| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Laundry |
| Founded | 1951 in Houli District, Taiwan |
| Founder | Chang Wan-ji |
| Headquarters | , |
| Owner |
|
Wansho Laundry (Chinese: 萬秀的洗衣店; pinyin: Wànxiù de xǐyīdiàn),[1] also known as Want Show As Young,[2] is a Taiwanese laundry shop founded in 1950 and owned by Chang Wan-ji (born 1937) and Hsu Sho-er (born 1936). The shop, in the district of Houli,[3] has been the subject of widespread media coverage after pictures of its owners wearing abandoned clothing pieces as fashion outfits went viral on Instagram.[3] Wan-ji and Sho-er's grandson, Reef Chang, manages marketing and styles the outfits, and originally came up with the idea following the COVID-19 lockdowns in China.[4] As of February 2023, the shop's Instagram account has 730,000 followers.[5]
Wan-ji founded the shop in 1951 at the age of 14, having done dry cleaning and laundry for neighbors.[6] He did not attend high school due to financial restrictions.[4]
Wan-ji and Sho-er, both born in Taiwan, met each other in the late 1950s, when Sho-er's sister and aunt approached Wan-ji in the Houli District of Taichung City with the purpose of matchmaking.[3] The two wed in 1959 and had two sons and two daughters, who have five grandsons and one granddaughter collectively.[3][4] The couple worked together at the Wansho Laundry, renaming the shop to combine their names.[3]
In the 1980s, following the martial law in Taiwan, the couple began traveling and visited Australia, the United States, Japan, and various countries in Europe.
In July 2020, Wan-ji and Sho-er's grandson Reef Chang began posting images of the couple wearing unclaimed clothes on Instagram under the handle @wantshowasyoung.[7] On July 21, with 18 posts at the time, the page attained 50,000 Instagram followers,[8] beginning to receive media attention, and reached 100,000 three days later.[9] On July 27, the page had accumulated nearly 500,000 followers.[8]
Wan-ji and Sho-er model vintage clothing, including blazers, skirts, and Chuck Taylor All-Stars,[8] and have been described as "eclectic, funky and fun" by the New York Times.[3] Vogue writes that Wansho Laundry's popularity "highlights the importance of sustainability in fashion and buying secondhand clothes,"[10] instead of "following 'fast fashion'" as Reef Chang describes.[11]