This weekend at Bay to Breakers, Rinse brought San Francisco something the city doesn't see often: a system designed to keep ambitious people ready for whatever's next. 

The pitch was underwear you never have to wash.

Or more accurately: laundry you never have to think about.

We printed this concept on shirts, put it on billboards, and sent people into the middle of the city’s most chaotic, colorful tradition with QR codes that said:

“Ask me about the underwear you never have to wash.”

And people did.

Some laughed immediately. Others assumed we were promoting some kind of futuristic garment. Some stopped mid-run to ask questions. And that’s when people got it–that this wasn’t really about underwear. The invitation was about creating conditions for a more ambitious life. Laundry is the task still running manually in the background of an otherwise designed life. It got everyone thinking:

What if San Francisco’s builders, founders, creators, and operators could stay ready for the work that drives this city forward? What if the next great idea didn’t lose an hour of momentum to laundry day?

“We’re giving Sundays back. Want one?” quickly became a shared line between our team, the runners, and people throughout the race. But the Sunday isn't the prize. What you do with it is. As Rinse CMO Jennifer Betka told The CMO Wire, "We aren't just giving people laundry and dry cleaning. We're giving people space to run faster toward whatever is meaningful in their life."

People stopped to take photos of the signs, scan QR codes, and ask questions about Rinse all along the route. Everywhere we looked, people were bringing Rinse into the energy of the day: laughing with our sign holders, tagging friends in photos, and carrying the conversation forward through the city. Again and again, we heard versions of the same reaction: “Honestly, this is the kind of tech I actually need.”

Bay to Breakers felt like the perfect place to explore these ideas around a life well-lived, one where we make space to pursue the fun of a good run. The event runs on collective energy: people moving through the city together, helping carry each other forward. That spirit connects closely to The Loop, our ongoing exploration of the systems, routines, and support structures that quietly keep people ready.

People don’t move to San Francisco to spend their weekends doing laundry. They move to SF to build, explore, connect, create, and experience life alongside each other. They’re looking for fewer recurring logistics. Fewer background tasks. More systems that quietly support the life they actually want to live. That’s why the idea resonated so deeply at Bay to Breakers. Not because people want “high tech underwear,” but because they want infrastructure that supports momentum.

Rinse isn't a convenience you reach for when the week gets away from you. It's the layer that completes an otherwise optimized life. You've automated your groceries, your finances, your personal productivity. Laundry is the next one to solve. Bay to Breakers reminded us that sometimes the best way to start that conversation is with something unexpected.

Or, apparently, with underwear.

Laundry isn’t just a task. At Rinse, it’s a system—engineered for efficiency, at scale. We’re introducing our efforts to explore how that system can drive more sustainable outcomes.

Every time you use Rinse, your clothes move through a series of micro systems–interconnected loops within our Rinse system–that shape how long they last, how much energy is used, and how much waste is created along the way.

Chronicling Our Journey 

In The Loop, we share the experiments and outcomes that help us continuously refine our system. Fittingly, that system is built on interconnected loops—and strengthening them is how we move closer to more sustainable outcomes. Along the way, we’ll take you on our journey of exploring how Rinse helps extend the life of your clothes and reduces waste. This includes:

• Clothing care: How clothes are cleaned

• Logistics: How a garment moves through our network

• Materials: What travels with the clothing

• Resources: What’s used along the way

The Rinse System You Don’t See

There isn’t just one way to care for clothes. Different systems create different outcomes.

Some are:

• Fragmented

• Resource-intensive

• Harder on garments

Others are:

• Coordinated

• More efficient

• Designed to keep clothes in use longer

At Rinse, we’ve built our system with the aim of keeping your clothes in use for longer–and reducing complexity in your life.

Rinse is designed to handle this complexity for you. It’s intentionally invisible. It works in the background so you don’t have to think about it.

But invisibility doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter.

At our scale, small decisions—how we clean garments, how they move through our network, what materials we use—add up quickly.

Keeping You in The Loop

We are taking a closer look at our system and how we operate every day. We’re examining how it works and how it can be refined over time. We are introducing The Loop as a way of making that thinking more visible.  We are opening a dialogue about laundry with intention–clothing care in practice, and how thoughtful improvements can keep clothes in use for longer with less waste over time.

In the near future, we’ll be breaking this system down by:

• Interconnected system loops

• How they work

• What happens when new ideas are put to the test

• How we evaluate progress

Because circularity isn’t about one perfect solution. It’s about starting with a system designed to work and improving it over time.

