Dry cleaning firm helping to provide smart wear for Brixton job hunters

Jobseekers are getting a free helping hand to look the part in interviews from a new laundry service. 

The dry cleaning and laundry company ihateironing has teamed up with Lambeth council’s Brixton Tate Library to help low-income residents dress for success. 

The Brixton-based start-up is relaunching the Brixton Library Workwear Scheme, which managed the donation and lending of formal attire to local jobseekers to look and feel their best for their interviews.  

According to the Office of National Statistics, Lambeth has an average unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent, one of the highest among London’s boroughs.  

Matt Connelly, founder and chief executive of ihateironing, said: “Clothes for interviews can be expensive, and many people can’t afford a formal outfit that they’ll only wear a few times.

“We want to make it easy for jobseekers to feel confident in how they look. First impressions are extremely important at an interview, and everything from your physical appearance, to body language, to confidence is taken into account.”

Donations are now being accepted through ihateironing’s pick-up and delivery service. The clothes are professionally cleaned upon collection and then delivered to the library, where jobseekers can borrow the outfits for their interviews.  

After each use, the clothes are collected and cleaned for free by the firm and returned to the library, ready to be worn again.  

The Brixton Tate Library regularly hosts workshops to help job seekers hone their skills before an interview.  

Pictured top: Matt Connelly (centre) with Cllr Donatus Anyanwu, Lambeth’s cabinet member for Stronger Communities, Leisure and Sport, alongside Abibat Olulode, who is the Development Librarian (Picture: ihateironing)