The Calendar Group

Hiring guide

Laundress

A specialist in the care of fine clothing and linens — pressing, preservation, and closets kept like ateliers.

Begin a search for this role(877) 404-5290

Compensation

$60,000–$90,000 base

Typical base compensation, major U.S. markets, 2026. Scope, travel, and household complexity move the range.

We advise on offer structure — schedule, housing, benefits, bonus — before every search. The right package is how great people stay.

A laundress is a specialist, and the specialty is everything your washing machine was never meant to touch: the hand-finished shirts, the silk that must be pressed at exactly the right temperature, the heirloom table linens, the gowns that return from an evening needing more knowledge than a dry cleaner brings. In households with serious wardrobes, the laundress is the person who makes clothes last decades.

The daily work is quietly exacting — sorting by fiber and construction, hand-washing what merits it, steaming and pressing to a standard you otherwise only see backstage at a couture house, then returning everything to closets arranged so precisely that dressing becomes effortless. Fine bed and table linen gets the same treatment: laundered, pressed, rotated, and stored so nothing yellows in the dark.

Households typically add a dedicated laundress when the wardrobe's value — or the family's standards — outgrow what general housekeeping can carefully do. It is one of the most appreciated hires we make, felt every single morning.

What the role owns

  • Launder, hand-wash, and press fine clothing to couture standard
  • Care for silks, cashmeres, linens, and delicate constructions
  • Maintain, rotate, and store bed and table linens
  • Organize closets and manage seasonal wardrobe changes
  • Handle minor repairs — buttons, hems, small mends
  • Manage dry-cleaning selection, tracking, and quality control
  • Pack and unpack wardrobes for travel
  • Keep the laundry room, equipment, and products in order

What great looks like

A great laundress reads a garment before touching it — fiber, weave, dye, construction — and the method follows from what she sees, not from habit.

Shirts come back better than the shirtmaker delivered them, and the family stops using the dry cleaner for anything that matters.

Linen closets under her care look curated: pressed flat, ribbon-tied, rotated so every set wears evenly.

She catches the loose button and the opening seam before you wear the failure to dinner.

She keeps records — what was treated, what is fragile, what should retire — so the wardrobe is managed, not just maintained.

Interview questions worth asking

  1. 01

    Walk me through how you would handle a beaded silk gown worn last night — from inspection to storage.

  2. 02

    How do you press a hand-finished dress shirt, and how long does one take you done properly?

  3. 03

    What do you send out rather than treat yourself, and how do you choose and check a dry cleaner?

  4. 04

    How do you organize and rotate a large linen collection so nothing yellows or wears unevenly?

  5. 05

    Tell me about a garment you saved — or one you couldn't. What did you learn?

Questions

Hiring a laundress, answered.

Can't our housekeeper handle the laundry?
For everyday clothing and household wash, yes — a good housekeeper does it well. The laundress exists for the layer above: couture construction, delicate fibers, heirloom linens, and pressing at a level that is genuinely a craft. If the wardrobe includes pieces you would grieve, and laundry keeps consuming your housekeeper's week, the specialist earns her place quickly.
Is this a full-time role?
In households with large wardrobes, frequent entertaining, or fine linens on every bed, comfortably yes — the work is continuous and the standard is slow by design. Smaller households often engage a laundress two or three days a week, sometimes shared with wardrobe organization or light housekeeping. The honest measure is volume: count the pieces that need expert hands each week.
Where do trained laundresses come from?
A few paths: long apprenticeship in private homes with formal standards, fine-hotel and specialty-cleaning backgrounds, and training alongside couture ateliers or costume departments. There is no dominant credential, so skill is verified directly — references from households with comparable wardrobes, and when appropriate, a working trial with garments that will show the difference.
Does the laundress also handle packing for travel?
Often, and it is a natural extension — no one packs like someone who presses. Many laundresses manage the full travel wardrobe cycle: packing with tissue and fold techniques that survive a flight, then receiving, refreshing, and restoring everything on return. In homes with a butler or valet, the two divide this; without one, the laundress is usually the right owner.

Begin

Looking for a laundress?

Tell us about the household and the role. A senior advisor — not a coordinator — will come back to you within one business day.

Held in confidence. No obligation.