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“An apprenticeship? I had no idea what that even was.” Andrea Sanchez is 13 when she moves from Spain to Switzerland. After finishing school, she actually wants to start an apprenticeship as an office clerk. “But my German just wasn’t good enough,” she says. Not knowing what else to do, she turns to a careers adviser. By chance, he knows the operations manager of the Central Laundry Chur, which supplies hospitals, clinics and care homes with clean linen. So he suggests that Sanchez should simply go there for a trial week. “I just thought: ‘Laundry, really?’ I couldn’t picture it at all,” she recalls. Her mother is sceptical at first, too. “She was thinking: ‘Isn’t that too little for my daughter? Couldn’t she achieve more?’” Sanchez says, laughing. But then the sports‑mad footballer, who plays attacking midfield for FC Widnau in the Swiss second division, thinks to herself: “Maybe doing something active in a laundry could actually be fun?” Shortly afterwards she starts a trial week at the Central Laundry - and it changes everything.
“There was a real buzz!”
“It really clicked with me from the very first day,” says Sanchez. She is instantly excited by the mix of physical activity, organisation and high quality standards. The international team also impresses her. “People didn’t just speak High German and Swiss German - there was also English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.” Although she has to get properly involved right from the start, she never feels as though she is “just working”. On the contrary: “The atmosphere was great, it was never boring,” she says. After a short pause she adds: “There was a real buzz!”. She enjoys the energy in the Central Laundry so much that she contacts the careers adviser immediately after her trial week and tells him she wants to start an apprenticeship there. “I wasn’t sure they would take me, because my language skills still weren’t that good,” she recalls. But she gets the offer - and soon begins her training as a Textile Care Specialist (EFZ).
Tackling the language barrier together
Once a week, she now commutes to Zurich for vocational school, which she attends for three years. In the mornings she studies general education; in the afternoons, specialist subjects. She learns how a washing line is structured, how to sort laundry by programme, textile type, colour and customer, and how the technical processes all interlink. “At first I thought you just stood at a machine in a laundry, pressed a button and that was it,” Sanchez says. “I was surprised to discover how much more there is behind it.” Although everything is explained patiently at school, the language is a real challenge at the beginning. She speaks High German, but many lessons are taught in Swiss German - and she doesn’t understand that very well yet. Support comes from a classmate. “I’m still incredibly grateful to her for helping me,” Sanchez says.
Being allowed to make mistakes
Alongside vocational school, she rotates through all key stations in the Central Laundry - from receiving and sorting soiled laundry to the washing lines and tumblers, and then to the clean side with the towel-folding machine, the tunnel finisher and the ironing line. She is also allowed to make mistakes without anyone turning it into a big deal. “It wasn’t that bad - you just tried to do it better the next time,” she says.
What she remembers most is the patient support from the operations manager at the time. “He walked through the laundry with me and explained everything calmly,” she recalls. To check her progress, he would also give her tasks. “If one of us apprentices hadn’t studied, he would get a bit annoyed,” Sanchez says, laughing. “But that motivated me to stay on track.” And she also received praise: “They told me things like: ‘You’re doing a great job!’”
A crisis of confidence in her second year
Despite all the support, Sanchez hits a crisis of confidence in her second year of training. She experiences what many young people go through after choosing an apprenticeship or degree: doubt. “Suddenly I felt that textile care might not be the right path for me after all,” she says. “I asked myself: ‘Am I wasting my potential?’” She continues working at the Central Laundry, but skips vocational school a few times. When her careers adviser and her operations manager notice this, they sit down with the young apprentice. They show understanding, encourage her and explain the continuing education and career paths that will be open to her after completing her training. “In that moment, something clicked,” Sanchez recalls. The conversation also taught her: “With communication, you can achieve anything.”
The First Swiss Champion in Textile Care
In her final year of training, her supervisor has an idea: in 2018, Sanchez should compete in the Textile Care Championships organised by the Swiss Textile Care Association (VTS). The competition is being held for the first time that year and has since taken place every two years as part of SwissSkills, Switzerland’s largest vocational and talent development event. Here, aspiring textile care professionals compete in front of an audience and must demonstrate their full skill set. They iron and fold shirts, lab coats or chefs’ jackets, create washing programmes for different stains, set up a chemical storage area, conduct improvised sales conversations and correctly assign care symbols - all under intense time pressure. “It wasn’t a show; it felt like a real exam,” Sanchez recalls. “Time was brutally tight.” In the audience are teachers from her vocational school, as well as customers and suppliers of the Central Laundry. “You’ve got to give it everything now,” she tells herself at the time. She keeps her nerves, secures first place and becomes the very first Swiss Champion in Textile Care. “That was huge recognition,” Sanchez says today, “and proof that effort, discipline and genuine interest really do pay off.”
