Meet the GBPAP18’s outstanding PTC showcases: Drop & Wash (Malaysia)

For the coming period, we will present you week by week, the most outstanding PTC showcases that were officially nominated for The Global Best Practices Awards Program 2018. The profiles of these companies are also present in the WOPCOM platform, which you can access here.

Drop & Wash (Malaysia) – The Special Award for Corporate Social Responsibility at GBPAP18 – Retail Textile Cleaning.

Laundry with a mission: to become Malaysia’s largest eco-friendly wet cleaner

Drop & Wash call themselves pioneers. That’s quite a label, but: Drop & Wash is certainly entitled to claim that they are pioneers. Drop & Wash is the first in central Kuala Lumpur to utilize the innovative Lagoon™ Woolmark Wet Cleaning system since 2008. Together with its tagline Door2Door Laundry Solution and various services that they provide, Drop & Wash vows to provide the best laundry services and create the highest value proposition for their customers and clients. And it’s proven to be very successful. Besides the headquarters in the Malaysian metropole the laundry has established ten (10) outlets in a short time frame.

With many opportunities lying ahead, Drop & Wash sees good possibilities for growth with some real ambition: to become the largest wet and eco cleaning chain in Malaysia, though one of the outlets can be found in West London, UK since 2009 till its relocation to Kuala Lumpur in 2018. Evidently, Drop&Wash at Spur Road, West London was the first Lagoon Wet Cleaning outlet introduced to Londoners and had even impressed the local councils due to its green technology non toxic practice. According to the management, various growth strategies such as market penetration and product diversification have been implemented through its licensing and mentor programmes for future entrepreneurs. In 2016 Drop&Wash was rated Top10 Globally in the Overall Awards of CINET Best Practice Award in Frankfurt for its Sustainability and Innovative Business Approach. Drop&Wash had also in December 2017 launched its 1st Lagoon Advance Care centre at its Setia Alam outlet to further strengthened Wet Cleaning system.

Added value

Drop & Wash provides a wide range of laundry services, including cleaning through the Lagoon wet-cleaning system, handwash, dry and fold, steam pressing and specialized cleaning of couture, handbags, shoes, leather, carpets, soft toys and curtains. The laundry services consumers in a retail business model, but is also involved in business-to-business, serving hotels workwear and specializing in the Super Express hotel guests items. Drop & Wash offers door to door laundry solutions with pick-up and delivery, if desired with a busy hotline strengthened with social media engagement and known for its one to eight hours Express Service. For curtains Drop & Wash offers real convenience to its customers: removal and installation of the curtains after cleaning. It’s all about prioritizing customers and creating added value propositions, providing the best services by ‘taking the extra miles all the time’.

There’s a lot of emphasize on convenience to the customers. Knowing that clients are busy at all times, Drop & Wash has taken an approach to reach out to them instead of waiting for them to come. With the Door2Door Laundry Solutions, customers only have to drop the laundry a call and it will provide a timely pickup and delivery service. Time is important, but so is quality. Quality has to be indisputable and may not be compromised.
That means that garments have to be taken care of in the utmost professional way. It has been the reason to invest in the wet-cleaning systems of Lagoon. As Drop & Wash states: Lagoon makes the garments cleaner, fresher, brighter colors and makes sure that textiles are not ruined by chemicals, but the system is environment friendly too, as it does not use toxic solvent in its process. The Lagoon processing is highly appreciated by the customers.

B2B

As said, customers can be found in B2B too. Drop & Wash has been known to serve the hospitality industry specialising in the cleaning of hotels garment particularly. It offers a wide range of comprehensive services in laundry
and management covering, hotels and restaurants, hostels, universities and conference centers. To Drop & Wash it doesn’t matter whether a customer is a budget hotel or is holding a five star ranking, but the list of client names is indeed impressive and comprises big names like DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur, the Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur and other big names in Kuala Lumpur. Drop&Wash had even managed the  ShangriLa Hotel Kuala Lumpur and recently Saujana Hotel’s staffs and guests laundry while the latter’s laundry room was being upgraded for four months.

One knows that a laundry is exceptional good when names like Giorgo Armani, Emporio Armani, Paul Smith, Farah Khan, Valentino and Louis Vuitton boutiques among others appear on the list of references. Drop & Wash is chosen by these brands for the laundering and wet cleaning of suits and couture garments. Couture designers often choose a laundry that operates wetcleaning since it’s known to be friendlier to garments and trust the handler.

The success story of a social business

Social Business

As Drop&Wash turned 10 in 2018 it not only helps create environmental impact when utilizing a No Toxic Solvent policy in its operations but also acts as an Impact Driven Enterprise. Being a Social Business Drop&Wash has mission to empower the Marginalized Community by employing the disadvantaged urban poor, homeless, transgender, disabled and even refugees included. About certain percentage of total cost of Drop&Wash business is for
the benefit of income training and subsidizing of the disadvantaged groups. Drop&Wash has since creates social impact by transforming the unemployed Bottom 40 group into successful stories of economically sustainable
and productive individuals back into society.