The Schultze family business began life in Perugia in 1846 with the opening of a textile dyeing and cleaning retail store. This was a successful enterprise that soon grew, operating numerous retail dyeing stores in several towns of the Province of Umbria in central Italy, which is located roughly midway between Florence and Rome.

Dyeing was the mainstay of the family business until after the Second World War, when the dye works activities were joined by an expansion into a laundry service for hospitals and community-care homes around Perugia, followed by combining healthcare laundry services with linen rental ...