Soapie’s Cleaners & Tailoring

Soapies was my savior. I brought in a bridesmaid dress that needed to be altered in under two weeks for a June wedding and the tailoring staff at Soapies were exceptional. I purchased my dress from a big box bridal chain and attempted to have my alterations done in-​house, but they needed more than two weeks to complete the work. I didn’t have that kind of time leaving me to find a local tailor at short notice. Thankfully Yun, at Soapies, was able to help me out.
My satin dress, prior to alterations, was designed to show off an hour glass figure. In fact, this feature was the main reason I choose this dress. Upon receiving the dress, it was perfectly snug at the bust, but was woefully inadequate around the waistline. It needed to be taken in at least an inch and a half. Yun was able to make this happen and successfully turned an unfettered dress into a custom fit hybrid mermaid/​fit and flare. She also tailored the hem at the base of the dress so that it would barely skim the floor. The best part was receiving the dress in under a week and a half; leaving days left to spare prior to the wedding! I was so pleased with the turnout! The alterations were costly but for the quality of work they put in, it was worth the money.

Went here to get a bridesmaids dress hemmed. The wedding was on a Saturday, I took the dress in on a Monday and got it back that Wednesday. Perfect timing! I was very satisfied with the work that was done and will definitely be back to get some other items hemmed!

I have giant kung fu man shoulders, so I have to buy all my jackets large enough to fit them. The downside is that they fit up but not down, and the waist looks weird.
Took a cute one to Soapies for alteration. They pinned me up fast, had it done in a week for $ 80, texted me when it was finished and it looked great. And everyone was super friendly and nice, too. I don’t know about you, but I like a friendly tailor.
I’ll be coming back for sure.

First experience here has completely sold us on Soapie’s. Husband needed a few garments dry cleaned and was working on a strict timeframe. Michael was incredibly helpful & delivered beyond expectation. The level of service we received our first time there is that you’d only hope to earn after being a loyal customer at an establishment after years & years of coming. So thrilled to have found a local reliable cleaner.

Soapies was recommended to me by a staff member at Vogue. I brought in fabric to have pillow covers made. Yun, the proprietor, was extremely helpful and knowledgable, quoted a reasonable price and a quick turn around time. When I picked the covers up, I learned that Yun had purchased additional matching fabric to ensure that the pillows had the proper backing. Not only were the pillows beautifully sewn but I was not charged for the additional fabric nor for her time spent in making the purchase. The service I received was exceptional in every way.

Soapies is the dry cleaner and full service launderer that makes you feel like a part of the family. Incredibly friendly, always open with a smile, quick and personal service, and excellent quality. Yun and Michael are wonderful. Love Soapies and cannot recommend more highly.

I’ve had good experiences at Soapie’s so far, mostly dry cleaning suits and other professional items. They’re not the cheapest in town, but it’s worth it to know that my clothes will be well cared for. Turn around was pretty quick, even without paying for rush service.
FYI — You get a discount (15 percent, I think?) if you pre-​pay!

This place is THE WORST. SERIOUSLY, DO NOT GO HERE.
First off I know how to sew… sometimes, if I’m feeling lazy or I am short on time, I will have a clears or alteration place do a hem or fix a zipper… so I know from expirence, a zipper costs $ 2.50 cents from a craft store, like Vogue or Joanne Fabircs, and takes about 15 minutes to put in. Overall, no one should to charge more than $ 15 to put in a new zipper on a simple dress… maybe $ 25 if it’s difficult material.
So imagine my surprise, when I bring in a $ 20 cotton dress and they would like to charge me $ 35 to put a new zipper in… and what’s worse, the guy running the counter (I presume the owner,) then tries to convince me that installing a zipper is very difficult, hence the price… like he literally tried to con me!
So I called him on on it, and told him, again calmly, «look, I know how to sew, I can do this myself, but I’m short on time and this week so I thought I would see if you could do this… but I know that this shouldn’t cost more than $ 15 to do.»
His response was to yell at me, «YEAH WELL I CAN’T HELP YOU, PLEASE GET OUT OF MY STORE!»
If you need a great place to get alterations, that isn’t trying to schist you, I recommend A-​1 in Evanston, but do not support a businesslike this one that treats people like crap.

