Space-age laundry — 10 things we learned from the founders of Oxwash

The laundry industry isn’t as clean as it seems. High emissions, water waste, and overuse of synthetic chemicals all leave a stain on what is an important part of our daily hygiene routine. This is why Kyle Grant and Tom de Wilton founded Oxwash — to clean up the way we do laundry around the world.

Their revolutionary model offers laundry without the huge emissions, water usage (32L saved per 8kg wash), and plastic waste (100M microfibres filtered daily). Their vision is to create a better laundry industry that keeps the planet as clean as our clothes.

Recently, they joined Reckitt’s Paola Arbelaez (Global Category Director, Vanish) to talk about their story, motivations, and plans for the future — including teaming up with Vanish, via the Reckitt and Founders Factory accelerator.

Here are 10 highlights from their session, covering everything from entrepreneurship to their vision for net-zero laundry:

1) The Oxwash founding team swapped enviable credentials for dirty laundry

Founders often have novel backgrounds, but Kyle Grant, as an ex-NASA Engineer with a Doctorate in Synthetic Biology from Oxford, has got to be up there.

Co-founder Tom de Wilton is also an Oxford-trained engineer who, before joining Oxwash, was building luxury treehouses around the world! In fact, Tom turned down further study at Cambridge so he could commit to Oxwash.

Clearly, there can be no doubt about their belief in Oxwash’s mission.

2) The idea for Oxwash came from the best university (with the worst laundry facilities)

We all have to wash our clothes. When it goes wrong, it’s not a problem you can ignore. This is what led Kyle to start Oxwash. As Kyle says, although Oxford “is one of the best universities in the world… they probably have the worst laundry facilities in the world!”

With the laundry facilities in his student accommodation not up to standard, Kyle started taking his friends’ washing to launderettes by bike.

Before long, word spread and what started with one bike, one backpack, and a high-street launderette soon became a fleet of bikes, dozens of backpacks, and industrial launderettes.

But it was when Kyle got his first look at those industrial laundry facilities that he realised the scale of the problem — huge amounts of chlorine-based bleach, no water filtration, high temperatures, and massive emissions. The question stuck with him: “How can we clean clothes without dirtying the planet?”

Oxwash was the answer.

3) The hardest part of launching a startup? Telling your mum

“I think she didn’t speak to me for about a month,” laughed Kyle. Tom’s mum “had a similar reaction!”

Starting a laundry business wasn’t the obvious choice after defending his PhD thesis but, although Kyle’s decision was initially met with some typical parental concern, they soon got on board with his mission.

Once you’ve convinced your parents, talking to investors feels like a breeze!

4) Entrepreneurialism means wearing many hats at once

Being an entrepreneur and founding a start-up was uncharted territory for both Kyle and Tom, but they’ve loved the challenge so far and have stepped up with skill and confidence.

Tom calls it “the most rewarding and most taxing thing I’ve ever done”, pointing to the “many, many, many hats” they find themselves wearing throughout their days and the molehills that can quickly become mountains.

Despite this, he’s adamant that “it’s most definitely the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done” — something he attributes largely to the culture at Oxwash. “Going to work is a joy because we’re working alongside like-minded people… who understand our mission.”

5) Teaming up with Vanish has meant unparalleled access and growth

Since joining the Reckitt and Founders Factory accelerator, Oxwash has partnered with market leaders Vanish, gaining unrivalled access to industry expertise and experience.

Working together has already made a huge difference to both brands, with some of the benefits Kyle and Tom highlighted being:

• Partnerships are good for business and grow impact exponentially, but Vanish is more than just a stepping stone to bigger things. Vanish is a perfect long-term fit as a collaborator
• Both companies hold deep expertise in the systems and technologies that make up the science of fabric care
• Cleaning clothes sustainably is incredibly hard, as the cheapest and easiest fix is always ‘more chemicals’. Reckitt’s commitment to investing in better solutions makes a different future possible and accelerates Oxwash’s mission

And the teams at Oxwash and Vanish aren’t afraid to come up with some big ideas — they’re already dreaming up ways to circularise fashion by creating ‘guarantees’ for every item of clothing bought and tying carbon sequestration to product usage (e.g. every time you use product X, Y amount of carbon is stored or offset).

