The Need for Tailors Grows as Their Numbers Shrink

Hunched over a sewing machine, Kil Bae is hemming a dress inside his Manhattan tailor shop when a new customer stops by with a vintage Tommy Hilfiger jacket he wants taken in. The modeling agent paid $20 at a thrift store for his reversible bomber style that's plaid on one side and red on the other. He's willing to spend $280 to have it slimmed down. Alteration requests with such a price disparity would have seemed odd a few years ago. Not so anymore, reports the AP.

Shoppers who grew up on disposable fast fashion are enlisting tailors and seamstresses to give off-the-rack purchases a custom fit or personal flair, to revive secondhand finds, or to extend the lives of their wardrobes, according to fashion industry experts. Weight-loss drugs like Zepbound and Wegovy mean more Americans are seeking adjusted waistbands, tapered sleeves, and other types of resizing, said Bae, who started training as a tailor at age 17, in his native South Korea. Now 63, he's part of a shrinking breed in the US, where professional sewers, dressmakers, and tailors are aging out of the workforce as their services find fresh demand.

Like engraving, repairing musical instruments, and many other skilled trades, creating and fitting garments to individual specifications hasn't attracted enough entry-level workers over the years to replace those who retire. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated almost two years ago that there were fewer than 17,000 tailors, custom sewers, and dressmakers working in business establishments nationwide, a 30% decline from a decade earlier. Including self-employed individuals and people working in private households, the median age for all sewers, dressmakers, and tailors was 54 last year, 12 years older than the median for the entire employed population, according to the bureau.

"I recommend this job to young people because this one cannot be AI'd," Bae said, noting artificial intelligence is automating pattern making but so far can't replicate a tailor's handiwork. The income that a proficiency with needle and thread commands relative to the skills needed and the physical toll of bending over detailed work for hours likely discourages teenagers and young adults from heeding Bae's advice, fashion industry experts said. The mean annual wage tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers earned as of May 2024 was $44,050 a year, compared to $68,000 for all workers, according to BLS calculations. Read the full story for more, including Nordstrom's efforts to bolster the number of tailors.