The Loop is an ongoing series and an open dialogue. If there’s something you think we should explore, bring it into The Loop by submitting your ideas to [email protected].

A lot of San Francisco housing was built before in-unit laundry was standard. Victorians, Edwardians, and older apartments across the city still send residents to a shared basement machine or the corner laundromat, and even people with their own washer face a wardrobe a home machine cannot fully handle. Add a demanding job, and doing it all yourself stops being realistic, so the real question becomes who to trust with the clothes you care about. Rinse is a laundry and dry cleaning pickup and delivery service that collects your clothes, cleans them professionally, and returns them folded or pressed to your door. Here is how it compares.

What are the alternatives to the laundromat in San Francisco?

For a San Francisco professional, the laundromat is rarely the only option, and rarely the best one. The real choices are doing it yourself at home, using one of the pickup-and-delivery services that operate in the city, or using Rinse. Doing it at home assumes you have a machine, which much of the city's older housing does not, and even then it leaves the washing, the folding, and any dry cleaning to you. A delivery service removes the trip, but the services are not interchangeable, which is the part worth slowing down on.

With Rinse, a single pickup covers both laundry and dry cleaning. You schedule any day of the week, a Valet collects your clothes between 8pm and 10pm, and everything comes back clean, folded or pressed, and ready to wear. You book by text, get an ETA window before the Valet arrives, and track the Valet in real time, seven nights a week.

How is Rinse different from other laundry and dry cleaning delivery services?

Pickup and delivery is common in San Francisco now, so the real question is who handles your clothes once they leave your door. A few things set Rinse apart.

Rinse Valets are W-2 employees who receive benefits, not gig contractors, so the person handling your wardrobe is accountable to the same company that stands behind the work. Rinse vets its cleaning partners and equips them with standardized procedures and products, so every order meets Rinse's environmental and sustainability standards. One pickup covers Wash & Fold, Hang Dry, and Dry Cleaning pieces together, rather than laundry alone. And every order is backed by the Rinse Guarantee: if you are not happy with the cleaning, Rinse re-cleans it at no charge. With more than 6,000 reviews across major metropolitan areas in North America, it is an established, trusted service for people.

Do you still need Rinse if you have a washer and dryer at home?

Plenty of people here, especially in newer buildings, do have in-unit laundry, which makes it fair to ask whether a service is worth it. A home washer and dryer only take you so far, though. They handle everyday loads, but they cannot dry clean or press, and the pieces that matter most are exactly the ones a home machine is not built for: a wool suit, a crisp dress shirt, a silk blouse, or a merino sweater that a single hot cycle can shrink. Even when the everyday laundry is covered at home, those pieces still need a professional, and Rinse takes both in the same pickup.

Why does professional garment care matter in San Francisco?

San Francisco's cool, foggy climate keeps wool, technical layers, and premium denim in rotation all year, so they are cleaned far more often than they would be in a four-season city, and that frequency is where good clothes get damaged.

Wool shrinks when heat and agitation lock its fibers together, which is why a hot wash and a tumble dry can ruin a sweater. Rinse's own guidance is to wash wool in cold water, skip fabric softener, and dry it flat (source: Rinse, "How to Wash Wool Sweaters"). Premium denim has its own rules, and structured pieces like wool suits and delicates like silk belong with a professional rather than in a home or shared machine (source: Rinse, "Which Pieces You Should (and Shouldn't) Dry Clean"). Matching each garment's care requirements is what protects a wardrobe worn this hard.

Does Rinse Go make sense for a busy schedule?

Rinse Go, Rinse's subscription, turns regular use into predictable savings: unlimited no-fee pickup and delivery across all services, no order minimums, and waived Next-Day Rush fees. For a wardrobe in year-round rotation, that adds up quickly. You can also use Rinse without a subscription and pay per order, but for most working wardrobes here, Rinse Go takes the math out of every pickup.

Why do San Francisco professionals choose Rinse?

Because a good wardrobe gets real use here, choosing who cleans it matters, and Rinse is built to be the service you do not have to think about, with accountable people, vetted green cleaning, and a guarantee behind every order. Handing off laundry and dry cleaning is a form of self-respect, and it keeps you ready for the week without an errand hanging over it. That is what Rinse is for: a better system for how San Francisco already lives.

