"This 100% natural blend of neroli, bergamot, jasmine and rosewood is like a piece of paradise locked in a bottle.
That's how the Love Stories brand presents its new household product darlings. Over the past two years, our habits have changed and we're much more concerned about our homes. We spend more time living well at home.
It's not always easy to give a gift when you don't know someone's tastes. So we often fall back on a candle, with an all-purpose scent such as fresh linen or cotton flowers. But that was before. Today, laundry detergent is the new gift of choice, but not just any detergent. We're not talking about the standard detergents you buy in the supermarket without really looking at the brand, but rather whether it cleans your laundry properly. Gone are the pods, which aren't eco-friendly enough and are rather chemical (just look at the back of the packaging to see that even the plastic tub isn't recyclable). Today, we're talking about detergents with sleek packaging that adopt the same marketing strategies as a luxury product. Parisian drugstores, Le Bon Marché, Le BHV Marais and Galeries Lafayette are proud to offer corners dedicated to washing detergents, alongside brands of clothing, home decoration books or dried flowers.
Photo shoots with nature settings, breathtaking landscapes or premium studios, laundry brands are making the world of fashion their own.
Prices aren't all that expensive (from €10), but for the average person this can still be an obstacle when it comes to passing the symbolic €5/6 price tag of the supermarkets. So how do brands try to win over their targets? In the past, when people wanted to treat themselves, they bought flowers, candles or decorative objects. Yes, except that today, our hedonistic behavior is transferred to an object that does both: decoration and utility. And what's more, when these detergents are environmentally clean, we have fewer regrets about indulging ourselves.
Les Petits Bidons and Ecover come in pop and retro colors, while Kerzon plays on simplicity with streamlined packaging and subtle gold prints. Then there are the more minimalist brands like L'alchimiste. And then there are the fashion brands that simply get into laundry, like Love Stories, Dutch lingerie. If we go a step further, we realize that these products have become our new comfort in household chores that we can often do without smiling. With scents of jasmine, pear, neroli and orange blossom, detergents transport us to nostalgic places or plunge us into vacation memories. All while staying at home.
.. Laundry detergent seduces skincare
Looking at the figures, we can see why skincare sees a great opportunity to extend its brand identity to the world of home care: the market for household care products is expected to exceed $334 billion by 2029 (Fortune Business Insights).
Linen care accounts for over 50% of sales, and by 2032 the global linen care market is expected to reach around $145 billion.
Sonia Tabbah