Editor's Note: This was originally published on Chicago Inno on Feb. 20, and is reposted here with permission.
Three years ago Proctor & Gamble launched a small on-demand laundry startup inside Chicago tech incubator 1871. Now, it’s bringing the service nationwide.
P&G announced Wednesday that it plans to double its number of laundry pickup spots nationwide to more than 2,000 locations by the end of next year. The service, dubbed Tide Cleaners, allows users to avoid trips to the laundromat by leaving clothes at 24/7 drop boxes and via on-campus van delivery at certain universities.
Launched originally under the name Tide Spin, the service lets users create a profile on Tide’s app and set preferences for how they want their items cleaned. Then Tide employees take the laundry to their facilities for cleaning and the app notifies the user once their items are ready.
Tide’s drop box locations, currently available in cities such as Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas and Denver, are located inside high-rise apartment buildings, offices and storefronts. Tide says around 350 new boxes are installed every month.
“For many people, the closest laundry room is 20 floors down or 10 blocks down the street,” Sundar Raman, Vice President of P&G’s North American Fabric Care business, said in a statement. “Whether you’re one of the millions of people living in a high-rise apartment building or you’re juggling college classes, we know taking care of your clothes may not always be convenient.”
Chicago proved to be a quality beta test market for Tide, which chose the Windy City due to its dense population of millennials and the city’s proximity to P&G’s hometown of Cincinnati. The decision to launch in Chicago was also beneficial to local startup Pressbox, which was acquired by P&G last year. Pressbox, founded in 2013 by two Notre Dame grads, brought 24/7 laundry drop boxes and an accompanying mobile app to customers in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Nashville before getting scooped up by P&G.