Learn more in the Rinse clothing care guide, or see Rinse dry cleaning and laundry service in San Francisco.

In Los Angeles media, entertainment, and creative work, how you show up is part of the job. A wardrobe is a working tool, and a faded, misshapen, or badly cleaned piece carries a real cost in rooms where presentation is part of being taken seriously. Keeping that wardrobe sharp in a city built around distance and traffic is already a logistics problem, and Los Angeles is full of services that will pick your clothes up, which turns the real question into who you trust to handle them. Rinse is a laundry and dry cleaning pickup and delivery service that collects your clothes, cleans them professionally, and returns them to your door. Here is how it compares.

What are the alternatives to the laundromat in Los Angeles?

In Los Angeles, distance shapes every option. A laundromat or a dry cleaner is rarely around the corner, so a drop-off becomes a cross-town errand that eats an hour once you add traffic and parking. That leaves three realistic choices: do it yourself at home, use one of the many pickup-and-delivery services in the city, or use Rinse. Home laundry is common here, since a lot of homes have their own machines, but a washer and dryer only go so far, and the delivery services vary widely in how they treat your clothes.

With Rinse, a single pickup covers both laundry and dry cleaning. You schedule any day of the week, a Valet collects your clothes between 8pm and 10pm, and everything comes back clean, folded or pressed, and ready to wear. You book by text, get an ETA window before the Valet arrives, and track the Valet in real time, seven nights a week, so pickup fits around a shoot day or a late meeting rather than the reverse.

How is Rinse different from other laundry and dry cleaning delivery services?

Los Angeles has no shortage of apps and services that will pick up your laundry, so the question is who handles your clothes once they are out of your hands. When a wardrobe is part of your work, that choice matters even more.

Rinse Valets are W-2 employees who receive benefits, not gig contractors, so the person collecting and returning your clothes is accountable to the same company that stands behind the cleaning. Rinse vets its cleaning partners and equips them with standardized procedures and products, so every order meets Rinse's environmental and sustainability standards. One pickup covers Wash & Fold, Hang Dry, and Dry Cleaning pieces together. And every order carries the Rinse Guarantee: if the cleaning is not right, Rinse re-cleans it at no charge. With more than 6,000 reviews across major metropolitan areas in North America, it is an established service people trust.

Do you still need Rinse if you have a washer and dryer at home?

Because so much of Los Angeles lives in single-family homes, plenty of people already have a washer and dryer, which makes the in-home option real competition. But a home machine covers everyday loads only. It cannot dry clean, it cannot press, and it will quietly damage the statement pieces, tailoring, and silk a working wardrobe runs on. It can set a sweat stain or fade a fabric that should have gone to a professional. So even with laundry handled at home, the pieces you are judged in still need a professional, and Rinse takes both in the same pickup.

Why does professional care matter for a Los Angeles wardrobe?

Professional pieces show wear that a casual wardrobe can hide, and Los Angeles speeds that wear with two forces: relentless sun and heat. Both are hard on the delicate, statement pieces this wardrobe leans on. Silk is the clearest example. Rinse's own care guidance notes that silk is particularly susceptible to damage from heat and light, that perspiration can leave stains that only surface later, and that silk is best trusted to a professional dry cleaner (source: Rinse, "The 4 Most Commonly Asked Questions About Silk").

Structured pieces have their own rules. Suits and most professional wear, along with other delicates, belong with a professional rather than in a home or shared machine (source: Rinse, "Which Pieces You Should (and Shouldn't) Dry Clean"). Following each garment's care requirements, and keeping tailoring pressed and in shape, is exactly what a shared machine on one setting cannot do.

Does Rinse Go make sense for a busy schedule?

Yes, and more clearly than it might seem. Rinse Go, Rinse's subscription, turns regular use into predictable savings: unlimited no-fee pickup and delivery across all services, no order minimums, and waived Next-Day Rush fees. Those waived rush fees matter most for how Los Angeles works, since creative and production schedules are irregular and a piece often has to be back the next day when a shoot or meeting lands without warning. You can also use Rinse without a subscription and pay per order, but for most working wardrobes here, Rinse Go takes the math out of every pickup.

Why do Los Angeles professionals choose Rinse?

Because when your wardrobe is part of how you get hired and taken seriously, keeping it in good shape is a working necessity, and who you hand it to is part of that. Rinse is built to be the service you do not have to second-guess, with accountable people, vetted green cleaning, and a guarantee behind every order. Handing it off is a form of self-respect, and it keeps you ready to show up without an errand hanging over the day. That is what Rinse is for: a better system for how Los Angeles already works.

