Ironing, linen and textiles in Zoetermeer
Until well into the 1960s, Zoetermeer was a farming village of 7,000 inhabitants along the Dorpsstraat, with the Oude Kerk as its central landmark. In 1962, Zoetermeer was designated by central government as one of the growth centres to absorb the overflow from The Hague, and within thirty years the population had multiplied sevenfold to over 120,000. That is one of the fastest municipal growth spurts in Dutch history.
That growth left a peculiar clothing culture behind. The old Zoetermeer farming community — sternly Reformed, strict Sunday dress, collar and starch — encountered, in the new districts, a generation of urban commuters from The Hague and Rotterdam who wanted to live precisely more informally. The two layers continued to exist alongside each other for decades. In the Oude Kerk on Sunday, the village dress still went on; in Meerzicht and Rokkeveen, office shirts hung drying on the line.
Today Zoetermeer is fully urbanised, with districts such as Oosterheem, Rokkeveen, Meerzicht, Seghwaert and a large Stadshart. The majority of residents work in The Hague, in Zoetermeer itself, or along the Randstad corridor. The Sunday shirt has become a workshirt for one of the four office days a week.
Since 2013 we have been driving from our laundry on the Henricuskade through Zoetermeer on fixed mornings. We collect your laundry, iron everything, and deliver it back with the same driver.
How does Strijkservice Haaglanden work in Zoetermeer?
For residents of Zoetermeer 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.