WASH STOP: Self service laundry in Rio de Janeiro (Photo vozsdascomunidades)
being an absolute leader the self-service segment, with a market share of over 60%. According to Isaelson Oliveira, CEO of Grupo Hi, the holding company, which controls Lavanderia 60 Minutos, the ongoing development of the sector is directly linked to the change in consumer mindset and the advancement of technology.
“Brazilians are learning that time is the new asset. Self-service laundromats represent this: efficiency, predictability, and freedom. It’s a business that combines convenience for the customer and stability for the investor,” he said. Another major local player is OMO, which was one of the first to operate the self-service model in Brazil. Currently, this Unilever brand has more than 300 outlets in all regions of Brazil. OMO Shared Laundry is a presence in condominiums where it now has 2,500 units. The company plans to expand its network of launderettes by up to 500 units already by 2026. Finally, 5àSec, the French multinational,
which has been present in Brazil for 30 years now brings a more traditional laundry model to the market. With an already consolidated market share, 5àsec, created the Lav Pop self-service units in 2023.
With revenues of R$290 million in 2024
and expectations of reaching R$320 million in 2025, the company has a total of 580 locations across all Brazilian states, with almost 100 being Lav Pop units. “We project that by the end of 2025, the brand will have 200 units and, in five years, we will reach 500 operations in the country using this model,” says Fábio Roth, CEO of 5àsec.
He says that 5àSec was born, and continues to operate, in the specialised laundry market, offering traditional cleaning and ironing services, while possessing exclusive technology for the treatment of delicate and everyday clothing.
“But we have demands from younger and more democratic audiences, who seek the cost-benefit ratio of having autonomous service with professional equipment, in order to have speed and efficiency at a low cost. It is a global trend resulting from the fact that cities are becoming more vertical, with less space in homes for service areas, smaller families in which everyone works, but need to invest less in this aspect within the household budget,” says Roth. Roth believes that the self-service model will continue to enjoy big demand in the Brazil laundry and drycleaning sector in the coming years, which is mainly due to a big pent-up demand.
“Many brands emerged without any expertise in the sector and without professional equipment or high-tech chemicals. I believe that consumers will promote a natural selection and, in a few years, we will have the service widespread with more solid brands and in smaller numbers,” he adds.
In the meantime, an active development of the self-service laundry sector is also part of state plans to reduce the burden of care work on domestic citizens, particularly women. For this purpose, the Brazilian state also announced its plans to allocate of R$ 13 million, that will be used in the building of 17 public and community laundries throughout the country. This initiative is part of the National Care Plan, which aims to guarantee the rights established by the National Care Policy, sanctioned in December 2024 by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
According to state data, the burden of care work in Brazil is significant: the most recent data from the 2022 Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua) shows that women dedicate, on average, 21.3 hours per week to housework and caring for others – almost double the average for men (11.7 hours). Among Black women and those with low incomes, these hours are even longer.
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