Tailors seek readymade solution

HUBLI: With more and more consumers opting for readymade garments, tailors are finding themselves out of jobs.
Readymade clothes are available in wide variety and tempt people to buy these instead of getting a suit stitched by a tailor.
Customers generally complain that tailors do not give proper fitting.
In the past decade, the craze for readymade garments has overtaken the urban population -- be it kids or grown-ups.Readymades in all sizes and for all occasions are available in the market.
Somewhere down the line the much-in-demand tailor of yore has gone out of demand.
Automation has brought in an assembly-line culture to this profession. In garment factories, there are different people to stitch collars, sleeves, fix buttons etc. The machines are modern and a large number of shirts or trousers get ready in a short period. Then these are packed and stylishly presented in nice boxes and the buyer is floored.
But the owner of Ahmedabads store on Koppikar road seeks to differ. He says, "Readymade clothes do not offer as much choice as tailor-made clothes. And the clothes cost almost thrice the price as ours."
Avinash of Raymonds store says, "Seventy per cent of our clients go in for readymade clothes. If the fitting is proper, they do not mind the cost."
Vinay Mane of Karthik Tailors in Vidyanagar, who sells readymade garments as well as fabrics, holds a different view. "Almost 70 per cent of my clients are not happy with the fittings of readymade clothes. Ready-made shirts are preferred as these generally fit average people," he says.
Actually the standard size does not fit an average person well. "I myself prefer and advise my clients to go in for tailor-made clothes as these give perfect fitting and works out cheaper.
However, majority of tailors do not agree with his view. "It is just an exceptional case. Majority of our business has gone down over the last 5 years," said Hubli-Dharwad Tailors Association leader Devendra Damodar, who led a rally in the main thoroughfares of the city asking the Karnataka government to set up a welfare fund for tailors, besides their various other demands.