You know how it is. You’ve spent the morning walking the Cinque Terre and arrive, sweaty and revolting, at Vernazza for a late lunch. And it’s only after you’ve completed the final tramp into Monterosso that you discover the remnants of your salted anchovy entree and pasta and tomato main, not to mention the little red that washed it all down, clinging to your shirt. The only shirt you have. Not a lot of coin-op laundries in Monterosso.
This is where Richmond patent attorney and backpacker Ashley Newland enters your life, although to call Newland a backpacker is like calling Pavarotti a singer. He has 40 countries under his belt and it was while in Tanzania climbing Mount Kilimanjaro that he finally figured a solution for getting his laundry done. Maybe it was the thin air up there.
His big idea is proving so popular that while he may have a doctorate in medical research and a masters in industrial property law, Newland’s life these days mostly revolves around other people’s dirty laundry.
Newland invented the Scrubba, a thick polymer bag with a built-in washboard consisting of lots of little Mount Kilimanjaros. You put your laundry in, along with two or three litres of water and some detergent, clip the bag, expel excess air and agitate.
The instructions suggest 20 to 40 seconds but being a Virgo (and thus the fastidious sort) and also an inveterate sauce-spiller, I found it took longer. Rinse your load out in the hotel/hostel/pensione basin and voila, all that’s left to do is hang it out to dry.
The whole Scrubba shooting match weighs just 150 grams and folds up small enough to go in your hip pocket.
Newland has customers in 37 countries. The Scrubba has been reviewed around the world. Newland took the Scrubba to a trade show in January, and put it to market on the internet in June. He has since sold nearly 1000 at $49.95 each, including shipping.
Anyone who has faced a laundry problem overseas knows how tough it can be finding a coin-op laundry, and what a big chunk it takes out of your day. That’s what inspired Newland to find a better way to handle things.
“It’s a very old but highly efficient system of laundering. It was just a matter of developing one that could go in a sealable bag and then getting it all to work.”
It’s not just backpackers buying the Scrubba; he has a lot of grey nomads too.
More details: thescrubba.com
