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South China Morning Post

Luxe laundry: now even washing your clothes is elevated, as high-end fragrance brands like Le Labo have their own formulas, as do dermatologist Barbara Sturm and Kardashian matriarch, Kris Jenner

Washing clothes isn't the most glamorous of activities but laundry detergents are the latest home-care product to get the luxe treatment as a host of niche brands look to inject glamour into this mundane domestic task. The 'designerfication' of laundry detergents started with The Laundress, which was launched in 2014. Soon high-end fragrance brands like Le Labo Fragrances and Maison Francis Kurkdjian were creating their own formulas, along with high-profile personalities such as dermatologist-to-the-stars Barbara Sturm and Kardashian matriarch, Kris Jenner. The market has expanded even further as more specialist brands have come to the fore offering updated versions of this everyday essential. Unlike their predecessors, they offer products that do more than just clean your clothes, catering to the lifestyles of modern consumers with thoughtful details such as chic packaging, high-quality ingredients and custom scents. Advertisement Bestselling Dedtergent by Dedcool. Photo: Handout 'The luxury laundry segment has emerged at the intersection of fashion, beauty, home-care and wellness as customers increasingly scrutinise not just what they consume, but how it's made and by whom,' says Baek Jong-min, founder of clean laundry brand Laverée, which boasts skincare-grade ingredients. 'We're seeing a fundamental shift, where people view laundry care as an extension of their personal values and lifestyle choices, with ingredients, sourcing transparency and brand ethos becoming critical decision factors,' she says. As with beauty or skincare, customers are now seeking out laundry care products that meet their specific criteria. At the top of their list are formulas designed for a wide range of textiles and fabrics, and cutting-edge updates to products. 'We develop all our key ingredient formulations in-house at our own lab,' says Chris Melvill, co-founder of Emerald Fresh. 'This allows us to create highly specialised laundry sheets for different needs, whether it's caring for delicate silks, activewear or everyday cottons.' Emerald Fresh products come in pretty, recycled packaging. Photo: Handout Sophisticated scents are also now a given, with most of these brands enlisting the talents of boutique perfumers to create fragrances that evoke everything from a 'mother's embrace' (Emerald Fresh) and forests (Laverée) to a mix of milk and vanilla (Mochi Milk from Ded Cool). Along with luxe scents, chic packaging is equally important. Much like Aesop transformed our bathroom shelves, our laundry rooms are now decorated with bottles that range from sleek and minimalist, to joyful and uplifting. 'We wanted to transform the aesthetics around laundry … drawing inspiration from geometric vessels that sit as homewares. Many of our customers live in cities and must be strategic with their space, so our bottles are designed to be displayed proudly rather than hidden away, transforming a traditionally utilitarian product into a piece that organically integrates into the modern home,' says Baek.