I’ve been a big fan of Soapie’s in the past; the garments I’ve had dry cleaned have always come back nicely pressed and clean, and there tailoring is quite good. However, since they changed locations, there prices have gone up significantly, both for tailoring and for dry cleaning. They’ve always been pricey, but I recently took a pair of jeans in that I needed taken in a pinch in the waist, and they quoted me $ 35! I took the jeans down the street to Quality Alterations and they did a great job for literally ½ the price.

I have been going to Soapie’s ever since they opened in Evanston — they are WONDERFUL! All of my items are cleaned beautifully and pressed to perfection. I own two dogs that shed and Soapie’s staff always find every last hair on my clothes! That alone amazes me!
While most of my items are for dry cleaning, I have had items tailored and repaired as well. They do such a fine job that I cannot even find where the repair was made.
Their quality of service is exceptional and the staff are always friendly and beyond accommodating. Their location is great too — right along Chicago Avenue. Easy in and out!
I don’t write reviews often, but I had to share this gem with all the Unilocalers out there! Soapie’s is the best!

Great tailoring-​never experienced an issue-​and worth the extra money. Haven’t done dry cleaning there is some time as green cleaners in Wilmette are less expensive. Some of the counter staff are consistently very rude. Alterations, with a side of sass does not work for me, so I’ll be looking elsewhere for the fall alterations.

I’ve been using Soapie’s for years for both tailoring and dry cleaning and have only had fantastic experiences. I have had them do fairly elaborate alterations on expensive dresses, and while their tailoring is on the pricier side, I’ve gotten my money’s worth every time. Every garment I’ve ever had them dry clean has come back pristine, even when they have told me that they didn’t think a stain would come out because of how deeply saturated it was. They have also been very helpful with advice on fabric care and have also diligently pre-​cautioned about cleaning very delicate fabrics. I recently referred a friend to them to clean her wedding dress, and she was thrilled with the results. I’ve been totally satisfied with their work and will continue to use them and to recommend them!

We tried this place because the location was convenient. They did a great job cleaning our clothes, but failed at keeping track of all of the clothing. We realized about 5 expensive shirts were missing and called them to look into the situation. The attitude we got from them was belittling and demeaning. They asked if we really knew what our shirts looked like and questioned our memory of what was dropped off instead of looking into the situation, denied having them and didn’t admit they could me misplaced. Two weeks later they called us telling us they had our shirts. We were highly disappointed with how they handled this situation and are taking our business somewhere else.

After a wonderful wedding on the beach, my wedding dress was black on the bottom and sandy everywhere. It, along with its veil, was paraded around a resort for hours, got wet in the ocean, the lace was brown and to top it off, it was folded into a suitcase. Needless to say, it was not in the shape I bought it in. I called 4 different places in Chicago, who i won’t call out, and every place wanted 400 dollars and stated it would take at least 2 months to clean. Which, for most people would be fine, if you don’t have an after party to wear it to a month later.
I called soapies and they quoted me 200 dollars with a wait time of two weeks! They told me up front that they would not be able to remove all of the stains but they would try. I also had them clean my husband’s suit as well. The only thing they were not able to clean was the handmade veil, but they did press it for me at no extra cost. I received a call and a text two weeks later and went to pick up the clothes. OMG. They managed to get 99 percent off the stains out. The only part that was even SLIGHTLY discolored was the lace in the back on the bottom of the dress, something people would never see, unless they knew where to look. Soapies delivered on everything I asked them for, were upfront and honest with me and I was treated with the utmost respect. Thank you guys! I’ll most definitely be back.

