eaker Laundry after looking for a solution to clean his sneakers rather than throwing them away when they got dirty. “All there [was on the market] were cobblers who didn’t know anything about the latest sneakers and how to look after them. Nothing really existed to look after your sneakers. So I started the Sneaker Laundry and we were Australia’s first sneaker care shop in 2017,” he told Inside Retail. Being first on the market has been a challenging and expensive journey for the company, as it had to experiment, make mistakes, learn and adapt quickly. “The rest of our competitors, they have it easy. They just have to see what we’ve done, and copy. But lucky for us, we love innovating. We love coming up with new products and testing how to make ourselves more and more efficient and effective at what we do,” he added. Cheng explained that Sneaker Laundry’s main point of difference is its product line. He claims the company has the most extensive range of sneaker care products available, which the team of experts also use in-store. “Our staff are so experienced and we have such a wealth of knowledge around sneakers and cleaning them that you can feel trusted leaving your sneakers with us knowing if there’s anyone that can get that stain out, it’s us,” he noted. Cheng said that oftentimes people bring sneakers in from other sneaker laundries or even from their attempts at home and ask the team to give it their best shot to try to improve it. Why Bangkok? Outside of Australia, Sneaker Laundry has two stores in the Middle East through a franchise agreement with a local operator, and Cheng has been exploring other overseas markets for some time.  Thailand made sense because of the population density, mature fashion industry and the booming luxury goods market, he said. “Wages in Bangkok are infinitely lower but with our knowledge and training systems, we’re able to provide a premium service to a high-end luxury goods customer who is willing to pay for that trust and that confidence knowing their sneakers are in good hands,” he explained. The partnership with John’s Laundry was also a no-brainer as it already has an existing distribution network, staffing, customer database and retail tenancies for Cheng to work with and leverage. In Bangkok, customers have the option of getting their sneakers picked up or dropped off by a delivery driver. Alternatively, they can drop it off at one of four locations in the city. “Without this partnership, it would have been a large investment off the bat and a long road to profitability with a much lower accessibility to the service for the customer,” Cheng opined. Physical locations matter While there are costs to physical retail, Cheng sees it as key to building trust with consumers and other stakeholders.  “It gives your partners, other collaborating brands, suppliers, leasing agents verification and confidence they need to make plans into the next few years with you,” he said. There’s also an experiential element that is hard to quantify but that Cheng believes is significant. “I think brick-and-mortar will never die. Everyone loves an experience, and much like they’ve always loved to see the dumpling lady at work, they now love to see the Sneaker Laundry team working in the windows,” he elaborated. While Sneaker Laundry started off targeting the niche community of sneaker obsessives, Cheng explained that the company is becoming a mass-market service. “Anybody who buys shoes now sees the value in keeping them clean. It’s almost counterintuitive to do your laundry but wear a dirty pair of shoes around,” he added. Holistic strategies To connect with the local market in Thailand, Cheng plans to emphasize the convenience of its outsourcing sneaker cleaning and using its pickup and dropoff services, so that customers don’t have to battle Bangkok traffic to get to them. “We’ll be providing all our tips and tricks, but localized in Thai over time via our social media channels to hopefully encourage better sneaker care,” he noted. While John’s Laundry’s existing customer base and network are a great boon for the company, Cheng will still be trying to reach new customers via email, SMS, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. “We’ll be using retail displays and also leveraging each other’s brands through cross-promotion and upselling. We plan to push a subscription service in Bangkok where customers can get up to two cleans a month with 25-35 per cent savings,” he explained. Back in its home market of Australia, Cheng said that the company will be opening its first concept store in Sydney’s CBD soon, and it will serve as its flagship location. Further reading: “Running is on trend right now”: New Balance expands hybrid retail model