Would you pay $66 for a bottle of laundry detergent?

ONE boring household chore is going high end in a very big way, and everyone from entrepreneurs to big beauty brands are jumping on board.

IF SOMETHING exists, no matter how banal it may seem, there’s probably a ‘luxury’ version of it.

You can buy artisanal toothpicks, hand woven brooms and exotic dyed toilet paper (Tom Ford and Kris Jenner both like theirs black).

Most of these high end versions of everyday items range from niche to extremely niche. But there’s one boring chore that’s going high end in a very big way. And everyone from entrepreneurs to big beauty brands are jumping on board.

It’s doing the laundry.

A fancy Miele washer and dryer set has been a hot item in ‘aspirational’ households for a while now. But the actual detergent that goes in said washer? Up until recently, everyone from brickies to the Turnbulls have been buying it from the same supermarket aisle. And the products on that aisle are often dense in chemicals, harsh on the environment, and not that great for the clothing either.

For entrepreneur Joanna Richards, this just doesn’t make sense.

“We are the generation that spends $5000 on a car and $2000 on a handbag! Because of the economy people are in a position where it is not as achievable for them to buy their own house, or save up the money for other milestone items. As a reaction, we now spend a lot of money on clothing and accessories. Unfortunately, we have lost the art of laundry somewhere along the way, and have no idea how to properly care for our belongings.”

Her solution was Solution Solution, a new range of high end, CSIRO-formulated detergents that retail in art galleries and cost upwards of $20 a bottle.

Solution Solution’s detergents are designed to keep your good clothes in great condition for as long as possible.

“We are anti-fast fashion and we promote an environmentally responsible strategy: care for what you love and make it last.”

Über chic Australian beauty brand Aesop are also on-board with the high-end washing trend. They have a Fine Fabric Care product, formulated with French fashion house APC that’s got petitgrain, lemon and cedarwood-extracts, and is specifically designed to make hand washing pleasurable. A single bottle will set you back $39, or $1 less than the brand’s now-iconic hand soap.

There’s a certain logic to it. If you’re going to drop $400 on a dove grey La Perla silk bra and thong, you may as well invest in keeping it nice post-wear. Nobody loves that ‘laundry hands’ feeling after a long handwashing session, and if a brand that makes covetable bath washes can help fight it, then why not?

Richards says her manufacturer even “used our linen wash to clean her hair! This is not recommended or endorsed by us in any way but shows we have gentle and effective products.”

While Australians are making strides in this area, the grand doyenne of the high end laundry trend came from a city that’s even more fashion-obsessed than Sydney: New York.

The signature detergent from The Laundress will set you back $66.

Founded by former Ralph Lauren designer Gwen Whiting and a fashion industry entrepreneur Lindsey Boyd, The Laundress takes washing to the next level with their fabric specific formulations (cashmere care kit, anyone?) and exclusive collaborations. A bottle of their signature detergent, perfumed by cult fragrance house Le Labo will cost you $66. “Why should the finest perfumes always be condemned to glass spray bottles?” queries the product’s sales pitch.

Whiting and Boyd claim that, while their products are an indulgence, the cost of a bottle of fine detergent is nothing on dry cleaning bills. In the US, dry cleaning is a $20 billion industry, with the average household spending a whopping $500 a year on the service. The Laundress maintains a blog that offers washing tips for hard to care for luxury items, like vintage furs, and their website claims that “90 per cent of items labelled dry clean only” are actually washable.

Richards won’t go quite this far, but she does say “dry clean only can be a cop-out”.

“Companies are accountable for the information on their garment care labels, and many will use the most stringent instructions in order to decrease liability … To say that dry clean only is a lie wouldn’t be the truth either.

“For instance, washing a gabardine trench coat is probably a no-no. You just don’t want to get into the habit of taking things to the dry cleaner because it’s easier; dry cleaning product will build up and create a sheen on your clothing.”

Richards believes laundry is on its way to becoming the new cooking. A once boring chore that’s now a point of domestic pride.

“Like cooking, laundry is a fact of life and painful reality for everyone, without discrimination! [Cooking] has been completely disrupted. What was once seen as a chore is now the basis for countless books, TV shows and celebrity careers. Having good quality and beautiful products to make the job a bit easier or more enjoyable is true luxury, in a world where the word luxury is often overused.”

While we can’t see Shannon Lush reaching Nigella status and competitive washing shows ruling the prime time just yet, the demand for luxury in the laundry is far from hitting its peak. If we can collectively convince ourselves that a little black dress is an ‘investment’, then surely looking after it properly is too.

It makes a whole lot more sense than black toilet paper.

Originally published as Would you pay $66 for a bottle of laundry detergent?