Poplin (formerly SudShare) is an American company which allows people to hire

independent contractors Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any other ...

to wash, dry, fold, and deliver

laundry Laundry refers to the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with t ...

. SudShare was co-founded in 2018 by Mort and Nachshon Fertel in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, and operates through a

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

of the same name. The service is available in over 400 American cities.

History

SudShare was developed as a

in 2017 by Nachshon Fertel, one of three teenage triplet siblings in a family of seven. The software was developed while Nachshon Fertel was a high school sophomore student at a

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

, where he earned science credits for developing the app after school hours. The Fertel family initially washed clients' laundry themselves, then began signing up contractors as demand expanded. The idea for the business model came from Ari Fertel, the Fertel triplet's mother, who was tired of doing laundry for the entire family. She challenged Nachshon Fertel to create an app that would allow her to outsource the task. According to Ari Fertel, "the kids wouldn’t help with the laundry, but they solved the problem for me with code." The company was formally launched and co-founded in 2018 in

, with a later expansion in Norfolk and

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. Mort Fertel, Nachshon Fertel's father, took the role of CEO. Nachshon Fertel currently serves as Chief Technology Officer. His triplet brother, Moshe Fertel, is

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

. Over the course of 2021, SudShare expanded to cover over 400 cities across America, and according to the company, has over 50,000 independent contractors using the app. The business does not generally cover

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

or remote areas, due to increased costs of transportation.

Operations

SudShare operates through a

, with in-app options giving consumers a choice of cleaning methods. Repeat customers can choose who services them. SudShare is used by independent contractors it calls "Sudsters," who pick up, clean, fold, and deliver user's laundry, often using their own washer and dryer, rather than a laundromat's. The service offers in-app training for new contractors, and allows them to choose which new orders to take on, if any. The app also uses a rating system in which higher-rated contractors get access to more orders. Contractors take a 75% commission for each transaction, plus tips.

Reception

SudShare's business model has been compared to other platform economy companies such as

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

, which profits through gig workers using the service. According to marketing professor Marie Yeh, of

Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in the ...

, "There are going to be some consumers who aren’t going to like that idea of people touching your clothes," potentially leading to lowered demand for the service. The company's use of service workers to outsource laundry has also been compared to the use of dhobis in India, a group of castes in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

whose traditional occupations are washing and ironing clothes. SudShare is part of a larger movement of on-demand laundry startups, with competitors such as Tide Cleaners, Rinse, Royal Clean and Hampr, which offer similar competing services.

References

{{reflist Laundry businesses Family-owned companies of the United States Companies established in 2018 Online companies of the United States Privately held companies of the United States Location-based software Freelance marketplace websites Cleaning companies

History

Operations

Reception

See also

References