Ironing, linen and textiles in Schiedam
Schiedam runs on jenever. As early as the seventeenth century, dozens of distilleries and refineries stood within the town's canals; at the height of the so-called 'Black Successors' around 1880, Schiedam counted more than 400 distilleries and four of the tallest windmills in the world, all of them grain-fired. That produced a very particular working population: the 'distillery hand' — in long leather aprons, with starched linen shirts beneath them and a sturdy woollen cap on top.
For those aprons, shirts and caps a separate maintenance industry existed in Schiedam. The leather apron was treated by the tanner; the linen shirt went to the local washerwoman; the cap was brushed by the wife herself. But the starch on a distillery hand's Sunday shirt was famous: extra stiff, with extra gloss, so it could be worn between church and pub on Sundays without picking up a single crease. It produced a visible pride.
The jenever industry has shrunk — Nolet and De Kuyper remain, along with Royal Distillers and a handful of smaller producers — but the townscape with its enormous mills and distillery buildings still stands. Schiedam is now home mainly to commuters and middle-class families in Groenoord, Spaland and Kethel-Oost, who are no less particular about their shirts.
Since 2013 we have been driving from our laundry on the Henricuskade through Schiedam on fixed mornings. We collect your laundry, iron everything, and deliver it back — with the same driver, on the same day.
How does Strijkservice Haaglanden work in Schiedam?
For residents of Schiedam 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.