Laundry Care 3.0 Era:A New Wave of Professional Laundry Care

Abstract This paper briefly introduces the current status of Chinese laundry care market.By analyzing the mainstream laundry care products,this paper pointed out that a new wave of professional laundry care began to sweep the Chinese laundry care market,and the three emerging laundry care categories began to attract the attention of the whole market and consumers,This paper analyzes the market claims of the above three types of products and the corresponding formula characteristics.

Key words laundry care,baby laundry care,underwear laundry care,sportswear laundry care

After more than 40 years of reform and opening up,the ever-growing national productivity has promoted the continuous progress of various industries closely related to people’s life.Focusing on the laundry industry,the concept of laundry care has gradually penetrated into all aspects of the industry and people's life.The laundry care market has also growing from the “instant laundry care”[1]embryonic period,gradually deepened into the “l(fā)ongterm laundry care”[2]2.0 era with the increasing needs for a better life.Now,with the further promotion of the demand for quality life,the concept of quality consumption has quietly promoted the laundry care market into the 3.0 era,and derived the concept of “precise laundry care” with more emphasis on differentiation and specialization.

The concept of precise laundry care in the 3.0 era,as a new rising concept,is not widely propagated at present.It mainly focuses on consumer groups pursuing quality life.According to the statistical data of major e-commerce platforms,quality people usually labeled as living in 1st/2nd tier cities,high education and high family income,they pursue highquality life,willing to pay more attention to emerging consumption concepts such as high efficiency,high efficacy,personalization and environmental protection.Such consumers are usually the creators and leaders of the new consumption concept,promoting the popularization and deepening of precise laundry care,and accelerating the whole laundry care market to enter the 3.0 era.

Leading by quality consumers,the majority began to have precise laundry care demands for many special types of clothes.Driven by the consumer demand side,the categories of laundry care products are gradually differentiated,and professional laundry care products begin to be sought after by the majority.Below,Ⅰ will briefly introduce the most popular three representatives:baby laundry liquid which is most concerned by parents,underwear detergent which is explosively growing in sales,and professional sportswear laundry products which is pursing by sports fans.

Baby laundry care

Since 2011,China began to gradually implement the 2nd child policy,the surge in the number of newborns has further promoted the prosperity of the whole baby care market.As an important part of baby care,baby laundry care is also deeply concerned by the majority of parents.

Early as the 1990,consumers already have a vague concept of baby laundry care.However,the development of domestic market is relatively slow.Until the e-commerce were mature in 2010,the market start to grow up and the scale quickly exceeded 1.2 billion in 2019.

Although the market has grown rapidly in recent years,from the perspective of brands,most of the market share is occupied by foreign brands.Especially in the medium and high level,domestic brands started late,still in the imitation and follow-up stage,and the overall share is low.

By investigating the mainstream products in the market,the author found that,in compared with usual adult laundry detergent,the formula system of baby laundry products usually focus on targeted decontamination and ingredients safety.The reasons are mainly as the following two:First of all,the thickness of infant skin is only about half of adult skin,and the barrier function is weak.Usually,slight stimulation is easy to cause cuticle peeling.At the same time,the ratio of skin surface area to weight of infants is much higher than adults,combine with more sweat glands,stronger metabolism,they are far more sensitive to the chemical residues on clothes.The fragile skin of infants promote the overall characteristics of mild,non-irritation,easy rinse and no residue in the selection of raw materials of baby laundry care products(See in Table 1).

Table.1 Comparison of skin parameters between infants and adults

Secondly,the stain composition is also very different.The study found that the stain composition of infant clothes is mainly milk stains and excrement,while adult clothes mainly contaminated by oil stains and sweat stains[3],leading to very different formula system(See in Figure 1).

Figure 1.Daily stain composition of people with different ages

In view of the above two differences,when designing the formula of baby laundry care products,formulators will make targeted changes in the selection of following four core raw materials:surfactants,chelants,enzymes and preservatives:generally,in choosing surfactants,rather than oil stains removal ability,formulators often focus on the low irritation and environmental friendly characteristics such as mild,skin friendly,green,plant-based,easy degradation and so on.After statistical analyzing of more than 50 laundry care products in the market[4],the author found that lauryl/coco-/decyl glucoside,cocamido/lauramido propyl betaine,sodium methyl cocoyl taurate and sodium cocoyl amphoacetate are the most favorite choices.

