The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Tailors see their fabric unravelling

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Tuesday, Jul 08, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tailors see their fabric unravelling

K.Lakshmi

Struggle to cope with increasing costs, competition from ready-made stores

Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

Hard going A tailoring unit in Triplicane.

It isn’t easy being a tailor these days; it’s not only hard to drum up business (more and more people find it easier to pick up what they want from a ready-made shop), it’s also becoming increasingly difficult to keep costs under control.

From a small hook, to a zip, to needle and thread — every thing costs more. Tailors can pass on only some of the costs to their customers, not the whole thing, if they want to remain in business.

It’s getting such that many tailors are now doing without the assistants they had earlier: people who helped to hem, sew buttons and performed other sundry jobs. They simply cannot afford to pay an extra salary from what little they earn.

Pushpa Shekaran, who runs a tailoring shop for women at Anna Nagar East. says, “We’ve had to cut costs. We no longer stitch decorative cloth covered buttons for dresses as prices have gone up.”

Besides the cost of thread, the price of lining material has gone up from Rs.110 per metre to Rs.150 in the past six months, she says. Press buttons, used largely in children’s wear and blouses, earlier sold for Rs.45 per box. Now it costs Rs.120.

“We had to increase the stitching charges to meet the rising costs and ensure quality,” she says.

It’s only those who have regular customers who can cope by hiking charges; others like M.A. Kesavan, a tailor in T. Nagar, have to accept a 40-50 per cent cut in profit to withstand competition.

“A box of steel hooks, which sold for Rs.90 in January, costs Rs.145 now. My profit has reduced by 40 per cent. But, I have not increased my charges for fear of losing customers,” Mr. Kesavan says.

Tailors who charge by the hour (on Ranganathan street and T.Nagar) have hiked their charges from Rs.50 to Rs.60 for stitching churidhars over the past few months.

T.N. Sanjay, a tailor who runs a shop on Ranganathan Street, says the profit margin has dipped from Rs.25/30 to Rs.18/20 per dress despite an increase in charges to Rs.80 recently from Rs.70 for stitching salwar khameez.

Tailors who take up bulk orders from garment companies and readymade textile shops are also feeling the pinch. R.Murugesh of Old Washermenpet says that the price of a box of thread has increased from Rs.60 to Rs.75 in the last three months. Besides paying his eight workers, he has to take care of the shop rent and electricity bill, which have also shot up.

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