CHICAGO — Based on sales and meeting goals, the laundry industry had a “good” to “great” 2025.
That’s what respondents indicate in American Laundry News’ most recent Your Views survey, which prompted laundry managers to review the year in their operations.
When asked to rate their industrial/institutional laundry performance based on 2025 sales, 60% of survey takers rated it as “good.” Twenty percent shared that the year was “great.”
Separate shares of 13.3% indicate the past year was either “average” or “below average.” Only 6.7% say 2025 sales were “poor.”
When it came to meeting operations’ 2025 goals, 76.5% of respondents indicated their laundries had achieved some of their goals. More than 23% say they accomplished all of their annual goals.
What made this year more “good” than “great” for the laundry industry? It’s had many challenges to overcome. The tariff situation (23.8%) and other economic concerns (14.3%) were among the top cited by respondents.
The labor situation continues to be challenging. Almost 24% of those who took the survey cite hiring employees as still being an issue, and 4.8% say employee retention has been difficult to achieve.
Some of the other issues mentioned by respondents include:
- Fewer new projects
- Energy costs
- Personal health
When asked what effect their operation’s 2025 performance will have on Q1 2026, 47.1% of respondents expect a “good” effect, while 41.2% think it will be “average.” Equal shares of 5.9% say it will be “great” or “below.”
Finally, we asked survey takers for final comments about their operations’ 2025 performance.
“Everything is very tough here in California,” a respondent writes. “Just all of the business regulations.”
Another shares, “My office designs commercial laundry and drycleaning facilities across the country. I have seen a rise in hotels, but not in prisons, which are my two major industry segments.”
“The laundry industry has turned into a fee business with laundry as a side hustle. With all the extra fees we have to have instead of straight pricing, it’s become a joke,” concludes a survey taker.
While the Your Views survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific. Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.
Subscribers to American Laundry News e-mails are invited to take the industry survey anonymously online each quarter. All managers and administrators of institutional/OPL, cooperative, commercial and industrial laundries are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and identify industry trends.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