Since there is little inorganic dust in the daily stains of baby clothes,the selection of chelants also focuses on skin friendly,green,plant-derived,highly degradable properties,represented by amino acid derivatives,polycarboxylic acid derivatives or hydroxycarboxylic acid derivatives.For example,Ecostore,a well-known environmental-friendly brand in New Zealand,adopts GLDA with sodium polyaspartate;Baby Ganics,a well-known baby care brand in the United States,uses sodium gluconate.

As discussed before,daily stains of baby clothing are mainly milk stains,and the main component is protein.Most surfactants have weak efficacy to remove protein macromolecules.Protease is used to break protein macromolecules into peptides and amino acids.At this time,most surfactants can play their function.

In addition to milk stains,starch,vegetables and fat are also common in baby clothing daily stains,so lipase,cellulase and amylase are often added to the formula.Lipase and amylase can effectively remove stubborn stains such as grease and starch on clothes.Cellulase can peel off the wax on the cotton fiber,expand the holes and capillaries in the fabric fiber,leading to effective removal of embedded stubborn stains.However,lipase,cellulase and amylase are also proteins,which face great challenges in stability when co-formulated with protease.At present,borax,boric acid and other borides are the most common stabilizers in the complex enzymes.However,due to the cumulative reproductive toxicity of borides,boron free complex enzymes have become the mainstream in the baby laundry products.[5]New protease inhibitors including Peptide aldehyde derivatives,α-Hydroxyl carboxylate derivatives containing aromatic groups,and amide derivatives are most investigated.

Preservatives always grab great concerns to consumers.At present,the most commonly used preservatives are all facing queries about potential toxicity,which is amplified in baby laundry care products.Many companies have devoted to using natural plant essential oils to achieve antiseptic effects.For example,currently intensive research have been lay on oregano essential oil,thyme essential oil,Alaska cedar extract,podocarpus nagi extract,usnea barbata extract,and cladonia rangiferina extract.[6](main active ingredients:thymol,carvacrol,totarol,and usnic acid).

With the increasing attention of parents to their children year by year,baby laundry care products as a fast consumable with high household penetration and daily use rate,the market demand has surged year by year.Encouraged by 2nd/3rd child policy and the high economic growth,baby laundry care market will have a broader future.

Underwear laundry care

Underwear,close to the body every day,is the most intimate friend of people.Underwear could either become the 2nd skin that takes care the body,or a breeding bed for bacteria and viruses,usually depends on the daily care.Underwear should not only be carefully washed,but also be gently handled.With increasing health awareness,consumers are now more inclined to use special designed laundry products for underwear.In the past year,an explosive growth in the sales of underwear laundry care products has attracted a lot attentions from the market.

According to T-mall platform data,the primary keyword of underwear laundry products is still“removing blood stains”.Although the formula of underwear laundry products has become mature after years of research and developing,how to effectively remove blood stains is still the core pain point.

Since the blood stains contain a large amount of proteins,most products will add a certain amount of protease to enhance the cleaning power of blood stains,but the practical efficacy is often not satisfactory.

The practical effect of blood stain removal can be demonstrated through the following experimental results.Eleven well-known brands on the market are selected.By comparing the cleaning effect of fresh blood stain removal and aged blood stain removal,some conclusions in blood stain removal are shown below:

Experimental results show that all products have good cleaning effect on fresh blood stains under naked eye observation;However,after colored by black tea,it can still be seen that there is a little blood residue on the washed cloth of some products.If not handled carefully,these residues will become nutrients for bacterial breeding.

Aged blood stains is very difficult to be removed.The experiment results showing significant differences by cleaning 24 h aged blood stains of the above eleven products.

Why aged blood stains are so difficult to clean compared with fresh blood stains? The reason is that ferroheme in fresh blood stains is rich in ferrous porphyrin ring structure.At this stage,it is easy to be cleaned by protease while stained on clothes.However,oxygen in the air will gradually oxidize divalent ferrous ions into trivalent ferric ions,and the color of blood stains will further darken.Because the binding ability of hydroxyl groups in cellulose with ferric ions is much greater than that with ferrous ions,it will become very difficult to clean aged blood stains simply by protease.Although ferric ions are difficult to be released by protease,they have stronger binding ability to chelant than ferrous ions.Therefore,in the face of aged blood stains,the combination of protease and iron affinity chelant can often achieve excellent cleaning effect

Underwear,like lovers,needs careful care.The more delicate clothes,the more careful care they need.Underwear laundry care products are targeted designed for specific stain removal and bacterial inhibition function of underwear daily wearing.It will become the consumers’ favorite in the underwear laundry care market in the future.

