Pull a freshly washed sweater over your head and you notice two things right away: how it feels and how it smells. When it’s soft and carries the faintest trace of something clean, the whole morning starts a little better.
In New York, getting to that moment takes planning. Plenty of apartments don’t have a washer and dryer, so laundry means a trip to the basement machines or a bag handed off to a service you hope is gentle with your clothes. Luxury laundry isn’t usually the first phrase that comes to mind.
We think it should be, and so does Todd Layne Cleaners, the family-owned laundry and eco-friendly dry cleaner that has been caring for New Yorkers’ clothes since 2006. We’ve teamed up with Todd Layne around our laundry detergent, and along the way we compared notes on what luxury really means when it comes to laundry. Neither of us thinks it has much to do with a fancy label. It comes down to care, taken at every step, from the machine to the fold.
Meet Todd Layne Cleaners
Todd Layne Ofsink opened Todd Layne Cleaners on East 77th Street on August 11, 2006, with an idea that sounds simple and turned out to be rare: let people decide how their laundry gets done.
Twenty years later, that idea, which Todd Layne calls Laundry Your Way, has a lot more behind it. The Upper East Side laundromat at 242 East 77th Street was completely renovated in January 2026 with new Wascomat washers and dryers. That same month, a second storefront opened at 44 Carmine Street in the West Village. Todd Layne picks up and delivers across New York City seven days a week, with early morning and late evening time slots, and the team answers calls and texts from the stores themselves. Staff stay an average of ten years or more.
“We associate luxury with a seamless experience for our clients,” the Todd Layne team told us, “so that laundry and eco-friendly dry cleaning are one less thing that they have to worry about in their busy NYC lives.”
That’s where our part comes in. Todd Layne is the official launderer for LAFCO’s Chamomile Lavender Laundry Detergent, and it sits at the top of the Todd Layne laundry menu as a no-cost upgrade. Any customer can choose it for their order.
The New Definition of Luxury Laundry
Ask two companies that care about craft what luxury means, and you’ll get two different answers. Listen a little longer, though, and you’ll notice they end up in the same place.
How We See It at LAFCO
For us, luxury today is about intention: how something is made, how it performs, and how it makes you feel. We’ve always believed fragrance should be part of how you experience a space, not just something you notice in passing. That belief started with candles and reed diffusers, and laundry was a natural next step.
Here’s the thing most people don’t think about. Laundry is one of the most intimate ways we experience fragrance. It’s in constant contact with your skin, woven into your day from the shirt you pull on in the morning to the pillowcase you fall asleep on. Bringing the craftsmanship of our home fragrance into this category means something routine can feel far more intentional.
How Todd Layne Sees It
Todd Layne starts with the equipment. The team runs Wascomat machines, which it calls the most efficient and gentle washers and dryers in the industry, and pairs them with a menu of premium products. Clothes are folded to each client’s specifications, and special requests get handled, even the late ones.
“Whether it is a question from a new client or a fashion emergency at 11pm on a Friday night, we always respond quickly,” the team says.
Different starting points, same conclusion. The details are the luxury.
Laundry Your Way: Why Customization Matters
Walk down any detergent aisle and you’d think there was only one right way to do laundry. Todd Layne doesn’t buy it. “Many large companies that produce heavily marketed detergents want us to believe that there is only one way to do laundry,” the team says.
Laundry Your Way is their answer. “In simple terms, it means doing laundry the way that someone would do it themselves at home,” they explain. Every client has a profile in Todd Layne’s system that stores their preferences, and the menu covers:
- Detergent, stain fighter, fabric softener, and scent booster
- Water and dryer temperature
- Air or hang drying for delicates and gym gear
- Fold method and any other special instructions
Clients with allergies and chemical sensitivities get an extra layer of care. A designated washing machine is flushed and run with vinegar before their clothes go in. The load is washed with hypoallergenic and natural products, and the dryer is wiped down and sanitized first. There’s a dedicated service for baby laundry, too.
Then there’s the side of customization Todd Layne is most passionate about. According to the team, many low-cost laundry services don’t wash anything themselves. They send orders to a commercial facility, where each customer’s clothes go into a mesh bag and share a machine with everyone else’s. “You wouldn’t take a bubble bath with strangers,” as the team likes to say, “why would you want your laundry to do the same?”
If you use a wash and fold service, it’s worth asking two questions before you hand over the bag: where your clothes are actually washed, and whether your order goes into a machine on its own.
Inside LAFCO’s Chamomile Lavender Laundry Detergent
When we created our detergent, we approached it the way we approach any fragrance, with formulation first. Care, for us, means choosing high-quality ingredients and balancing them so they enhance rather than overwhelm. With laundry, it also means respecting the fabric while leaving behind something subtle that lasts.
The result is an Allure Best of Beauty award winner and our idea of what a luxury laundry detergent should be. The plant-powered formula relies on proprietary bio-enzymes to break down stains, dirt, and odors at the source. There are six enzymes in the formula, and each one targets a different kind of mess, which is the secret to how plant-based laundry detergent works. Protease goes after protein stains like sweat, lipase handles grease and oils, and amylase breaks down starchy food spills.
