HYDERABAD: At a time when designer wear is making a fashion statement and where mix `n' match readymade garments are preferred to stitching material, the local tailor has barely managed to survive.

Tailors in the State resent being overrun and undercut by readymade garments' stores and are eager to carve a niche for themselves.

"Even when garments' stores employ us, they extort a 20 to 30 per cent commission from us. We will be thrown out of the business if they keep on proliferating and if we are not given any concessions," said president of the Twin Cities Tailors' Association Vennu Limbadri.

Demands

More than 1,500 tailors from across the twin cities and from nearby districts participated in the annual meeting convened on the occasion of Tailors' Day observed on February 28 in memory of the inventor of the sewing machine William Hoe. Among other things, they sought pensions and insurance facility, education benefits for children and power concessions " If it provides us financial assistance and a place to start working, we, too, will be able to compete with the already existing garments shops," Mr. Limbadri added.

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