Kyle Matthews is the fifth-generation owner of Janet Davis Cleaners, the family garment-care company founded in Highland Park, Michigan in 1938 and based on Woodward Avenue in Berkley since 1950. He joined the business in 2006 as Director of Sales and Marketing and has been sole owner since January 1, 2023, when his father, Dave Matthews, retired. Kyle is President of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists, the international trade association that sets standards for wedding gown cleaning, preservation and restoration, elected in 2024 and re-elected in 2025 and 2026. In 2023 he and his father received the association's Jack Barth Memorial Award of Excellence for contributions to industry standards in gown care. Under his ownership Janet Davis Cleaners became a certified affiliate of America's Best Cleaners in 2024, one of fewer than 50 cleaners in the United States to hold the certification. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the MI Cleaning Fund, a member-owned workers' compensation program for Michigan's cleaning industry, elected by the membership in 2025. He writes here about garment care, stain removal, wedding gown preservation and what to look for in a cleaner — the questions customers ask at the counter every week. Kyle is a Michigan State University graduate (with honors) and lives in Rochester Hills, MI.
Queen Victoria bucked a lot of trends in Great Britain when she married for love, wore a simple yet elegant gown made of English lace and silk, then kept her gown for sentimental reasons and even wore lace from her gown for special occasions and her husbands funeral (to remind everybody of her love for him). Today, Queen Victoria’s gown is cared for by Britain’s… Read More »Store Your Gown Like The Royal Family – Wedding Gown Preservation for the Everyday Princess
Caring for your household fabrics can be difficult because they aren’t as uniform as the fabrics you wear. Some are pre-shrunk, some aren’t, some can be washed, some have to be dry cleaned, and some cant be cleaned at all, the colors will run on some, and others don’t even look like they get dirty. What gives? Here are few tips to help you navigate… Read More »Caring for Household Fabrics
Having your clothes dry cleaned is somewhat of a mysterious process and many consumers have the wrong idea or expectation when it comes to using a dry cleaners. Dry cleaning is more of an art and a science than a routine operation. Think about it – in a manufacturing environment, you control all of the variables and inputs which gives you precise control over the… Read More »How To Avoid Problems at Your Dry Cleaners
Last night Roma Sposa Atelier presented A Night of Wedding Style at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham, MI. The main event was a fashion show with three isles/runways so there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. There was a book signing by Grace Ormonde for her new book and Ines Di Santo was a special guest. The first part of the fashion show presented… Read More »A Night of Wedding Style Presented by Roma Sposa Atelier
With it being nearly 60 degrees in Metro-Detroit today, it makes sense to talk about storing your winter clothes for the summer and how to keep them moth-free. Clean RoomThe easiest and most effective method of preventing moth damage it to put your winter clothes away clean. This doesn’t mean that if your clothes were only worn once and look clean it’s okay, it’s not.… Read More »Store Your Winter Clothing Without Getting Moth Damage
One of the most important pieces of advice we give our brides as they pick up their wedding gowns is to keep your wedding gown in a room you’d live in, not in an attic or basement. This Amelia Casablanca wedding gown came to us to be cleaned after it had been in a basement flood. The (now married) bride brought us the gown over… Read More »Amelia Casablanca Wedding Gown in a Basement Flood
Caring for ‘hand wash only’ items doesn’t have to be scary. Many of these items can be dry cleaned, but if the item isn’t very dirty and just needs to be freshened up, you can easily hand clean these items at home. All you need is clean water, two buckets, laundry detergent, and some time! Test firstAlways test delicate items before you attempt to clean… Read More »How To Wash (Most) Anything In A Bucket
You have a lot invested in your wedding gown and you want to be sure the dry cleaners you chose to preserve your gown will invest as much care in your wedding dress as you have. Here is a list of questions to ask the dry cleaner before leaving your gown to be preserved. Where is my gown going to be processed? Who is going to… Read More »Questions to Ask Your Dry Cleaners Before Preserving Your Wedding Gown
Whether you have an oriental rug, a Persian rug, or a standard area rug, careful maintenance will make your rug look it’s best all the time. Here are few tips to keep your rugs in tip top shape. Vacuum Regularly The best thing you can do to care for your rugs is to properly vacuum them regularly. This means you need to vacuum at several… Read More »Oriental Area Rug Care at Home
I often get asked what makes our box different than the boxes some other cleaners use. The box, also known as a preservation chest, is one of the most critical components of a proper wedding gown preservation. Let’s take a look at the characteristics of a good wedding gown preservation box: Not Vacuum Sealed Vacuum sealing your wedding gown after it is clean will lead… Read More »Wedding Gown Preservation Boxes