Learn more in the Rinse clothing care guide, or see Rinse dry cleaning and laundry service in Los Angeles.

Washington leans on formal clothes more than most American cities. A large share of the workforce is in government and the professions around it, where a dress code still comes with the job, so dry cleaning is a routine part of life here in a way it is not everywhere. Business casual is the everyday norm, but the suit still has to be ready the moment a hearing, a court date, or a client meeting calls for one. Keeping both the everyday clothes and the formal ones in shape, without a car to run things to a cleaner, is the quiet task underneath a busy week. Rinse is a laundry and dry cleaning pickup and delivery service that collects your clothes, cleans them professionally, and returns them pressed to your door. Here is how it compares.

What are the alternatives to the laundromat in Washington, D.C.?

In Washington, the options depend a lot on where you live. In the District and the denser inner suburbs, many people commute by Metro or on foot and rarely touch a car during the week, which makes a drop-off at a cleaner a real errand. Farther out, homes with their own machines make laundry at home easy. Either way, the realistic choices come down to three: doing it yourself, using one of the delivery services in the area, or using Rinse.

With Rinse, a single pickup covers both laundry and dry cleaning, which matters in a region that dry cleans as much as this one. You schedule any day of the week, a Valet collects your clothes between 8pm and 10pm, and everything comes back clean, folded or pressed, and ready to wear. You book by text, get an ETA window before the Valet arrives, and track the Valet in real time, seven nights a week.

How is Rinse different from other laundry and dry cleaning delivery services?

Pickup and delivery is easy to find across the D.C. area, so the question is who handles your clothes once they leave your door. When your wardrobe includes suits and other pieces that have to look right, that choice matters.

Rinse Valets are W-2 employees who receive benefits, not gig contractors, so the person handling your clothes is accountable to the same company that stands behind the cleaning. Rinse vets its cleaning partners and equips them with standardized procedures and products, so every order meets Rinse's environmental and sustainability standards. One pickup covers Wash & Fold, Hang Dry, and Dry Cleaning pieces together. And every order carries the Rinse Guarantee: if the cleaning is not right, Rinse re-cleans it at no charge. With more than 6,000 reviews across major metropolitan areas in North America, it is an established, trusted service.

Do you still need Rinse if you have a washer and dryer at home?

Because the D.C. area stretches well into the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, plenty of households have their own washer and dryer, which makes laundry at home a real option. But a home machine covers everyday loads only. It cannot dry clean or press, and a suit, a dress shirt, or a silk tie is not something you throw in with the towels. Even with the everyday laundry handled at home, the formal side of the wardrobe still needs a professional, and Rinse takes both in the same pickup.

Why does professional garment care matter in Washington, D.C.?

Washington's wardrobe leans on the pieces that are easiest to ruin at home, and the suit is the clearest example. A suit is not laundry. Rinse's own guidance is that it should never go in a washing machine, because the natural fibers in wool and silk can shrink, distort, and lose color in water, so a suit belongs with a professional for dry cleaning and pressing, with spot-cleaning and airing out between wears and storage upright in a garment bag (source: Rinse, "The Ultimate Guide to Caring for Your Suit").

The cleaning process matters too. Historically the dry cleaning industry relied on perchloroethylene, or perc, a known carcinogen, as its solvent, and Rinse works only with cleaners that use non-perc, environmentally safer processes instead (source: Rinse, "Green Dry Cleaning"). For clothes worn close to the skin through humid Washington summers, that is worth caring about.

Does Rinse Go make sense for a busy schedule?

Rinse Go, Rinse's subscription, turns regular use into predictable savings: unlimited no-fee pickup and delivery across all services, no order minimums, and waived Next-Day Rush fees. For a household that runs everyday laundry and sends dry cleaning out regularly, that adds up, and with no order minimums a single suit can go out on its own. You can also use Rinse without a subscription and pay per order, but for a wardrobe that swings between everyday and formal, Rinse Go is the easy call.

Why do Washington, D.C. professionals choose Rinse?

Because in a city where a hearing, a client meeting, or a reception can put you in a suit on short notice, keeping both your everyday clothes and your formal wardrobe ready is a working necessity, and who you hand them to is part of that. Rinse is built to be the part of this you never have to manage, with accountable people, vetted green cleaning, and a guarantee behind every order. Handing it off is a form of self-respect, and it keeps you ready to walk into any room without a garment run on your to-do list. That is what Rinse is for: a better system for how Washington already works.

