your dry-cleaning in one monthly payment, no catches, no evil strings attached.

The typical dry-cleaning pick up and delivery service is usually localized by where people live or sometimes, we see that folks prefer to use a dry-cleaners that’s on their path to work.  So this meant that each of the New York City boroughs, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island as well as the surrounding commuter towns such as Scarsdale, NY, New Canaan, CT, or even Colts Neck, NJ needed to have dry-cleaners at the local strip mall.  If dry-cleaners in the ‘burbs get into the pick-up and delivery business, they are usually offering limited coverage to their immediate surroundings. Slate however broke the mold by using FedEx instead of a private pickup service.

By leveraging the speed, dependability, and most importantly the unlimited range of FedEx; Slate NYC has been able to provide convenient dry-cleaning for superheros who live beyond our dry-cleaners in the 10011 and 10014 areas of New York City.  For those who prefer to walk in, we have our dry-cleaning plant at 96 Morton Street, 10011 and another store at 474  6th Avenue, 10014.

Distance no longer matters with Slate.  Whether you’re in Connecticut’s 06381 or in Scarsdale’s 10583 or plain old Manhattan’s 10017 – you’re always the same distance from Slate.  For good measure, we’ve included a list of zip codes where we have existing clients and we hope to add you if you’re not listed.  There’s no additional cost for us to do your dry-cleaning if you’re in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, or Pennsylvania.  You can rely on our quick and easy website to track shipments and even to track where your clothes are in our process.  So for those of you used to making the impossible happen, we hope that you include SlateNYC in your kitbag of superpowers in your quest to {save the world}.  Even super-hero’s need their capes ready for the annual “Legion of Justice” gala.

Just some of the other zipcodes we service:

New York: 10013, 10012, 10003, 10001, 10004, 10009, 10002, 10007, 10038, 10001, 10018, 10036, 10019, 10023, 10024, 10025, 10026, 10035, 10039, 10128, 10028, 10075, 10021, 10022, 10017, 10065, 10016, 10010, 10029, 10035, 10037, 10030, 10031, 10039, 10032, 10453, 10033, 10040, 10034, 10463, 10470, 10471

Scarsdale: 10583, 10605, 10528, 10543, 10538, 10801, 10805, 10804 10710, 10708, 10530, 10533, 10607, 10603, 10522, 10502, 10706, 10710, 10606, 10595, 10603, 10604

Connecticut: 06831, 06830, 06878, 06870, 06902, 06901, 06906, 06905, 06820, 06854, 06880, 06824, 06825, 06420, 06424, 06606

This Sunday marked the end of the first month of the new Slate NYC drop store; the only sensible place for anyone in the 6th Avenue/12th Street vicinity to get eco-affordable laundry, dry cleaning, tailoring and home cleaning services.

May 2010 Stats:

• Added 2 employees to our payroll (Fabiola and Edgar- two fantastic people with an extraordinary obsession with delivering a top-notch customer experience)
• Sales of $4,657 (net of promotions)
• 50 new customers
• Over 20% repeat purchasers
• 10 days from getting keys to first sale (watch the video of the store here)
• Provided seating in our outdoor bench to many of the neighborhood’s elderly and attendants at the next door nail saloon.
• 3 new friends for Gillie (meet them here)
• Two tweets from people walking by:

In other words, we built the best-designed dry clean drop store ever anywhere in less than 10 days, added two jobs to the Department of Labor’s payroll employment report for QII 2010, managed to get 50 previous strangers to trust us with their clothes and more than 10 to keep using us regularly already, revitalized a storefront that had been empty for over 9 months, and generated work for services from designers, printers, lawyers, and IT people.  High-five for entrepreneurship!
PS: May also happens to be the birth month of Slate NYC.  5 years ago on May 15 I incorporated the company and sold my first car to finance the purchase of our first delivery van (used, with 250,000 miles, on eBay) and build our website and scheduling system.  Feliz cumpleanos to us!

Gillie meeting the neighbors at the new Slate NYC drop store in Greenwich Village (474 6th Avenue 10011).

We just finished cleaning Alexis’s stunning Carlos Miele dress.  She came back from a trip to Vegas where she obviously had way too much fun.  Her dress was completely covered in a combination of alcohol and mixing juices.  To make matters worse, there was a stain that had caused discoloration because of the efforts to remove it.

