There’s a scene in the movie The Tender Bar, which is set in the 1970s and 80s,where the protagonist arrives for his first day of college. He’s alone, carrying only a typewriter, a large leather duffel, a small gym bag, and a backpack. Contrast that with today’s college move-in days, which involve whole families helping the college student – and so much stuff U-Haul has an entire section of its website devoted to the ordeal… er, experience.

There’s durability, there’s quality. Students want the comfort. And these are investment pieces. They hold up. And we try so hard to offer that quality.

Elizabeth Edwards, sales and marketing manager, Dorm Décor

Back-to-College (BTC) is big business. The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects total BTC spending will reach $88.8 billion this year, up from $86.6 billion in 2024. Total spending per person will actually be a bit lower this year though, decreasing about $40 per shopper from $1,364 last year to $1,325 this season. Spending goes toward clothes, shoes, electronics, furnishings, and school supplies. The NRF says the total expected increase will be due to growth in the overall number of shoppers.

But as today’s undergrads arrive to campus, instead of bringing a mere duffel and backpack, they’ll be ferrying in all the comforts of home.

“These days, it seems like college kids are trying to cram as much stuff as possible into their rooms,” said Paul Lordan, co-owner, Steele Canvas, in an interview with the Lifestyle Monitor™. The company is a maker of cotton canvas laundry baskets, storage totes and backpacks.  “Whether this is done in an attempt to truly create a home away from home, or if kids these days have more things that they feel they could not live without, all we know is one box and a suitcase doesn’t cut it anymore. Since most dorm rooms aren’t getting any bigger, students need to be better organized and strategic when it comes to setting up their spaces.”

Dorm Décor’s Elizabeth Edwards, sales and marketing manager, agrees that the dorms of yesteryear pale in comparison to what’s going on these days.

“It’s so different now,” said Edwards in an interview with the Lifestyle Monitor™. “We supply them with sheets, towels, bedding, headboards, Dutch Euro pillows, bed skirts, desk panels that hide clutter, window treatments. And it can all be coordinated. Often the roommates will coordinate with each other, too.”

Dorm Décor also supplies shelving, storage ottomans, lamps, and more. When it comes to their textiles, the company primarily works with natural fibers like cotton and linen, as the natural fibers “hold up so well,” Edwards says. “There’s durability, there’s quality. Students want the comfort. And these are investment pieces. They hold up. And we try so hard to offer that quality.”

Cotton is the preferred fiber (75 percent of consumers) for dorm textiles, according to Cotton Incorporated’s 2025 Dorm Décor Survey (n=680), and most (75 percent) expect to update their textiles once or twice a year. Survey respondents say they’re looking to create a comfortable, home-like study environment that also allows students to express their personality. Quality, durability, softness, ease of cleaning and style are the key factors influencing purchase.

Steele Canvas provides 100 percent cotton canvas totes for hauling laundry to the laundromat or back to their parents’ house. It also provides soft storage bins, as well as underbed storage.

The 2025 Dorm Décor survey also found that female students and their parents are more likely than males to plan to buy decorative items like wall art (68 percent vs. 57 percent), area rugs (61 percent vs. 48 percent) and accent pillows (62 percent vs. 46 percent).

Despite the long list of needs and wants, parents are tightening their budgets. 

“Consumers are being mindful of the potential impacts of tariffs and inflation on back-to-school items, and have turned to early shopping, discount stores and summer sales for savings on school essentials,” says the NRF’s Katherine Cullen, vice president of industry and consumer insights. “As shoppers look for the best deals on clothes, notebooks and other school-related items, retailers are highly focused on affordability and making the shopping experience as seamless as possible.”

Making the move-in process seamless is part of Dorm Décor’s value proposition, Edwards says. The retailer sells both online and has a brick-and-mortar location in Birmingham, AL. And when schools allow it, Dorm Décor ships orders directly to the universities and has the products waiting for set up right in the dorm room.

“Things are so completely different now,” Edwards said. “It used to be a bed in a bag. Now, everybody wants to be comfortable, feel at home and make it where they really like that first Instagram picture. Social media is driving a lot of this and is a big influence.”

A survey from RetailMeNot finds parents are “prioritizing smart purchases that strike a balance between price, performance and durability.” The survey found the top considerations for parents include managing budget (32 percent) and choosing quality and durability (26 percent) *.

In general, consumers prefer cotton for their bed and bath textiles, and quality is part of that equation. For instance, when it comes to buying towels, three-quarters of all shoppers (75 percent) prefer they be made of cotton, according to Cotton Incorporated’s 2024 Global Home Textiles Survey (n=1,442, U.S.). The same holds true for sheets and bedding, with the majority (64 percent), saying they most prefer products made of cotton. At the same time, 77 percent of shoppers say quality is one of their top purchase drivers for these products.

Steele Canvas’s Lordan agrees that materials make all the difference.

“You don’t have a quality product without using quality materials, which is something we learned back in the 1920s,” Lordan said. “From day one, we’ve gone out of our way to make sure the right material is used for the right job. Our industrial-grade 100 percent cotton duck canvas is tough enough to move debris on construction sites and stylish enough to carry groceries in our market totes or a laptop in our Cambridge backpacks. Between the top-notch materials, solid craftsmanship and easy on the eyes designs, our products are built to handle the rigors of dorm life and look good doing it.”

*Source: Ziff Davis Shopping Survey among Adults 18+. N=1157. Fielded in May 2025