Persil is encouraging parents to worry less about stains and let kids play on
- 56% of parents have stopped their kids doing an activity because it meant stained clothes or extra laundry
- Yet 77% say it’s more important for their kid to play outside and get muddy rather than stay clean all day
- Getting stains out first time is parents’ number one wish for making children’s laundry easier
LONDON, Oct. 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — More than half of UK parents (56%) admit they have stopped their child from doing an activity because they knew it would mean stained clothes or extra laundry, according to new research from Persil.
Yet parents overwhelmingly want their children to enjoy the outdoors, with 77% saying it is more important for their child to play outside and get muddy than stay clean all day. Almost half of parents (48%) say getting out tough sports stains such as grass, clay, blood and mud is their number one sports-kit laundry challenge.
Puddles appear to be one of the biggest casualties: among parents who have held children back because of laundry, 47% have stopped them jumping in puddles, while 40% have said no to playing in sand, soil or grass.
Guillermo Vosen, Home Care Marketing Lead UK & Ireland, at Persil, says: “We want parents to feel they can say yes to muddy football matches, training in the rain and all the activities kids love, without worrying about the laundry afterwards. Persil Ultimate Non Bio helps take care of the stains, so kids can play on and keep doing what they love.”
CHILDHOOD STAINS COST UK FAMILIES AN ESTIMATED £750M A YEAR
Laundry worries are shaping what children wear too. More than two-thirds of parents keep older or already-stained clothes for sport, while seven in ten say they try hard to save stained clothes rather than replace them.
Despite that, stains that will not come out are estimated to cost UK families £750 million a year in replacement children’s clothing.
PARENTS WANT STAINS OUT FIRST TIME
For parents, the biggest potential time-saver is simple: 58% say getting stains out first time would make children’s laundry quicker or easier.
Persil Ultimate Non Bio Capsules are designed to remove over 100 everyday stains* and feature Persil’s redesigned capsule technology, developed over 10 years with Unilever’s UK R&D experts. The fast-dissolving capsules are gentle next to sensitive skin and dermatologically tested, giving families powerful stain removal with the reassurance of a Non-Bio formula.
* Tested on knitted polyester.
ABOUT THE SURVEY (JULY 2026)
Research was conducted via an online quantitative survey among 1,029 UK parents of children aged 2–15 who have responsibility for household laundry. Fieldwork took place between 23–30 July 2026.
ABOUT UNILEVER
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care and Foods products, with sales in over 190 countries and products used by 3.7 billion people every day. We have 96,000 employees and generated sales of €50.5 billion in 2025.
For more information about Unilever and our brands, please visit www.unilever.com.
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