A laundry article is drawn by a tensioning conveyor with a tensioning gripper which has gripped said laundry article at a corner in a tensioning direction over a narrowing channel, the base of which is convex in the tensioning direction. Optical sensors arranged on the channel detect the rear end of the laundry article, which is then gripped by a clamping unit at the end thereof. A detectable edge which slides along a guide plate is aligned so that it is detected by a sensor on a first edge gripper which is then moved downwards along an approximately perpendicularly aligned pivot arm until the sensor detects the corner at the lower end of the edge. Subsequently, the pivot arm is swiveled to a horizontal transfer position, and the laundry article with the detected edge is placed on a removal conveyor, an impact edge being advanced.