A laundry treating apparatus having a horizontally rotatable drum with a plurality of variable lifter blades protruding from the drum inner cylindrical surface toward drum inner space and in parallel to the axis of drum rotation. The variable lifter blade is rotatably mounted on a hinge rod which is attached to the drum inner cylindrical wall such that the lifter blade is predisposed to tilt to a variable angle in relation to the drum circumference by different directions and speeds of drum rotation and influence from the laundry mass.