Swash Lets You Dry Clean at Home on the Cheap

Is dry cleaning your clothes getting too expensive for you? Procter & Gamble has an alternative that might fill a niche in the marketplace.

Every time there’s a new and improved way to dry clean clothes, there’s a lot of media interest. In my TV work, we always test these things out because they make for great visual stories.

I remember long ago, we tested a washable men’s suit that was popular in Europe. We soiled the suit and washed it in a washing machine. Guess what? It worked. The suit came out looking great and was wrinkle-free, just as the product advertised. But that one never really caught on here in America because so few of us wear suits on a daily basis.

Dry cleaning at home gets easier

P&G is now rolling out a new $500 machine called the Swash. The Swash “uses gel-filled pods to help neutralize odors, remove wrinkles and restore a garment’s fit,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

(I expect the price tag on the unit to come down over time.)

The pods cost $6.99 for a 12-pack and they are single-use only. The puts the cost of “swashing” your suit or blouse at around 50 cents (after you buy the unit). For those who wear clothes that have to be dry cleaned and spend a fortune, this could ultimately be a big savings.

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Best of all “swashing” only takes 10 minutes! “It’s like a microwave for your clothes,” says Mike Grieff, P&G’s research and development director for new business creation and innovation. “You can’t use a microwave to cook Thanksgiving dinner, right? But there’s a lot of fantastic things you can do in the microwave relative to the stove or the oven.”

The Swash unit is about 4 feet tall. Yet despite the size, P&G found people didn’t want this thing with their washer and dryer. So it’s been designed to fit in a closet off the master bedroom or in the bathroom. People want this where their clothes are kept.

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