Eporo Dry Cleaning:
23/03/2020 to October 2020
“We found a lot of other people needed help and support, homeless people and older people especially, so we went around washing their clothes, drying, folding. If they needed any food we prepared some meals and gave it to them for free.”
Carlos Mawoud has run Eporo Dry Cleaning on Lygon Street for four years now with his family, wife and parents. He offers a chemical-free steam cleaning service, and cleans everything from garments to handbags, prams, children’s toys, leathers and suedes, beads and embellishments. “I know fabric and how to handle it,” says Carlos, who was born in a dry cleaning shop and whose family has been dry cleaning since 1945 in shops around the world including in Egypt, Milan and Budapest.
Prior to COVID-19, Carlos was cleaning for a wide range of customers, especially in the corporate, professional, and fashion spheres. He continued to work during the lockdowns and opened every day at 8am, but his regular customers suddenly became very sparse. “There were no weddings, no parties, no one going to the office. Everyone was working from home and wearing tracksuits. They weren’t dressing up.”
With little revenue coming in, Carlos asked his landlord for a rent reduction, to no avail. And then, in an attempt to reduce the cost of running the business, he decided to work with the lights off and only run the machines one day a week. “I sat there in the dark and collected the work for the week to do it all at once, instead of running the machine every day just to do three pieces.”
A customer, Lucas, who had dropped off couch covers for a clean and was Eporo’s only visitor for that day, noticed Carlos’ struggles. Lucas posted to the Brunswick Good Karma Network, a private Facebook group founded on wholesome community interactions, currently with over 21,000 members. “Carlos is a kind and funny guy doing it incredibly tough right now,” Lucas shared in his post on 21 August 2020.
“He's struggling to afford rent and bills, has a wife at home with a baby, and is ineligible for Centrelink or other govt support ... If you have any couch/cushion covers, doona, sheets etc which are looking average and you have an income at the moment please consider getting them cleaned by Carlos! And/or stopping by for a chat in the process, which would also make a world of difference to his mental health.”
The post gained a lot of attention with 622 likes and 163 comments, all in praise of Carlos and his service. Its results were immediate, with a lot of community members consequently dropping off items for cleaning, but also just popping in to say hello. “I had a kid who brought me a lolly; another kid brought me a card which said ‘cheer up, it’s going to be okay”,” remembers Carlos.
If all of this wasn’t enough during lockdown, Carlos and his family also started a charity, offering a free mobile dry cleaning service as well as free meals, around the CBD and northern suburbs like North Melbourne, Fitzroy, and Brunswick. “We found a lot of other people needed help and support, homeless people and older people especially, so we went around washing their clothes, drying, folding. If they needed any food we prepared some meals and gave it to them for free.”
Carlos says that Brunswick is his second home. “I like to engage with my customers. I don’t call them customers – I call them my bigger family.” This sentiment shines through in every interaction at Eporo, and is even reflected on a t-shirt Carlos often wears while working, which proudly reads, “We ♥ our customers”. Carlos’ biggest lesson learnt during lockdown embodies him completely: “Life’s too short to be upset by anyone or anything – just be happy and love everyone.”
Photos and interview by Anne Moffat