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Frej Lewenhaupt has always dreamed of creating his own fashion brand. But the business that the former textile engineer eventually co-founded in 2014 focused on more practical projects.

The flagship product of Stockholm-based Steamery is a hand-held steamer that offers a range of pastel shades suitable for Instagram, such as blush powder and mint green. The concept borrowed from the now familiar marketing manual from the direct-to-consumer boom, renamed a bland industrial product as a cool, easy-to-use lifestyle accessory.

Lewenhaupt and his team did not sell to home furnishing retailers, but instead looked for business at clothing trade shows across Europe and targeted high-end department stores and fashion boutiques as stockers. Today, Steamery's product line-which also includes fabric razors, detergents and clothing brushes-is stocked at retailers such as Harrods and Net-a-Porter along with Gucci dresses and Prada T-shirts.

Steamery's flagship handheld steamer product. polite. Steamery's flagship handheld steamer product. polite.

The company’s revenue reached 7 million euros ($8.2 million) in 2019 and continued to grow during the pandemic, reaching 8 million euros last year. Lewenhaupt believes that the growing consumer demand for more sustainable products is a healthy tailwind, which may drive further momentum, betting on the interest of shoppers who want to extend the life of their clothing.

He is not the only one. More and more fashion companies and start-ups are leaning towards the historically unremarkable clothing care market to take advantage of this shift with ecological products that fit on the shelf and digital clothing care services.

Lewenhaupt said: "All these brands are working together to transform clothing care from boring things to more attractive things, and make it cool and fashionable, and make caring for your clothes a status." Five or ten years ago, this was a completely undeveloped concept."

The potential market is huge. Unilever's laundry products division had net sales of 8 billion euros last year. In 2019, the consumer goods giant acquired the high-end detergent brand The Laundress (the pioneer in this field) at an undisclosed price. This is not just a laundry product. More and more brands are exploring expansion into the maintenance field. This service has traditionally been limited to luxury brands such as Chanel and Dior or companies that focus on sustainability such as Patagonia.

All these brands are working together to transform clothing care from something boring to something more...cool and fashionable.

In July, the multi-brand boutique Browns Fashion announced a partnership with London-based on-demand repair service application The Restory, which has established a partnership with Selfridges and parent company Farfetch. Retailers from Asos to End Clothing now sell niche detergent brands such as Attirecare and The Laundress in addition to the new season series. H&M Group’s & Other Stories launched its own line of detergents and other care products last year, while Inditex sells washing products under the umbrella of its Zara Home brand.

"Brands can take advantage of a series of products that focus on aftercare. These products may be relatively low-cost, but they can be very profitable-while benefiting from news and brand image related to sustainable development," said Louis Global Déglise-Favre, clothing analyst at Data. "It's happening now because consumers are becoming more aware of the impact on the environment."

Former fashion director Sally Hughes launched the laundry brand Kair last month, offering a range of professional detergents, fabric softeners and clothing fresheners. The brand says its formula allows fabrics that are usually only dry-cleaned, such as silk and delicate cotton, to be washed at home.

Kair's cedar, amber and iris refreshing spray. polite. Kair's cedar, amber and iris refreshing spray. polite.

Hughes held a pop-up store while serving as the chief commercial officer of Rixo, a contemporary British brand, and was convinced of this business opportunity. "In six months... I saw more customers come in asking about garment care, production and sustainability, which is more than I saw five years ago," she said.

Hughes hopes to use consumer interest in sustainability and fashion to promote her products to brands, thereby adding value to shoppers and demonstrating a commitment to improving environmental impact.

"This is mutually beneficial," Hughes said. "It is beneficial... as a revenue-generating opportunity for the brand, and it provides customers with the opportunity to maintain and extend the life of their clothing."

Asket, a 6-year-old slow-fashion brand, said that its experience in talking to consumers about clothing care has proven to be valuable. The brand provides a lot of advice on its website, guiding customers through everything from stain removal to simple repairs. It started selling detergents, laundry bags and lint brushes from third-party brands such as Steamery and Tangent Garment Care in 2018 as an extension. These products account for only a small portion of overall sales, but the content drives a lot of participation.

"It's not a large part of sales, [but] it does maintain stable sales," said Jakob Dworsky, co-founder of Asket. "Some products are very popular. I think it is commendable."

As the demand for more sustainable products becomes more mainstream, many brands entering the apparel care sector are also looking at opportunities that may open up more widely.

Hughes hopes to capitalize on the interest of consumers who do not want brands to sell them products that require chemically intensive dry cleaning. Hughes said that many brands advertise their clothes as dry cleaning only because ordinary detergents in supermarkets are usually too harsh and contain bleach and enzymes that can damage more delicate fabrics. She advertises her product as a safe alternative that can be marketed with a series of fascinating content to educate consumers about clothing care. Hughes said that Kair currently has stock in Brown Thomas, an Irish department store, and has been in touch with many other fashion brands.

The Restory operates an on-demand fashion repair service application. polite. The Restory operates an on-demand fashion repair service application. polite.

At the same time, the fast-growing repair service The Restory aims to provide a plug-and-play solution for labels who want to start their own repair service. This is an area where more and more brands are considering entering, but they are also facing tricky logistics challenges. Asket recently launched a free repair service in its Stockholm store, but is still trying to figure out the feasibility of launching this service as a smaller brand in other markets where it does not have a store-this move may require a lot of financial investment .

Vanessa Jacobs, CEO of Restory, said her company can provide solutions. In addition to the on-demand repair service app that launched in 2015 and has 8,800 customers, the company also operates a Farfetch-style marketplace that connects fashion brands with their repair supplier network. Currently, the company provides support for Farfetch's "Fix" repair service and has informal cooperation with six brands. It is preparing to launch its first global brand partnership at the end of the year.

Jacobs said that maintenance services have the opportunity to become an important source of income for the industry, positioning the industry's growth potential as similar to the growth potential of leasing or resale.

"If you take LVMH's top six brands, we are talking about opportunities worth hundreds of millions of pounds," she said.

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