New Delhi : There existed a time when everything we wore was fashionably tailored and hand-crafted for us. The majority used to purchase fabrics and have them expertly tailored by a tailor to fit best on their bodies.
Modernization and the advent of readymade fashion affected the traditional tailoring industry, it could not stand the test of time. As a result, ready-made fashion sidelined the craft of tailoring.
Why did readymades take the lead when the clothing experience was lacking in many aspects?
Readymade provided convenience to consumers. The ability to get clothes off the shelves of an apparel store was not possible with traditional sewing methods. These readymade clothes were cheap due to the fact that they were mass-produced based on the size of a mannequin and not yours.
One of the reasons why tailoring became less popular is because of the time required to stitch the clothes and at the end of all the waiting, there was a high possibility that you might have fitting problems due to the inexperience of the tailor and it was a challenge to find a skilled tailor.
Gradually traditional tailoring was replaced by readymade garments and the unique customizability and fitting of tailored garments shifted to the luxury segment. That is, only the rich could afford to sew what was once accessible to all.
Readymade has made the clothing industry very bland, producing clothes that just worked but were not something you would love. As of today if you ask someone the name of the fabric that they absolutely love and hate, I am sure they will not be able to tell you.
Because readymade garments do not offer you a choice with fabric, the only choice in design. Hence you cannot mix and match your favourite designs with the most comfortable fabric of your choice.
Thankfully, over the past few years, several online tailoring-focused startups are reinventing tailoring to fit today’s era. Sewing that is fast, predictable and helps you avoid all the hassles of traditional Tailoring.
There are many online tailoring startups currently operating in India that are making tailoring easy again. Still, we do not have a tailoring startup that provides stitching services all over India but it will be offered soon as the vertical is currently growing at a fast pace.
If you happen to be in Bangalore, Getbinks and epitome stitches offer their online tailoring service, Cloud Tailor another such startup offers its services in Hyderabad and nearby cities. Tailorcue offers its services in the Delhi NCR area including Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad.
Tailorcue co-founder Amit Tiwari said, “Online tailoring is an untapped field, like many other verticals where the application of technology fixes the field and gives you a business opportunity. Online tailoring is different, here you first need to fix the poorly organised tailoring industry before the technology can enable anything.
Tailorcue is almost 2 years old now. Over the years we have been able to select the best workforce, train them and fix multiple failure points. Nowadays everything from procurement to stitching and delivery is done in-house.
Traditionally, India’s tailoring segment has been largely unorganised. Even today, when facilities like food and groceries are available sitting at home, many times one has to go to his tailor for stitching services.
These startups have captured only a small portion of the entire tailoring market, most of the tailoring is still operating in an unorganised manner.Amit Tiwari of Tailorcue tells us, “Our priority at present is to bring some level of organization to the industry by adequate application of technology such as automation of procurement, measuring and stitching. We were the first to start tailoring with customers’ clothes And also tied up with manufacturers and offered them fabrics at wholesale prices.
As all convenience comes at a cost, online tailoring is no exception. Meenakshi Verma, a homemaker from Delhi, said, “The prices of online tailors are high, on some items you may have to pay 50% more than a local tailor service.
Although the service is better, here in Delhi, Tailorcue provides free of cost two Alteration services, which differentiates their service from local tailors. There are many more advantages but the cost remains a deterrent to switching to online tailoring only.
Online tailoring startups have a different approach to the traditional tailoring that we know. Almost all of them offer a complimentary designer service in which customers can talk to the designer about their expectations, the designer then conveys it to the tailor who sews it.
Above all, aggregator based tailors enable tailors to access best quality sewing machines in the industry which cost in lakhs and low earning tailors cannot afford it. This contributes to the overall quality of the sewing experience.
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