NEW YORK — On Feb. 21, 1946, the National Cleaners Association (NCA) was founded. Eighty years later, Executive Director Dawn Avery says the organization is doing more than marking the milestone — it’s using it as a launching point.

“For 80 years, we’ve been a stabilizing force in the industry,” Avery says. “We’ve supported education, regulatory navigation, technical standards and consumer trust. The industry’s moved through so many changes — solvent transitions, environmental scrutiny, economic cycles — and in each of those periods, we’ve helped operators adapt without losing professional credibility.”

That stabilizing role, she says, remains NCA’s core identity. How the association delivers on it, though, is changing.

Based in New York, the organization primarily served the tristate region for much of its history, but the NCA’s reach is expanding.

“Today, we have members across the country,” Avery says, “with cleaners participating from nearly every state as the association continues to grow beyond its original regional footprint.”

In recent years, Avery has led what she says is a deliberate effort to modernize NCA’s internal operations — not its brand.

“The industry requires more structure than legacy association models were built to provide,” she says, adding that operators are faced with labor pressures, insurance issues, compliance challenges and compressed margins. “An occasional communication or an annual event just doesn’t feel like it’s enough for the environment we’re in.”

The work has included rebuilding governance, strengthening internal systems, clarifying accountability, and upgrading how NCA delivers value to its members.

“It was not cosmetic,” Avery says. “It’s foundational.”

NCA has introduced what it calls the “SmartCare Era” — an operational framework that integrates compliance support, structured standard operating procedures (SOPs), business intelligence tools and practical systems into a single approach.

“Instead of distributing information and hoping that it’s implemented, we’re setting operational standards that members can apply directly,” Avery says. “SmartCare reduces decision bottlenecks and increases operational visibility.”

She’s careful to distinguish this from a product launch or rebrand.

“If you remove the name ‘SmartCare,’ what remains is clearer systems, stronger compliance support and operational standards designed for the modern drycleaning industry,” she says.

The goal, Avery says, is to move operators from reactive decision-making to something intentional. She points to pricing as an example.

“How many dry cleaners out there haven’t had a price increase?” she says. “If you’re doing pricing increases on a monthly basis — going through and raising prices on five things this month and five things next month — your consumer doesn’t really feel that. And you’re doing better because you’re actually increasing your prices.”

Avery has been outspoken about the role artificial intelligence — AI — can play in drycleaning operations, though she draws a clear line between generic promotion and practical application.

“I’m trying not to promote the hype,” she says. “I’m trying to embed it in practical applications: drafting customer communications, analyzing pricing, strengthening documentation, improving marketing, and enhancing business intelligence.”

AI readiness is about “responsiveness and precision,” she says, not replacing people. But she warns that cleaners who ignore these tools risk falling behind.

“This AI market is moving so fast that cleaners are going to be left in the dust if they don’t prepare and move forward,” Avery says. “It can give an owner five, 10, 15 hours back per week because it eliminates a lot of the tasks.”

Her emphasis is on removing barriers to use. “It’s got to be so easy,” she says. “A lot of the tools I’ve created are walking through scenarios at a standup meeting in the morning at work. It’s got to be embedded — you can’t have someone running into their office to ask a tool what to do.”

The drycleaning industry has seen significant consolidation in recent years, but Avery says independent operators remain NCA’s priority.

“They are the backbone of this industry,” she says. “Our role is to ensure that scale doesn’t determine access.”

Membership is growing, she says, with more second- and third-generation operators showing interest.

“We’re seeing the kids go off and try other things, then come back and say, ‘Yeah, I think I’ll do this,’” she says. “There’s more interest in technology and automation from the younger generation.”

But she also sees opportunity in what she calls the “non-joiners” — operators who have no connection to any trade association. 

“There’s a whole host of dry cleaners out there who have no idea what a trade association is or what it can do for them,” she says. “How many of them get fines because they didn’t know something that was in one of our newsletters?”

Asked what she wants NCA to look like at 85, Avery frames her answer in terms of institutional durability.

“My responsibility is that what was built in 1946 continues to serve the industry well into the future,” she says. “It doesn’t require reinvention. It just requires modernization.”

The pace, she acknowledges, is faster than it used to be: “The speed of today is not what it was five years ago. We have to move fast.”

Assuming things go according to plan, Avery says, the payoff will extend well beyond her tenure. 

“If we execute well in the next five years,” she says, “it’s going to define what our next 50 look like.”