Sportswear laundry care

Nowadays,more and more office workers choose fitness as their first choice for decompression after daily work.With the continuous growth of national income and health awareness,driven national policies and personal wishes,the “sports fever” drives the demand for professional sportswear laundry care rise year by year.The above advantages promote the optimization of industrial structure and the improvement of formula design in the sports laundry care industry.Many well-known brands have opened new tracks in sports laundry care to actively explore this blue ocean.

After exercise,in order to get rid of the sticky feeling of sweat deposited on the skin surface,wearing “comfortable and breathable” sportswear is the first choice to enjoy the fitness experience.Generally,in the selection of sportswear materials,although pure cotton fabric absorbs sweat,it is not breathable and often sticks to the body after sports,making it more uncomfortable.Worsely,the sweat often takes more than half an hour to gradually dry.The human body is easy to get sick due to the temperature difference before and after sports.Therefore,at present,professional sportswear on the market are usually made of fast drying fabrics with comfortable,good elasticity,good air permeability,quick moisture dissipation and good warmth retention characteristics.Generally,one or more of polypropylene fiber,polyester fiber,Coolmax,Monodry,ACTIVENT,Gore-Tex,CIBA ULTRAPHIL and Thermolite are selected as the main materials.The core advantage of those above materials is to quickly expel sweat,that is,quickly absorb and diffuse the sweat from the skin,and accelerate the evaporation rate by expanding the area as much as possible.

The principle of quick drying of sportswear fabrics usually related to the microporous film structure:Appropriate water repellent fibers,which have less moisture absorption,but through the capillary effect,sweat can be transmitted to the outside of the fabric along the fiber pores and the gap between fibers.Therefore,after the fabric absorbs sweat,the sweat diffuses very fast and evaporates rapidly on the outside of the fabric.In this way,the sportswear will not have the heavy feeling after absorbing sweat,so that the movement can be relaxed and free.

In particular,it should be pointed out that the range of motion is usually large in doing sports,which requires the sportswear to have good tensile and tear resistance.Polyurethane,also known as spandex,has incomparable advantages over other fibers:low density,high breaking strength,good elongation tolerance,and good elasticity.Therefore,the sportswear made of polyurethane fiber has good tensile ductility.It is often used to make swimsuit,gymnastic clothing and other sportswear.

In considering the above characteristics of sportswear,professional sports laundry care products often design as follows:During sports,there are many sebum secreted with sweat.Due to the compatibility with polyester,such sebum stains are often deeply penetrated into fabric fibers and difficult to clean,become the nourishment for bacterial breeding,causing malodors of sportswear.Anionic surfactants widely used in conventional detergents can effectively peel off the dirt adsorbed on cotton fabrics because they have the same negative charge as cotton fabrics;However,in the face of electric neutral sportswear,the cleaning efficacy is greatly reduced.At this time,non-ionic surfactants with similar structure to sebum become the best choice for emulsifying and stripping stains;Elastic spandex fiber,as an important composition of many swimsuits and gymnastic suits,should avoid using detergents containing oxidizing components,because the amino group in spandex is easy to be oxidized and lose its original elasticity.

Softener can reduce the friction between fibers,resulting in the deformation of sportswear.Consumers should carefully read the washing instructions before doing laundry.

From ancient times,sports is an attitude towards life,showing exploration of the limits of human lives.Sportswear provides a guardian for this self-improvement spirit.Sportswear laundry care adheres to the core concept of more comfort and health,helping this "sports spirit" to further surpass itself and never stop.

New laundry care style

Up to now,the laundry care market has been highly differentiated and specialized.Lots of new laundry care demands with regional or professional characteristics are growing year by year,becoming a new blue ocean.

With the post-90s and generation Z becoming the main force of new consumption,the pursuit of personalization has effectively promoted the rapid rise of color care products.Many well-known brands have launched color care laundry products with targeted color replenishment,keep clothes vivid and bright.

The denim wash detergent,which is popular in the European and North American markets,has begun to penetrate into the domestic laundry care market.It focuses on the two core functions of color keeping and shape protection,and comprehensively aims at solving the pain points in washing jeans.

Puffer jacket cleaner is an emerging professional laundry care detergent in China.In view of the defects of strong degreasing power of conventional laundry liquid,which is easy to damage eiderdown and lead to the rapid decline of thermal keeping function,the specially designed low degreasing detergent can effectively work on high value puffer jacket and prolong service life.

Nowadays,Chinese laundry care market is booming fast.With the gradual improvement of quality of life,people have higher requirements for laundry products.The traditional full-effect multi-functional laundry care products have become common.In addition to pursuing the effects of color protection,softness,wrinkle resistance,bacterial inhibition and long lasting fragrance,some highly professional subcategory laundry care products are getting more and more trusted and favored by consumers.