The formula is biodegradable and works well in cold water. It’s concentrated, too, so half a fluid ounce is enough for a small load and one fluid ounce covers a medium to large or heavily soiled one. Todd Layne’s own testing found that its customers are delighted with it.
Then there’s the fragrance. Chamomile Lavender opens with warm, sweet chamomile and bright bergamot. The heart is lavender and eucalyptus, and the finish brings in rosemary, patchouli, and honey flower. It’s soft enough to live on your sheets without taking over the room. It’s also the same fragrance as our Chamomile Lavender Signature Candle, the House & Home Collection’s scent for the bedroom. Make the bed with freshly washed linens and light the candle on the nightstand, and the room smells of one fragrance from pillow to wick.
How Scent Signals Clean
Scent might be the most personal choice on Todd Layne’s menu. Some clients have sensitivities and prefer no scent at all. Most enjoy a light, fresh scent, and a few want a little more. For nearly everyone, though, fragrance does a job beyond smelling nice.
“The proper scent is a sign to clients that clothing has been cleaned properly,” the team says. “Besides sight, the sense of smell is a true indicator of cleanliness.”
We couldn’t agree more. The good news is that you can dial fragrance up or down at home, just as Todd Layne does for its clients.
For a Light Trace
Use the detergent on its own. The fragrance comes through softly on clothes and linens, which is exactly where most people like it.
For a Little More
Add the Scented Dryer Ball Set. It comes with three New Zealand wool dryer balls and a bottle of Chamomile Lavender Laundry Fragrance Oil. Add 6 to 8 drops to each ball and toss them in the dryer, where they also soften fabrics and help them dry faster. For a stronger scent, add the oil 15 minutes before the drying cycle ends.
Think of it as a gentler laundry scent booster, minus the waxy residue dryer sheets can leave behind (we compare the two in wool dryer balls vs. dryer sheets). The balls are reusable for over 1,000 loads, and when the bottle runs low, the Laundry Fragrance Oil refill keeps them going.
Between Washes
Tuck a Chamomile Lavender Scented Sachet into the drawer or closet where your clean laundry lives. It’s made from Libeco Belgian linen and scented resin, and it lasts four months or more in small spaces. Keep it away from plastic bins and bags, since plastic is sensitive to the scented resin.
Sustainability That Shows Up in Every Load
Sustainability can sound like a big, abstract promise. In laundry, it mostly lives in small details.
At Todd Layne, those details start in the laundromat. The new washers spin faster, which pulls more water out of each load before it reaches the dryer. “By having clothing spin faster in our new washers, less time is required for drying,” the team explains. “This in turn saves energy while also preserving the color, feel and longevity of garments.”
Deliveries get the same thinking. A “sustainable window” from 12 to 3 p.m. lets the team consolidate orders for customers who live near the stores, which means fewer trips and a smaller carbon footprint. Todd Layne also offers two methods of eco-friendly dry cleaning, one of which uses water and natural solvents. That’s a meaningful choice in an industry that has long relied on perchloroethylene, or perc, a solvent the EPA is phasing out of dry cleaning over 10 years. Garments are finished with gentle steam instead of hot irons.
At LAFCO, we see sustainability as closely tied to quality and longevity. We focus on clean, responsibly sourced ingredients and formulas designed to perform without compromise. In laundry care, that means products that are effective yet gentle, supporting the integrity of the fabric while still delivering a refined fragrance.
How to Bring Luxury Laundry Home
You don’t need a commercial laundromat to borrow Todd Layne’s best habits. A few small changes at home go a long way.
- Write your own laundry profile. Todd Layne keeps one for every client, and you can do the same with a note in your laundry area. List what needs cold water, what gets air dried, and how you like things folded, so anyone in the house can do the wash your way.
- Wash cold when you can. According to ENERGY STAR, water heating uses about 90% of the energy it takes to run a clothes washer, and cold water does a good job on most loads unless you’re dealing with oily stains. An enzyme detergent that works in cold water makes the switch easy.
- Measure, don’t pour. More detergent doesn’t mean cleaner clothes, and the extra can be harder to rinse out. That matters most for anyone in the market for a laundry detergent for sensitive skin. Follow the label for your load size, and leave the machine room to rinse.
- Pick the high spin setting. A faster spin leaves less water behind, so clothes spend less time in the dryer. Save the gentler spin for delicates.
- Let delicates and gym gear air dry. Heat is hard on fine knits and stretchy fabrics. Lay sweaters flat to dry and hang workout clothes, the same options Todd Layne offers on its menu.
- Give your machine a reset. Borrow Todd Layne’s vinegar flush and run an empty hot cycle with white vinegar every so often. It’s one of the simplest ways to keep your laundry smelling good naturally.
One Less Thing to Worry About
Clean laundry is one of the few things that touches your skin every single day. It deserves to be done with care.
That’s what this collaboration is about. Todd Layne brings two decades of doing laundry exactly the way its clients want it, and we bring a fragrance that makes clean clothes feel like a small luxury. If you’re in New York City, you can try the pairing by choosing LAFCO detergent on your next Todd Layne order. Wherever you are, the same care can start in your own laundry room.
Everything for a Chamomile Lavender laundry day lives in LAFCO’s Laundry & Cleaning collection.