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Hardware anyone? (Buttons, rivets, and zippers oh my.)


rnrswitch

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I'm really peeved with a certain dry cleaner at the moment. Just got back two western snap shirts, and the pearloid snap inserts on both of them are marred. On the flannel shirt, the weave of the dry cleaners' cover cloth has been nicely pressed into each and every plastic snap button. On the other one (cotton/linen blend), the buttons are dulled down, though not actually "melted" with the cover cloth pattern. This is on top of the fact that their pressing job left tons of wrinkles on the placket and pockets, and they didn't get the stains out of either shirt. I took them to the cleaners because 1) I didn't want any shrinkage whatsoever, especially on the flannel, and 2) The cotton/linen shirt has a stain that I thought they'd easily be able to handle.

So, they have the shirts back now, and they are "going to call me." I know they are gonna shirk responsibility and give me the runaround. I am wondering if you all can help me with two things: 1) a recommendation for a truly excellent dry cleaner in the northeast L.A. or west S.G.V. area, and 2) a recommendation for truly high quality replacement snaps. All I can seem to find out there looks like cheap garbage to me; it's hard to tell what is quality and what is not, online.

Thank you.

Edited by 428CJ
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4 minutes ago, cheapmuthafukr said:

Why would you dry clean a western shirt? Lol...

I mean, I see what you said, but seriously,  it's a western shirt. It's workwear.

There is much to say in order to completely demolish this post...but bottom line: 1) Your statements and implications are all blatantly wrong. Western shirts OBVIOUSLY aren't all workwear by definition, and even if they were, there is NOTHING whatsoever odd about dry cleaning workwear.  2) Your post is irrelevant. 3) Your post seems to be one of attempted criticism and/or insult only.

So, either direct me to some quality snaps, please, or flake the hell off. Preaching false blue collar aesthetic to someone your senior who has blue collared most of the members of this forum under the table isn't gonna fly.

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1 hour ago, 428CJ said:

...there is NOTHING whatsoever odd about dry cleaning workwear ...

Um... yeah... it's absurd, actually.

I'm not trying to start anything with you, but take a moment and think about it... hey, to each their own, they're your clothes, do with them as you please. i.e. I iron my jeans after the first wash or two to get some of the stiffness out and they drape much better, but that's pretty much fallen on deaf ears around here. 

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36 minutes ago, Broark said:

I wouldn't take his post so seriously...just my two cents.
That being said I probably wouldn't dry clean a western shirt myself either. But that's just me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It definitely isn't serious. It's garbage that needed to be taken out.

When you say you wouldn't dry clean a western shirt, you obviously don't see how little sense that statement makes.  That's stating that you decide whether to dry clean or not based on the general style of the garment. It means that you wouldn't dry clean a western shirt based on its level of formality (Western shirts encompass the entire range of formality), on the materials out of which is made (again, this runs the spectrum), on whether you wanted to minimize shrinkage, on whether there was a grease stain, or on the complexity of the ironing involved (do I really want to spend the time to do this at home?). Instead, you'd dry clean it or not pretty much based on whether or not the yoke and cuffs look "western." Not a good sole determining factor as to whether you want to dry clean or not.

And again, dry cleaning or not is irrelevant. I'm looking for hardware recommendations in the hardware thread.

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I've asked this in the belt thread, but got no response, so I'll ask again here: are there any good sources for quality belt buckles? I'm looking for a replacement buckle for an 1 3/4" belt, solid metal (brass, etc), heel bar, single prong, rectangular. I'd love to know where IH gets their garrison buckle on some of their new belt offerings. 

I'm surprised it's been this difficult to find a quality buckle. So far the best I've come up with is buckleguy.com. I've ordered a natural brass and matte nickel to see what they're like. 

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27 minutes ago, mpukas said:

Um... yeah... it's absurd, actually.

I'm not trying to start anything with you, but take a moment and think about it... hey, to each their own, they're your clothes, do with them as you please. i.e. I iron my jeans after the first wash or two to get some of the stiffness out and they drape much better, but that's pretty much fallen on deaf ears around here. 

It is not absurd. Half the clothes on the racks at many dry cleaners are blue collar uniforms. Some dry cleaners are only in business where they are because of all the commercial clientele and blue collar uniforms that need to be serviced (e.g. around military bases). Do you think cops and firefighters wash and iron their own clothes all the time? Not a chance. Military (as I was for most of my youth)? Postmen? Electrical workers? Dry cleaning is not ubiquitous, and I do not claim that it is, but it certainly is not uncommon among the blue-collar work force. Anyone who thinks that every blue collar worker in the world has the time or energy to properly maintain his/her own uniforms  has obviously never lived a real blue-collar life. 

And FWIW, The two shirts in question are semi-formal western shirts that are white, which I don't want to shrink at all, and which had oil stains. There's nothing wrong with dry cleaning them; there is something wrong with the quality of work performed by the dry cleaner. But again, beside the point. This is the hardware thread. I am looking for hardware recommendations.

Edited by 428CJ
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@mpukas Try Smoky Sumi (aka Kaijin X):

http://smoky-sumis-store.biz/mens-accessories-3.html

@428CJ Your case is difficult; I know how hard it can be to source pearl snaps.Try Etsy for starters:

https://www.etsy.com/market/pearl_snap_buttons

You could also thrift a cheap western shirt and cannibalize it for the buttons.

Edited by Iron Horse
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42 minutes ago, Iron Horse said:

@mpukas Try Smoky Sumi (aka Kaijin X):

http://smoky-sumis-store.biz/mens-accessories-3.html

@428CJ Your case is difficult; I know how hard it can be to source pearl snaps.Try Etsy for starters:

https://www.etsy.com/market/pearl_snap_buttons

You could also thrift a cheap western shirt and cannibalize it for the buttons.

Thank you for the recommendation.

I have seen all sorts of pearloid snaps out there, but it's very hard, usually impossible, to determine whether they are just the usual crap, or something well made. Any experience with good and bad western pearloid snaps from certain sources?

Thank you.

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26 minutes ago, 428CJ said:

Thank you for the recommendation.

I have seen all sorts of pearloid snaps out there, but it's very hard, usually impossible, to determine whether they are just the usual crap, or something well made. Any experience with good and bad western pearloid snaps from certain sources?

Thank you.

The only way to get quality ones it seems is to put in a wholesale order, such as with YKK, or to yank the buttons off an old shirt or find some spare ones on eBay or Etsy. 

The only other options are wholesale orders off Alibaba or Indiamart, neither of which are of interest. 

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