Ironing, linen and textiles in Leiden
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Leiden was the largest textile city in Europe. After the Fall of Antwerp in 1585, thousands of Flemish weavers fled to the Republic, and a great many settled in Leiden. There they built up an industry in 'the new drapery' — fine woollen cloths such as says, bays, grograms and ratteens. At its peak around 1670, some 100,000 people were working in the Leiden cloth industry; at that moment Leiden was, after Amsterdam, the largest city in the Republic.
The textile city ran along its own fixed sequence of buildings. In the Lakenhal, every bale of cloth was inspected, stamped and given a lead seal — the three cloth-crosses of the city. In the fulling mills along the Rhine, fabrics were thickened. In the dye-houses they took on their colour. In the press-houses, with heavy wooden screw presses, they were pressed flat to give them lustre. The final step was always 'the ironing' — where the cloth was finished with heated irons to remove every last irregularity. That was meticulous work, and decided whether a piece of cloth was sold as first, second or third quality.
The textile industry has gone; the Lakenhal still exists as a museum. Leiden is now a university city of students, doctors, museum staff and many dual-income households in the Vogelwijk, Stevenshof and Roomburg. There is still a quiet appreciation in this city for cloth that is well finished.
Since 2013 we have been driving from our laundry on the Henricuskade through Leiden on fixed mornings. We collect your laundry, iron everything with care, and deliver it back with the same driver — on the agreed day.
How does Strijkservice Haaglanden work in Leiden?
For residents of Leiden our service works exactly as in the rest of Haaglanden: on a fixed day of the week our driver comes by, picks up your laundry bag and brings your laundry back clean and crisply ironed. No appointment needed — your routine is set.
You get one regular driver and a fixed pickup rhythm so you always know what to expect. No carrying, no full drying racks in the living room, no evenings at the ironing board.
Everything is handled in our own laundry on Henricuskade in The Hague. Shirts, blouses, table linen, bed and bath textiles — we iron it the way it should go back into the cupboard at home, neatly folded and ready to use.