In India, professional communities of Dhobis provide the de-facto service for washing large number of cloths. They provide essential services to almost all parts of semi urban and urban areas in India. Despite the potential market size, they are under-explored user group. The problem lies in the fact that most of the explorations for washing cloths have not been looked at withu understanding contextual needs.

This collaboration attempts to decipher the needs and requirements of the Dhobi community in India. The study will be conducted in Assam, a north eastern state of India. It will combine and collate the research with that of P&G and formulate insights for further product development. Based on these insights, the project will propose ideas in the field of ICT, product design and product strategy. The following potential areas are mainly targeted for this collaboration:

Water consumption
Increased productivity
Impact on health, especially skin diseases
Testing on new rinse/wash solutions
Landscaping strategy

This project is in collaboration with P&G Research Labs (Brussels)