Our expert spotters worked their magic and now Alexis has permission to get dirty.  If you too have the habit of having way too much fun and want to get permission to get dirty you can get it at slatenyc.com

Yesterday’s high came within a degree of setting a new record in Central Park. That was topped this afternoon when the mercury blasted up to 91 degrees, breaking the 1991 record of 89! The hot, dry weather combined with a breezy afternoon have led the Weather Service to issue a red flag warning for the area. Temperatures will remain in the 70s along south facing shores thanks to a sea breeze, demonstrating why Coney Island was hugely popular before air conditioning was invented. Shifting winds and late afternoon clouds will hold tomorrow’s high to the lower 80s.

A day like this and I almost called in sick to work to run away to long beach.  But the responsible one in my head made me go into work and sadly stare out the window daydreaming of the day I could have had.  Oh the sorrows of being an adult.

Also, if you happen to bump into Francis Ford Coppola or Jackie Chan today, please wish them a very happy birthday for me.

Ladies:

1. Basic White Tank top

$45 @ www.clubmonaco.com

2. Asymetric Leather and Cotton Skirt

$595 @ www.net-a-porter.com

3. Balenciaga Womens Handbag

$970 @ www.yoox.com

Guys:

1. Rakun Check Shirt

$61.20 @ www.yesstyle.com

2. Men’s 3 eye shoe by band of outsiders

$199 @ www.sperrytopsider.com

3. Silver Movember Cuff-link

$65 @ www.arbitrage.com

4. Frogskins Collectors Editions

$120 @ www.oakley.com

5. Gradient Hat By Robert Geller

$265 @ www.blackbird.com

6. Obey Poor Boy Khakis

$92 @ www.blackbird.com

A European Approach to Personalizing Your Bicycle

Springtime is upon us. Freed from winter clothes, accessories get to shine. Here in NYC, our bicycles are just tools that we use to get around. We don’t give them names or fetishize about them, we just use them. However, if you’re going to spend half your life on your bicycle, you may as well personalize it a bit. We need to be a bit more like Copenhagen or Amsterdam, you see the bicycle, above, quite often around European cities and it is the ultimate personalized example. Simply gorgeous.

I suppose this isn’t really a How To Guide but more of a source of inspiration from the cyclists of Copenhagen and Amsterdam to you. With love.

There are different reasons to personalize your bike. To make it look a bit nicer, to make it match your personal style, to hide the rust, to make it less attractive to thieves. Whatever the case, the sky is the limit and only you can make it your own.

Off we go then. We’ll start with a timeless classic:

Flowers on Baskets and Other Bits of Bicycle

Flowers on baskets are almost as old as the bicycle. After the invention around the 1880′s of the Safety Bicycle – the design we know today that liberated women and the working classes and provided homo sapiens with the fastest and most effective urban mobility boom in history – baskets were among the first bicycle accessories to appear. Women carried baskets already and it wasn’t a quantum leap to start putting them onto the handlebars. Later came back racks and pannier bags but baskets were first.

It’s difficult to pin down when women started decorating their baskets with flowers but by all accounts we’re still in the late 1800′s. I adore the fact that this most simple and elegant personalizing detail lives on even today. Many flowers are plastic but here in the spring I’ve seen several examples of real flowers or pussy willows branches adorning baskets.

You’re not restricted to the baskets, of course. The back rack is just as suitable, as well as the steering rod and the rest of the bike. And flora on baskets is not a seasonal issue. In the autumn, why not decorate the basket with leaves like my friend, Clara, with her lovely pink bicycle?

Painting The Frame or Stickering It

The whole damn bicycle is personalizable. Is that a word? Who cares.  Armed with stickers, paint or even tinsel, you can go crazy.

A classic Christiania bike stickered ad, and a hand-painted bicycle belonging to a girl named Susanne, apparently.

Paint zebra stripes on your fenders, let the world know that it’s your bicycle or get creative with stickers.

Bicycle Bells and Horns

Bells are another way to leave your mark on your bicycle. Bells are required by law in Denmark, so you have every reason to get one. Like this teapot bike bell, above.

Coffee, tea or me, baby?

There are loads of bells out there but there are also squeaky toys and horns. These are all adult bicycles, by the way. You can also go old school with a vintage bell like the old Husqvarna one at bottom left or the lovely, rusty one on the bottom right.

Decorating Your Skirtguard

Decorating your skirtguard is an obvious choice. It’s like a canvas waiting for an artist. Here are a couple of amusing examples from the streets of Copenhagen. On the skirtguard to the left the owner has highlighted the hi-tech features on the bicycle; Fingerprint reader, Theftproof, GPS Monitoring, Neighbourhood Watch.
On the bicycle to the right it reads, “Next time, don’t touch my bike. If you do, do it nicely. Thank you.”

