Knit shirts entered the IL industry in the early ’90s as rental friendly products. The adage “If I can’t rent it, I won’t sell it” was prevalent through the mid ’90s. The emergence of the national laundries as direct sellers changed everything. Laundries had to offer direct sale to their existing customer, if for no other reason than to keep their competitors from developing a relationship with them.
 
Today, sales of knit shirts for both rental and direct sales have become a major part of laundries’ revenues. Laundries face competition not only from other laundries but also ...