6) Reckitt is helping Oxwash by giving them access to, well, everything

Working with Reckitt has been “amazing and different”, says Kyle. Oxwash has always been a highly agile, creative start-up — which has been great for growth but has left some gaps in its corporate structure and governance.

Working with Reckitt means Oxwash accesses:

• Vital guidance about corporate structure and governance design
• Access to data and R&D capability that offers greater validation and accountability in Oxwash’s sustainability claims
• Branding development and expertise
• Greater business resilience and reduced customer churn
• Faster growth than ever previously possible

And faster growth means faster progress towards meaningful change.

7) Oxwash is teaching Reckitt a thing or two about speed and agility

Start-ups are agile organisations — they move quickly and make decisions fast, but not all of them can pull off creativity at that kind of speed. Oxwash is one of the exceptions.

We’ve learned a lot about how to lead projects with a focus on agility. A perfect example was Oxwash turning around their new website in rapid time — going through concept, design, creation, and launch in just a few weeks without compromising quality or clarity.

Kyle and Tom’s engineering expertise has also contributed a lot to Reckitt’s R&D efforts. All in all, it’s a reciprocal, beneficial partnership — exactly what Access VC is founded on.

8) Sustainability — and ‘clean’ laundry — starts in our homes

With some sustainability issues, individual action feels like a drop in the ocean compared to the impact that can be made by changes at a corporate or government level.

But laundry is an exception.

We all have clothes to wash and do so regularly, but often go no further than washing at a cooler temperature. Actually, there’s a lot we can achieve individually by making smarter choices about the fabrics we buy, avoiding microfibres and microplastics, and also about the number of clothes we own, wear, and wash.

Renting clothes is becoming more popular too, as is repairing them. Oxwash is working with partners like fashion rental platform HURR to empower more people to reduce, reuse, and repair their wardrobes.

One of Kyle and Tom’s goals is to empower more people with knowledge and technology to reduce the environmental impact of their washing.

9) Oxwash is growing by focusing on behavioural design and habits

Oxwash doesn’t need to manufacture a need for its service — everybody washes their clothes, whether that’s at home or a launderette.

So, the challenge they face is not in finding customers, but in making themselves a viable option in people’s everyday behaviour by being convenient, accessible, and affordable.

Access to Reckitt’s scale and depth of consumer insights is making that happen faster, helping Oxwash to meet more customers where they are and scale their business in a healthy way.

It’s just another way our work together is accelerating positive change in the world.

10) Laundry’s here to stay, but Oxwash is showing its carbon footprint the door

There’s no way laundry’s going away. In fact, Kyle is confident that “as people get busier and the world comes out of the pandemic… people’s time will go away and they’ll be looking for services that just work like clockwork.”

Oxwash wants to “build that platform… to support people everywhere.”

Tom has huge ambitions for the future. In five years, he sees laundry being net-zero. The big question for him lies in drying clothes, which has a huge carbon footprint. He sees innovation in drying as an essential part of reducing the emissions from laundry.

We’re excited to see the innovations that come out of Oxwash and their immensely-talented founders over the next few years.

Tackling a global issue together

The most exciting part about our work together (so far) with Oxwash has to be the partnership with Vanish Zero — Vanish’s new, sustainable formula. Every week, we’ll be saving:

• 600kg of clothing from landfill
• 3200l of water
• 12tn of CO2

Tom perfectly summarises the breadth of what we are trying to achieve together when he explains that Oxwash’s focus is “not just consumer behaviour but the technology available”. It’s an incredible challenge, but one we’re so proud to be working on with Oxwash.

If we can achieve our mission, a cleaner future for laundry isn’t too far away.

If these 10 highlights have caught your attention, you can support Oxwash’s mission by following them on Instagram and keeping an eye on their website for updates.