SIC 7219
LAUNDRY AND GARMENT SERVICES, NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED



This industry category includes establishments that perform laundry and garment services, not elsewhere classified, such as the repair, alteration, and storage of clothes for individuals and for the operation of hand laundries. Custom tailors and dressmakers classified in SIC 5699: Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessory Stores; fur shops making fur apparel to custom order are classified in SIC 5632: Women's Accessory and Specialty Stores; and press shops are classified in SIC 7212: Garment Pressing, and Agents for Laundries and Drycleaners.

NAICS Code(s)

812331 (Linen Supply)

811490 (Other Personal and Household Goods Repair and Maintenance)

812399 (All Other Laundry Services)

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 these miscellaneous services, the diaper services are most common and have the biggest 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 through the 1990s.

Forecasts based on U.S. government statistics estimated that 4,462 establishments existed in this industry in 1998, nearly double the number of firms in 1988. Total industry revenues doubled to $652.8 million between 1987 and 1992, and in 1998 the top five companies in the industry earned a total of $703 million collectively.

The industry employed an estimated 26,600 workers in 1998, with total payroll costs of $325 million. Laundry and drycleaning machine operators, and pressing machine operators combined totaled 28.2 percent of the industry workforce, while 17.4 percent of employees in this industry worked as counter and rental clerks.

Diaper services dominated the leading companies in this category. Additionally, major firms such as Angelica Corp. and Kahler Corp. had a significant presence in the industry, although they were better known for their services in other areas of the laundry industry. Other leading moneymakers in this category in 1998 included Enterprise L.L.C. of Detroit, Michigan; Rezex Corp., of Los Angeles, California; and Baby Diaper Service, Inc. of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Further Reading

Lazich, Robert S. Service Industries USA. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 1999.

U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1994 County Business Patterns. Washington, DC: 1996.

U.S. Department of Commerce. 1992 Census of Service Industries Geographic Area Series. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1995.

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