Leading the Washhouse at Just 19
In 2018, she completes her apprenticeship and immediately takes over the management of the washhouse at the Central Laundry. At just 19 years old, she is now a team leader with responsibility for six employees. One experience from that time has particularly stayed with her: one day, a young man from Afghanistan starts working at the Central Laundry. At first, he struggles with the processes in a laundry. Some colleagues consider him a hopeless case. But Sanchez believes in him. “If I see potential in someone, I give them a chance - even if things don’t go smoothly at the beginning.” She follows the example of her former trainer: she communicates clearly what needs to be done, stays approachable for questions and remains patient. The young man repays the trust placed in him: he applies what he learns from Sanchez, later becomes her deputy and is today head of the washhouse himself. “A textile care operation is like a big chain,” Sanchez says. “If one link breaks, the whole process falls apart. That’s why communication is everything in a laundry.”
The Skilled Workers of Tomorrow Are Already in the Company
When Sanchez receives a new career opportunity in 2022, she takes it: she moves to the laundry company Fix AG in Balzers (Liechtenstein) and soon takes on the role of Deputy Head of Textile Care. After a short time in her new workplace, she notices that no apprentices have been trained there for quite a while. She wants to change that. So she proposes to management that they start taking on apprentices again. “The best way to gain skilled workers is to train them yourself,” she says. Her initiative convinces them - shortly afterwards, two young people begin their apprenticeships. What’s special is that both are relatives of employees. For Sanchez, this is no coincidence but a proven recipe for success: back when she worked at the Central Laundry in Chur, her mother - initially sceptical of the textile care profession - also started working there and spent many years checking laundry on the ironing line. Her father and brother also worked there temporarily. “Your own workforce is the ideal place to look for future skilled workers,” Sanchez is convinced. Many employees have children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews who do not yet know which career path to choose. “Often neighbours or acquaintances also have children who have no idea what they want to do - and they too could be inspired to join textile care.”
Untapped Potential in Unskilled Staff
Another way to develop skilled workers - one that Sanchez believes is still often underestimated - lies with the people already working in laundries. “Many come for a temporary job and move on again after a short time, without realising what training opportunities are available to them here,” says Sanchez. Employees from abroad in particular often have no idea what career paths laundries can offer. “In Spain, for example, there is no apprenticeship for textile care specialists at all,” she explains. For her, the potential here is enormous. “Most people want to develop themselves - and in textile care, that often happens much faster than in other industries.” She is convinced that companies should actively approach unskilled employees, inform them and encourage them to pursue an apprenticeship or further training. “Everyone in textile care knows how difficult it is to find qualified staff, but many companies don’t realise that they often already have them in their own workforce.”
“If you stop progressing in textile care, it’s only because you choose to”
And what about attracting young talent through social media? Sanchez pauses to think. “You can use social media, but I don’t think our industry comes across as well there as others do.” For her, direct contact is far more effective. “Our industry works best when people can experience it for themselves,” she says. That’s why she believes career fairs, vocational guidance sessions and workplace tours are much stronger bridges into textile care. “If young people get the chance to try out a laundry setting, we could win them over for the industry,” Sanchez says. Just as it happened for her, when a single trial week changed her entire career path. And her journey is far from over: now 27, she is Deputy Production Manager at Fix AG and is also completing further training in business management. “Maybe one day I’ll run my own company,” she says. Sanchez is firmly convinced that textile care offers young people countless opportunities to develop in line with their own ambitions. “If you stop progressing in textile care, it’s only because you choose to - not because the opportunities aren’t there.”
Zentralwäscherei Chur AG
Zentralwäscherei Chur AG (ZWC) is a laundry and textile care company located in Chur in the south-east of Switzerland. Founded in 1975, ZWC now employs more than 65 people and processes up to 13 tonnes of laundry per day for the healthcare sector, hospitality, industry and private customers. In 2023, the company was converted from a cooperative into a public limited company.
Fix AG
Based in Balzers, Fix AG is a family-run textile service and laundry company that has been serving customers in Liechtenstein and the surrounding region since its founding in 1958. With more than 100 employees, the company provides rental linen, workwear and laundry and textile care services for hotels, restaurants, healthcare and care facilities. Every day, Fix AG processes around 30 tonnes of laundry.
