Member Article

A Dapper trio: Founders of London dry cleaning startup talk future plans

Best friends Aran Bates, Sam Hussain and Jeff Pole set up Dapper Dry Cleaners after spotting a gap in the market for digital dry cleaning solution for busy professionals in the Capital.

Dapper Dry Cleaners offers businesses of all sizes a corporate service, giving employees the chance to schedule their dry cleaning with pre-booked pick-ups and drop-offs every week.

The website also offers a solution for individual customers in search of a flexible dry cleaning service that can be managed on-the-go via mobile or tablet.

Bdaily spoke exclusively to co-founders, Aran and Sam, who are currently working on growing their customer base and developing the brand.

Aran told Bdaily: “A few years out of university, I found myself working late nights in the office and still having to think about ironing my shirts and dropping suits to the dry cleaners while they were still open.

“Just like other time-poor Londoners, I was already using other on demand / home-delivered services and wondered if something existed for dry cleaning. When I saw that there was very little out there, it was just a case of convincing Jeff and Sam, two close friends, to join me.”

Sam commented: “We’ve actually been completely self-funded so far. Our model was to stay as lean as possible from the very beginning, inspired by ideas from Eric Ries’s “The Lean Startup”. We managed this for quite a while, getting work done ourselves and calling in favours from friends. Our costs are still relatively low, apart from Marketing!”

The company takes a unique approach to dry cleaning, offering both a corporate and individual service. Aran explained: “One of the major things is the nature of our corporate service. We make it possible for any business, large or small, to offer an in-house service to their employees, with scheduled pick-up and drop-off days every week. As employees manage their accounts and pay online, there is no overhead or admin for the company.

“However, it isn’t just on the corporate side that we are differentiating. For individual customers, we offer the flexibility to pick-up from one location and deliver to a completely separate one. For instance, you could have your suits picked up from home and delivered to your office, or vice-versa.”

The pair are hyper-aware of the growing power of digital technology and are keen to tap into the growing need for on-the-go services, Sam said: “Dry cleaning is following a much wider trend; the move from the high street to the internet and now to mobile.

“We’ve seen industries adapt to this one by one, from consumer goods (e.g. Amazon) to takeaways (e.g. JustEat) and taxis (e.g. Uber).

“We’re staying ahead by looking at what’s happening in faster-moving industries and by listening closely to our customers. In the short term, we’ll be releasing our own app to complement the mobile site. Most importantly, we are very aware that quality can’t be compromised on in this industry.”

Sam continued: “Last year, we focused on creating the product and fine-tuning the user experience. This year will be all about growing our customer base through heavy marketing efforts.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .