Smart factory and chip-tracked laundry management attract LG Electronics investment

By Choi A-ri

Published 2025.12.04. 11:10Updated 2025.12.04. 11:44

'Clean Bag' products hanging at Laundrygo's Paju factory on the 24th of last month. /Courtesy of Laundrygo

Uisikju Company, which operates ‘Laundrygo’, a well-known non-face-to-face laundry app, has emerged as a ‘game changer’ in the B2B laundry market. This is the first time Laundrygo has publicly disclosed its B2B factory to the media.

◇ Even Fitness Center Towels Are Now ‘Subscription’

After launching its mobile laundry service in 2019, Laundrygo rapidly expanded in the B2C (business-to-consumer) market. In 2022, it acquired the Clean Nuri factory from Our Home and began to significantly broaden its B2B direction. The factory, which had an annual sales revenue of only 2 billion won at the time, is expected to grow to 13 billion won this year. Currently, it has 49 clients, including five-star hotels, with B2B sales accounting for 20% of total revenue.

The company is expanding beyond simple laundry outsourcing into a ‘rental business.’ It lends linens and uniforms to corporate clients and manages them, a so-called ‘Korean version of Cintas’ model. Hong Jeong-gi, vice president of Uisikju Company, said, “In the U.S. and Europe, 30–40% of hotels and hospitals use rentals, but in Korea, less than one in 100 utilize it, making it an untapped market.” He added, “Combining the domestic accommodation, medical, and uniform markets, the potential rental scale could reach up to 5 trillion won.”

Towels that have completed washing and drying are stacked before being fed into folding equipment. /Courtesy of Laundrygo

Laundrygo's Rail Hanger System automatically transfers hotel linens to ironing equipment when hung, faster than manually feeding items one by one. /Courtesy of Laundrygo

Global leader Cintas and European leader Elis handle everything from uniform and linen supply to laundry and inventory management, growing into companies with market capitalizations exceeding 100 trillion won and 8 trillion won, respectively. In contrast, the domestic market has a structure where hotels directly purchase linens and outsource simple processing to small laundry businesses. The industry estimates the outsourcing rate to be around 60%.

◇ Embedding Data into Laundry

The core technology underpinning the laundry rental service is RFID (radio frequency identification). Traditional hotel laundry was a ‘blind market’ where it was difficult to even determine how many towels were entrusted or where they were lost. Laundrygo inserts chips into all laundry items, tracking their movement from receipt to shipment through data.

Vice President Hong explained, “We can track the number of washes per towel, purchase timing, and remaining lifespan.” He added, “Clients can check inventory status and optimal purchase cycles via the app, significantly reducing personnel and space costs in linen rooms.”

Starting this month, Laundrygo will launch rental services for workout clothes and towels at over 70 locations of a major fitness chain nationwide. Room linen rentals for business hotels are already in operation. Notably, the rental model allows standardization of specifications, further increasing factory automation rates. If towel sizes, which previously varied by store, are unified, tasks like unfolding and folding with automated spreading devices (robots) become much easier. The company plans to expand laundry rental services to include future supply and management of amenities like shampoo, rinse, and store management supplies.

◇ Growing B2B Laundry Market

LG Electronics decided on a strategic investment of 10 billion won in Laundrygo last October. Their strategy is to “actively target the commercial laundry sector in the global B2B home appliance market.” LG Electronics has also signed supply agreements with Wash, the second-largest commercial laundry solution company in the U.S. last year, and CSC Serviceworks, the top company this year, expanding its B2B touchpoints.

The domestic laundry industry is also moving swiftly. While the household market is subject to seasonal and economic fluctuations, hotels, hospitals, and uniforms are stable markets with consistent demand year-round. The ability to process large volumes of laundry at once also improves logistics and labor cost efficiency.

Industry leader Cleantopia has seen its B2B sales grow by an average of 40% annually over the past three years, leveraging its strengths in medical laundry. Last year, it acquired Clean Wash, a hotel laundry specialist, and is expanding corporate uniform and linen rentals. Sae-tak Teok-gong-dae is also reportedly preparing to enter the B2B market.