Crumpled clothing index can be a predictive tool!

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: was, according to Peter Blake, executive vice-president of the North East Fabricare Association, in Reading. Designer labels have given way to the next tier, he said.

Then, of course, there’s the biggest indicator of all: The dry cleaning business in the state is off about 5-15% from last year, Blake said, and about 5% of dry cleaning outlets have closed. Asked if dry cleaning is underappreciated today, Blake turned nostalgic.

“This is a personal opinion,” the 40-year-old said, “but I don’t think people know what quality is anymore. People have lost appreciation for a service that’s professionally done. People are dressing down all the time now. My father used to wear a suit and tie to church every week.”

But as the recession tightens its grip, people are cutting back wherever they can. “Dry cleaning seems like such a waste of money,” Sheila Davis, 43, a nurse practitioner, said as she shopped at TJ Maxx. “It’s $50 or $60 every time you go, and it’s not like you get new clothes.”

Davis, of Brookline, is among those delaying visits to the dry cleaners, and even tried a home dry cleaning kit, but in the end, she always returns to the professionals. “It’s money down the tubes, but you have to do it.”