European giant Elis has bought Oxwash, the UK-based industry ‘disruptor’ which has pioneered carbon-neutral, low-impact commercial laundry technology.
For the French owners of a business with 55,000 employees worldwide and operating some 440 production sites and service centres, it’s a chance to expand their sustainability strategy, reinforcing a commitment to industrial decarbonisation and the future of circular textile care.
They see Oxwash’s data-driven technology which enables carbon-neutral operations, microfibre capture, and ultra-efficient water and energy use as something which can be integrated across Elis’s network.
As for the Oxwash team, CEO and founder Dr Kyle Grant-Talbot says: “Joining Elis, a company recognised by Ecovardis and committed to its Science Based Targets, provides Oxwash with an excellent fit for our carbon-neutral model, accelerating the transformation of textile care into a truly sustainable industry.”
Grant-Talbot, who’d previously worked at NASA & SpaceX, came into the UK laundry industry in 2018, determined to shake it up. The pioneer, some would say buccaneer, started with cycling around Oxford collecting students’ laundry, in an operation co-founded with Tom De Wilton while both were conducting PHDs there.
The business grew to three ‘lagoons’ servicing laundry. In 2022 Oxwash acquired £10 million Series A funding to expand their services and further disrupt what was described as ‘the antiquated laundry and waste industries’ by financiers. Grant-Talbot then set out to see if his operation could be scaled-up to handle large amounts of healthcare and hospitality linen while strictly sticking to the environment-driven ethos of Oxwash.
The result was Big Blue, a 20,000 square feet industrial laundry and wetcleaning facility in Swindon, with Grant-Talbot and his team revelling in their plans for the world’s first carbon-neutral industrial laundry plant. Laundry & Cleaning Today visited Big Blue while it was still taking shape last year and wondered ‘What next?’.
Well, that question has been answered and Mark Franklin, CEO of Elis UK, says: “This development will strengthen our network in the UK and support our ongoing
commitment to delivering sustainable, high-quality textile services to customers across the country.”
Earlier this year Elis also acquired O.C.L. Laundry Services Limited (OCL) in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, Ireland. At the time OCL employed 170 people and delivered revenue of circa 17 million euros in 2024. No financial information was revealed for that deal, and none has been forthcoming for the Oxwash acquisition.
As it expands Elis is prioritising rental over purchase, eco design, using and reusing products, repairing, and end-of-life recycling across its workwear, linen, mats and washroom facilities across its empire.
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