MAITLAND, Fla. — Dry cleaners nationwide are facing hanger shortages due to supply chain issues and local cleaners are asking people for help.

More than 6,000 dry cleaners are having trouble getting supplies, according to the Dry Cleaning and Laundry Institute.

Shops like Valet Cleaners in Maitland have been asking people to return certain wire hangers so they can be reused. 

Owner Ravi Kancharlapalli says his weekly orders are now monthly because the hangers are harder to come by.

“These hangers are costing very much, which they’re not supposed to cost that much,” he explained, saying he pays more than double what he did before.

“That huge wave of demand ran into a supply chain that was not built to handle this sort of unprecedented burst in spending,” explained Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting.

Snaith says the supply chain issues many are seeing now are all trickle-down impacts from earlier in the pandemic, after months and months of working from home, not needing things like dry cleaning. He expects these supply chain woes to continue through the second half of next year.