As of June 2026, Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials has an AI-exposure score of 42/100 (Moderate exposure) on the AI-Safe Careers index, blending O*NET tasks, the Anthropic Economic Index, the Penn/OpenAI study, and BLS data. This is an estimate of task exposure, not a prediction of job loss.
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials
More exposed than 15% of the roles we track. Median pay ~US$35,060. About 2,800 projected openings a year (BLS 2024–34 — growth plus replacement).
Pay & demand figures are US medians (BLS, in USD) — your local figures will differ. Your exposure score applies broadly.
How you compare to similar Production roles
Your tasks, by AI exposure
No automatable tasks identified for this role — its real, individually-assessed tasks consistently read as durable (70%).
- Activate and adjust machine controls to regulate temperature and pressure of rollers, ironing shoes, or plates, according to specifications.
- Clean and maintain pressing machines, using cleaning solutions and lubricants.
- Select appropriate pressing machines, based on garment properties such as heat tolerance.
- Remove finished pieces from pressing machines and hang or stack them for cooling, or forward them for additional processing.
- Hang, fold, package, and tag finished articles for delivery to customers.
- Position materials such as cloth garments, felt, or straw on tables, dies, or feeding mechanisms of pressing machines, or on ironing boards or work tables.
- Finish pants, jackets, shirts, skirts and other dry-cleaned and laundered articles, using hand irons.
- Press ties on small pressing machines.
- Slide material back and forth over heated, metal, ball-shaped forms to smooth and press portions of garments that cannot be satisfactorily pressed with flat pressers or hand irons.
- Push and pull irons over surfaces of articles to smooth or shape them.
- Finish fancy garments such as evening gowns and costumes, using hand irons to produce high quality finishes.
- Lower irons, rams, or pressing heads of machines into position over material to be pressed.
- Finish pleated garments, determining sizes of pleats from evidence of old pleats or from work orders, using machine presses or hand irons.
- Operate steam, hydraulic, or other pressing machines to remove wrinkles from garments and flatwork items, or to shape, form, or patch articles.
- Spray water over fabric to soften fibers when not using steam irons.
- Moisten materials to soften and smooth them.
- Identify and treat spots on garments.
- Shrink, stretch, or block articles by hand to conform to original measurements, using forms, blocks, and steam.
- Straighten, smooth, or shape materials to prepare them for pressing.
- Block or shape knitted garments after cleaning.
Safer adjacent roles
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