Cleaning and restoring garments: A Dairy-Saturated Suit Used in a Commercial

In 2012, Put This On, released a series of videos covering various aspects of men's wear and styling. The series was sponsored by Lifeway Kefir, a cultured, probiotic dairy product available throughout the USA.

In a web commercial for the series, Jesse Thorn pours 3 bottles of Lifeway Kefir over his head, saturating a black pin stripe Dolce & Gabbana suit in the process.

As Jesse explains in a blog post on Put This On, he decided to send the suit to RAVE FabriCARE for restoration to like new. About a week and a half later, the suit arrived in Arizona wrapped in a plastic bag.

Not only was the suit covered in kefir -- inside and out -- but it was now covered in mold and fungus and smelled putrid -- the result of a combination of non-refrigerated dairy product, heat and time.

We immediately went to work. About 2 weeks later, we shipped it back to New York -- spotless, perfectly hand ironed and odor free.

And their reaction to the results?

"Holly cow, Jesse! It looks better than it did before we ruined it!"

The results of the transformation can be seen in the following BEFORE and AFTER photographs:

For even more BEFORE and AFTER photographs on the transformation of this suit, please view our slide show below:

To view this slide show on a full screen, hit the X button with the arrow tips.

For another dramatic example of the restoration of a suit, take a look at our blog post on the restoration of Fleet Admiral Nimitz's World War II white summer uniform.

Photo credit: putthison.com/Jesse Thorn and ravefabricare.com/Stu Bloom