Cheltenham entrepreneur builds LAVOIR laundry brand from French childhood memories

A Cheltenham entrepreneur is building an independent homecare business around an everyday product and a very personal memory: the smell of freshly washed linen drying in the summer sunshine at his family home in France.

Alex Besnard launched LAVOIR in June 2026 after deciding that laundry products had become unnecessarily complicated. His first product, La Lessive, is a liquid laundry soap made with three ingredients: water, genuine Savon de Marseille soap flakes made from vegetable oils, and a signature perfume developed in Grasse, the French town associated with the fragrance industry.

LAVOIR is presented as a brand built around simplicity, transparency and care. Its slogan, “Because linen remembers”, links the product’s fragrance to memories of family, home and the everyday work involved in looking after others.

An idea that began in front of the television

Besnard said the idea for the business came to him on December 29, 2025, while he was sitting at home watching television. Another laundry advert prompted him to question the increasingly elaborate claims made about mainstream detergents and what consumers know about the products they use each week.

“I was sitting in the lounge watching television when yet another laundry advert came on telling us that their detergent was somehow even better than the year before,” he said. “Somewhere along the way, we have made something as simple as washing our clothes incredibly complicated. Most of us have no idea what is actually inside the products we use every week.”

That evening, he decided to make a laundry product using three ingredients and to create a business based on what he described as simplicity, transparency and honesty.

The emotional foundation of LAVOIR came from Besnard’s childhood memories in France. He recalled seeing sheets hanging outside in the garden during summer, with the smell of freshly dried linen becoming part of his understanding of home. His grandmother, known as Mamie Lou, was especially important in shaping the identity of the business.

“The women in my family sit at the heart of that memory, particularly my grandmother Mamie Lou,” he said. “When I began creating LAVOIR, I wanted those memories of home, care and the women who shaped my life to live somewhere within the brand.”

Three ingredients and reusable packaging

La Lessive combines water, Savon de Marseille soap flakes and the perfume made in Grasse. Besnard has deliberately left preservatives out of the product in order to stay with the original three-ingredient principle.

That approach also affects how the product is packaged. La Lessive is supplied in reusable metal tins rather than plastic packaging, and each product comes with a wooden measuring spoon. Customers are advised to use the laundry soap within 12 weeks of opening. An unopened tin can be kept for around a year.

The business uses suppliers in several locations. The Savon de Marseille comes from Marseille, the perfume comes from Grasse, the metal tins are supplied by a business in Tewkesbury and the labels are printed in Kent. Besnard said he could have sourced packaging more cheaply from overseas, but chose to spend more where possible to support companies closer to home.

The product is made and packed by Besnard in his Cheltenham workspace. He also handles formulation, production, packaging, marketing, customer service and accounts, meaning the business remains a one-person operation at this stage.

“Day to day, LAVOIR is still just me,” he said. “Building something from nothing requires a strange combination of realism and delusion. You need to understand the risks, but you also need enough belief to keep going on the days when there is very little evidence that your idea is going to work.”

Launch batch sold through early months

LAVOIR launched on June 27, 2026, with an initial batch of 240 tins. Besnard received 11 orders on the first day. The first order came from a London customer named Kevin, whom Besnard had never met.

He included a handwritten note because he was touched that somebody had trusted a completely new business. Kevin later became a returning customer, giving Besnard an early example of the personal relationships he hopes will remain part of LAVOIR.

Figures supplied by Besnard showed that only 17 tins from the original batch remained by September 1. The brand had also received 47 reviews on Trustpilot, with an overall rating of 4.8 out of five, and had secured a growing selection of independent retail stockists.

For Besnard, seeing LAVOIR on a shop shelf represented a significant step from the original idea conceived in December 2025.

“Something that was only an idea on 29 December has become a real brand with real customers, sitting in real homes and on real shop shelves,” he said.

The company has been entirely self-funded. Besnard said that has brought financial pressure, long working hours and the uncertainty associated with starting a business from scratch. He said the achievement he is proudest of is bringing the idea to life and turning it into a product that customers can buy.

Plans for a wider homecare brand

Besnard hopes to expand LAVOIR beyond its first laundry product, developing new homecare products and collections while continuing to work with independent retailers that share the brand’s values.

He also hopes eventually to establish a dedicated production space and employ a small team. The aim is to keep manufacturing close to the business while retaining the personal approach that has defined its early months.

The women in his family are expected to remain central to future products. Alongside Mamie Lou, Besnard has identified Mamie Jacquotte and his mother, Maman, as continuing influences on the brand’s development.

His ambitions include building a recognised name without losing the qualities that inspired it. He wants LAVOIR to be associated with honesty, transparency, sustainability, simplicity and respect for the women and everyday acts of care behind the business.

“I would like people to hear the name LAVOIR and associate it with honesty, transparency, sustainability, beautiful simplicity and respect for the women and everyday acts of care that inspired it.”

Besnard also hopes the brand will eventually be stocked by larger retailers, naming Daylesford, Fortnum & Mason and Harrods as ambitions, while continuing to develop relationships with independent shops.

“One of my ambitions is to see LAVOIR stocked by retailers such as Daylesford, Fortnum & Mason and Harrods, while continuing to grow our relationships with independent retailers.”

More information about LAVOIR, La Lessive and the company’s approach to simple laundry products is available at lavoir.co.uk.