Learn more in the Rinse clothing care guide, or see Rinse dry cleaning and laundry service in the D.C. Metro Area.

In New York, most people do not have laundry in their apartment. Between older buildings with no hookups, walk-ups with no room for a machine, and co-ops that will not allow one, a lot of New Yorkers send their laundry out, which is why there is a laundromat or a wash-and-fold on nearly every block and more delivery services than in most cities. If you are going to hand your clothes to someone, the question worth asking is who. Rinse is a laundry and dry cleaning pickup and delivery service that collects your clothes, cleans them professionally, and returns them folded or pressed to your door. Here is how it compares.

What are the alternatives to the laundromat in New York?

For a New Yorker without a machine at home, which is most people, the everyday options are the building laundry room if there is one, the corner laundromat or wash-and-fold, one of the many delivery services, or Rinse. None of the first few are effortless. A laundry room means quarters, timing, and hoping a machine is free. A drop-off means hauling a bag down the block and back, on foot, in whatever the weather is doing.

Rinse comes to you. A single pickup covers both laundry and dry cleaning, you schedule any day of the week, and a Valet collects your clothes between 8pm and 10pm. You book by text, get an ETA window before the Valet arrives, and track the Valet in real time, seven nights a week. In a doorman or concierge building, the Valet can pick up and drop at the front desk, so you do not need to be home.

How is Rinse different from other laundry and dry cleaning delivery services?

New York has more laundry and dry cleaning services than anywhere else Rinse operates, which is exactly why the choice matters. Once your clothes leave your hands, you want to know who has them.

Rinse Valets are W-2 employees who receive benefits, not gig contractors, so the person picking up and returning your clothes answers to the same company that guarantees the work. Rinse vets its cleaning partners and equips them with standardized procedures and products, so every order meets Rinse's environmental and sustainability standards, including non-perc cleaning. One pickup handles Wash & Fold, Hang Dry, and Dry Cleaning pieces together, so your everyday laundry and your winter coat go out in the same order. Every order is backed by the Rinse Guarantee: if the cleaning is not right, Rinse re-cleans it at no charge. And with more than 6,000 reviews, you know what you are getting before your first pickup.

Do you still need Rinse if you have a washer and dryer at home?

In New York, the in-home question is really about the building laundry room, since most apartments do not have their own machines. A shared machine in the basement handles a load of everyday clothes, but it is still a generic machine on a generic cycle, and it cannot dry clean or press anything. A wool coat, a cashmere sweater, or a suit is not going in the basement machine, and it should not go in a home one either. Those pieces need a professional, and Rinse takes them in the same pickup as the rest.

Why does professional garment care matter in New York?

New York winters put the most delicate pieces in heavy rotation: wool coats, cashmere sweaters, scarves, and the tailoring a professional wardrobe runs on. Cashmere is the easiest to get wrong. Rinse's own guidance is to keep it out of the dryer entirely, since heat and tumbling cause pilling and distortion, and to dry it flat, with dry cleaning a reliable option when you would rather not risk it (source: Rinse, "How to Wash Cashmere").

Structured pieces have their own rules. Suits, coats, and other tailored items belong with a professional rather than a shared or home machine (source: Rinse, "Which Pieces You Should (and Shouldn't) Dry Clean"). Matching each piece to the care it needs is what keeps a winter wardrobe from wearing out by March.

Does Rinse Go make sense for a busy schedule?

Rinse Go, Rinse's subscription, turns regular use into predictable savings: unlimited no-fee pickup and delivery across all services, no order minimums, and waived Next-Day Rush fees. In a city where laundry goes out constantly, that adds up quickly. You can also use Rinse without a subscription and pay per order, but if you are sending laundry out regularly anyway, Rinse Go is the version that makes the most sense.

Why do New York professionals choose Rinse?

Because when you do send your laundry and dry cleaning out, the choice that matters is who handles it, and Rinse is built to be the one you can stop worrying about, with accountable people, vetted green cleaning, and a guarantee behind every order. Handing it off is a form of self-respect, and it keeps you ready for the week without a bag of laundry waiting by the door. That is what Rinse is for: a better system for how New York already lives.

Learn more in the Rinse clothing care guide, or see Rinse dry cleaning and laundry service in New York.