Laundry and Garment Services, NEC

Establishments in this category provide diverse services, ranging from diaper laundering to pillow cleaning and renovation to general tailor shops (except custom or merchant tailors) to textile mending services. Of the miscellaneous cleaning services, diaper services were most common and had the most significant economic impact in the United States. Due to rising birth rates and environmental concerns over disposable diapers, the diaper laundry segment remained a healthy one throughout the 2000s.

U.S. government statistics estimated that there were 4,471 establishments in this industry in 2002, up from 4,462 establishments in 1998 and nearly double the number of firms in 1988. By 2010, there were 8,637 establishments engaged in laundry and garment services not elsewhere classified, according to Dun & Bradstreet's Marketing Solutions (D&B). Industry revenue doubled between 1987 and 1992. Total industry revenues in 2009 reached $663.1 million, based on D&B figures.

The industry employed an estimated 19,417 workers in 2010. Garment alteration and repair shops and tailor shops (except custom and merchant) accounted for about 71 percent of all establishments and 58 percent of employees, according to D&B. California had the most establishments in the industry, with 1,033, followed by Texas with 858 and Florida with 708.

Angelica Corp. of Chesterfield, Missouri, was a leader in the miscellaneous laundry services industry in the early 2010s, providing cleaning and renting services for such items as bed sheets, towels, hospital gowns, and surgical linens. Alsco Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah, also laundered and sterilized garments such as uniforms and clean room clothing. Alsco had 13,585 employees and sales of $551.5 million in 2009.