Decorating Your Chain-guard

Chain-guard decoration is one area of bicycle personalization that it often overlooked. Putting funky fabric on is one way to do it, but you could also paint it wild. Chain-guards used to be gorgeous back in the day, like the vintage Hermes bicycle and brand chain-guard to the right. Sweet.

Baskets for Animal Transport

You need a basket for your dog. Nick a shopping basket from a supermarket or dig up a cool, old wooden crate.

Trashing Your Bicycle – Quite Literally

Of course, if you don’t personalize your bicycle, and leave it too long without using it, your fellow citizens will personalize it for you. At no extra cost. Rolling bicycles gather no trash, as the old saying goes.

Here’s a unique way to personalize your bike for a practical purpose. This bike basket is covered with plastic-covered sheets advertising various pieces of furniture for sale.

Go Hard or Go Home

We started this post with a timeless elegant classic and we’ll wrap up with a funkalicious example of personalizing your bicycle. Plastic grass beneath your ass, funky painted bell, colorful tape on the handlebars, you name it. Go hard or go home.

One thing I love about NYC is all the sample sales that go on at the start of every season.  The only down side is dealing with all the push and shove.  Not to mention you have to be unemployed or not do anything midday during the week to be able to get the cream of the crop. But thanks to the internet thousands of websites have sprung up that now offer that same sample sale feel but from the comforts of your 6×6 cubicle.  I’ve always been a hardcore Ebay user, and now it’s gotten even better than before.  Ebay Has endured a long awaited facelift and joined the fashion ecommerce band wagon.  You can now buy cheap designer goods through their new site Fashion Vault, and they’re all real, bona fide products (eBay has been notoriously known in the past as an outlet for fakes). It works similarly to a sample sale in that a different designer is featured at once, and for a limited amount of time – 48 to 72 hours. And guess what… free shipping! You can sign up for e-mail alerts about which designers will be featured and when. The one catch: you have to be an eBay member.

Their first sale, going on now, is of Romeo & Juliet Couture, and everything is 60% off. So go, explore, then report back here and share your comments on the new system.

I can never stick to one website however when I’m shopping.  I must have at least 3 windows opoen to compare and contrast all my style picks.  My top picks for these type of “sample sale” websites are: www.ideeli.com, www.ruelala.com, and www.guiltgroupe.com.  There’s also a HUGE sale (70% off spring styles yeay!) going on at www.shopbop.com which I’ve included in today’s pick for outfits. So sit back, grab your mouse and double click!

Ladies:

1. Romeo and Juliet Boyfriend Jacket

$59.20 @ fashionvault.ebay.com

2. Grey leather Deux Lux Bag

$59 @ www.guiltfuse.com

3. Yellow Strapless French Connection Dress

$74 @ www.ideeli.com

4. Emerald Ring Set by Made Her Think

$50 @ www.giltgroupe.com

5. Emerald Necklace by Made Her Think

$125 @ www.giltgroupe.com

6. Emerald Bracelet by Made Her Think

$125 @ www.giltgroupe.com

Guys:

1. Black straight Antic Denim

$59 @ www.ruelala.com

2. Ralph Lauren Purple Label Light Cashmere Sweater

$268 @ www.guiltmen.com

3. Costume National Suede Dessert Boot

$248 @ www.guiltmen.com

4. De Longi Espresso Cappuccino Maker

$75 @ www.ruelala.com

I’m absolutely in love with the weather right now.  NYC spring is the best time to be here, especially after the winter we had. Everyone that lives here feels like a whole new person.  That being said I couldn’t help but use that to do a little window shopping.  I created my two outfits today based on picking my personal favorite of the big trends this season.

Also, if you’re anything at all like me.  You’re probably miserable to be back at work after a long weekend.  Thanks to my aimless internet  skills I came across this amazing mindless activity to enjoy at your desk.  Check out: http://balldroppings.com/js/

Ladies:

1. Striped Baggy Sweatshirt

$120 @ www.idontlikemondays.us

2. Multistitch Mac Coat

$160 @ www.topshop.com

3. Pyramid stud ring

$165 @ www.net-a-porter.com

4. Stone denim

$165 @ www.madewell.com

Guys:

1. Plaid Linen Tie

$75 @ www.openingceremony.us

2. Mayfield Derive Chambry Shirt Theory

$225 @ www.bloomingdales.com

3. Tailor Cody Pants Theory

$195 @ www.bloomingdales.com