They did rewash my coat, getting the dye stains out. The process did leave distressing and holes in the sleeve near the logo.
They did show me the damage to the coat before I left this time. They had also said they called the company and the warranty repairs would take 8 weeks.
While I do appreciate that they made this effort, that’s me without my coat for this winter. It is also information I already knew as I had told them during my first trip that I work for the company.
I still feel it’s very dishonest to return a customer’s item damaged in some way, charge them and not mention it to them. My boyfriend was very upset by this but unfortunately Soapie’s had closed by the time he had seen it.
There has been better customer service but it shouldn’t only come after an incident such as this.

Worst. Cleaners. Ever.
They ruined our expensive Belgian linen curtains — put huge tears in them and didn’t even bother to tell us what they had done to them after charging us $ 80. Needless to say, I was horrified when we put them back up. These curtains were several years old, but they had never been cleaned and they were given to Soapies in perfect condition. They claimed it was distress from sunshine — but the curtains are behind a UV filtering shade and always have been.
Then they claimed that they have a policy that excludes older linen curtains from damage. If we had known that, we would never have given them the curtains to begin with. We didn’t know because it was never stated to us and does not appear on their website. In other words, does not exist and is a convenient way for them to avoid responsibility for tearing these in a machine that was probably overfilled — which is probably what happened here.
I should also mention, the curtains came back no cleaner than when they went in.
I will never give this place anything to clean, and I am going to let the BBB know as well.

I have a lovely, warm, long coat that I had worn rather… vigorously. The inner lining was in tatters, and I emailed Soapies to ask about fixing it.
Instead of replying with a form email, the owner of the store called me back immediately to make sure she understood what I was asking for, and she gave me a rough price quote on the phone.
When I brought it in and they saw the actual condition of the lining, she was a little surprised. They had thought they could take out the old lining and use it as a pattern for the new, but in fact if was shredded to nonexistence! I did mention that I wore it vigorously… And so the quote was higher than she had originally said – high enough that she advised me not to do it; to go purchase a brand new coat instead of paying them to fix this one. In my mind, that’s a sure mark of integrity there.
But I love this coat, it fits me well, and I wanted to buy my own fabric (a beautiful red, from Vogue up the street!) so she gave me a new estimate and told me it would be between two and three weeks. The new estimate was precisely correct, and two weeks and one day later I picked it up!
Not to bury the lede (although their customer service really is great, and important!) but the workmanship is outstanding, and the coat is absolutely beautiful! So yeah, I entirely recommend these folks for tailoring /​repairs.

At first thought you may think it’s just a dry cleaner store. But this place is so much more! Without comparison it is cleanest and brightest dry cleaner store I have EVER been in. There is not one speck of dust to be seen.
But more than that the staff are so friendly and cooperative.
I had some alterations done here on drapes. The quality of work and service was amazing. They were so competent and skilled. They took a good set of drapes and not only altered but transformed the drapes. They are now better than before. And the responsiveness was first class.
This is NOT a dry cleaner store. It’s an exceptional store with great service and attention to detail!

Awesome service! I fall somewhere between a regular and a petite in bottoms, and had to hem a pair of jeans and a skirt. The jeans came out great, and after some massive cuts and hemming my skirt fits like a dream!

My wife and I have been bringing our dry cleaning to Soapie’s for the last 3+ years and have never had any problems. I didn’t just jinx myself did I? (Knocks on wood.) Everyone there is super friendly and the store is really bright; it just feels like a place you want to leave your clothes to be cleaned. My wife also raves about their tailoring services. I don’t think any off-​the-​rack clothing fits her properly, so there’s a lot of hemming and tapering going on. We’ve brought an assortment of pants, skirts, dresses, and a suit jacket and there has never been any issues with the quality of the work. The alterations are definitely not cheap, but she is getting close to custom-​fitted clothing without the price tag.