THE BUSINESS OF WHAT'S NEXT

As AI and automation become more capable, the value of authentic expertise, physical craftsmanship, personal service, and tangible experiences may increase rather than disappear. For garment care businesses, that is a plausible opportunity worth taking seriously.

By Dawn Hargrove-Avery

Executive Director, National Cleaners Association

I have been thinking about vinyl records, hardcover books, and film cameras. Not because garment care is about music or photography, but because each one is a reminder of something our industry needs to understand.

We were told for years that digital would replace the physical, and that automation would make human skill less necessary. In some tasks, it has. In others, something different is happening. When a digital version of an experience becomes easy and everywhere, people often start to prize the version they can hold, visit, or trust a person with. That is an opportunity worth examining, not proof that a mass shift away from digital life is underway.

The signals are real. They are not the whole story.

In 2025, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, U.S. vinyl shipments rose for the nineteenth consecutive year, to 46.8 million units. Wholesale revenue reached $1.04 billion, crossing the billion-dollar mark for the first time since 1983. Streaming still accounts for the great majority of recorded music revenue. A physical experience kept growing anyway, even as a nearly perfect digital alternative sat in everyone's pocket.

Print books tell a similar story. In 2025, the Association of American Publishers reported that print formats still accounted for just over half of U.S. publishers' revenue. Within consumer books, hardcover and paperback together made up nearly three-quarters of trade revenue. People did not abandon the screen, and they did not give up the book they can hold.

A company known for refined digital cameras has felt this pull. In a 2023 interview with Phototrend, Leica's majority shareholder, Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, said the company had considered abandoning film-camera production in 2015, when it was making only about 500 analog bodies a year. By 2023, it planned to produce nearly 5,000 analog M6 and MP cameras. "We really appreciate the return of analog," he said. "And we will do more."

These are signals, not a census of a completed shift. They do not mean analog is about to overtake digital. They suggest something more interesting: as digital tools become ordinary, the things they cannot replace can become more valuable.

What this may mean for clothing

A well-made coat or a uniform that has to look right every morning is a physical object whose useful life depends on how it is treated. Consumers may increasingly value lasting clothing, tailoring, repair, craftsmanship, and a personal relationship with the person who cares for those pieces. That is a plausible direction, and one our industry is well placed to serve. It is not yet proof of a widespread change in how most people keep their clothes.

The survey data is mixed. In Cotton Incorporated's 2025 Global Lifestyle Monitor survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, 70 percent said they planned to buy higher-quality, longer-lasting items in the coming year. Intention is not the same as a change already made. In a separate Cotton Incorporated Consumer Sentiment survey of 940 U.S. respondents, people who had bought clothing in the past month were split: 37 percent had been more likely to buy higher quality so it would last longer, and 41 percent had been more likely to buy lower quality to save money.

A meaningful group of customers is already thinking about lasting clothing. A larger group says it wants to. Many others are still shopping for price. The opportunity is to serve the people who do care, and to make it easier for more of them to act on that intention.

Resale adds weight to that reading. ThredUp's 2026 Resale Report, drawing on research from GlobalData, estimated that the global secondhand apparel market reached about $257 billion in 2025, roughly 10 percent of global apparel spending. In the United States, secondhand apparel grew 13 percent in 2025, nearly four times as fast as the broader retail clothing market. The same report found that 60 percent of customers now say resale value is a key factor when buying new apparel.

If a garment's future value is part of the purchase decision, its condition becomes part of its worth. Cleaning, repair, alteration, and an honest record of care help a wardrobe hold its value. This is where the retro conversation meets garment longevity and wardrobe intelligence.

Wardrobe intelligence is human work

A garment is more than a ticket number. It is an investment, a memory, a professional image, or simply something its owner wants to keep wearing. Professional care, done with judgment, helps protect that value.

The National Cleaners Association began wardrobe management work in 2019, including the first Alexa skill for dry cleaners. The goal was a wardrobe manager for the consumer and the cleaner, so garments could be treated as items with a history.

I have spent much of my recent work on the SmartCare Method and SmartCare OS, and on helping owners close what I call the AI Readiness Gap. Technology can organize information and make a process more consistent. It cannot replace the inspection, the conversation, or the trust that forms when a customer believes their clothes are in good hands. As I have said in my work with CINET, AI amplifies the processes a company already has, and trust is what keeps customers. If the process is careless, faster tools will only help you be careless at scale. If the process is careful, the same tools can free your people to do the work only they can do.

I wrote recently about a store on Michigan Avenue that was built with the same attention as the coat it is known for. People responded to the idea that a garment has a story. Customers remember how they were treated, and what happened to the piece they loved.

Put technology where it helps, and people where they matter

What should a cleaner, a wet cleaner, or a tailor do with this now?

Use technology for the work that should be reliable and easy: online scheduling, pickup and delivery reminders, order tracking, status updates, payment, and a record of what came in, what was done, and when it will be ready. Doing this well protects your staff's time.

Then reserve human time for the moments that give people a reason to choose you.

Start at the counter. Offer a greeting that is not rushed, and a question that shows you are looking at the garment, not only the form. Inspect the piece before it disappears into the plant, so a loose button, a weakness in the fabric, or a stain that needs a different approach is caught while the customer is still there.

Make room for the conversation. People will tell you the story of a garment if you let them. This was my mother's. This has to last through a season of travel. This is the jacket I wear to every important meeting. That information should travel with the piece, not vanish when the customer leaves.

Treat repair and alterations as part of the same promise. Lasting clothing needs a cleaner and a tailor who can work together, or a business that can offer both with the same standard of care.

Keep a garment history, even if you start simply: what was cleaned, what was repaired, what the customer asked you to watch, and what you advised. That is wardrobe intelligence in its most practical form: a reliable way to remember the garment, not only the ticket.

Train the floor so those human moments are consistent. If technology saves time, that time has to be spent on purpose, with the people who meet your customers.

The reason people choose you

The future of this industry is not a choice between analog and digital. It will not be won by refusing every new tool, or by automating everything and wondering why the work feels thinner. It will be won by businesses that use technology to get the ordinary work right, and then spend the time they saved on the part no software can do: knowing the garment, caring for it, and making the customer feel that both are in good hands.

Technology can make a business more efficient. The human experience gives people a reason to choose it.