If you don't live in India or here for a short visit and are looking for a tailor then here is a quick 4-part guide for you.
0. Know your own objectives
A. Quick overview of what to look for
B. Positives of sourcing fabrics from India
C. Drawbacks
0. Your own objectives?
Are you looking for a single piece or are you sourcing as a business?
What is your order quantity?
Are you looking for the best quality but also want the cheapest? Then this may not be a realistic objective.
Are you looking for hire your own full time tailor?
A) What to look for. In short, you may have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince. Depending upon your situation these can have differing importance. The most important thing at this stage is tons and tons of research.
Language: If you don't have a language in common, forget it.
Communication skills: If they seem to be avoiding questions, after repeatedly asking them, just drop them. Same for meetings. If you are having communication skills issues right from the start, its best to drop them no matter their skill level. There are plenty others. Spending time initially on research is critical.
Qualifications: How many of their employees have been to a reputed fashion design school? For most, it will be close to zero but the ones who invest in good quality should definitely rank higher.
Variety of Experience: Ask for a portfolio. Most tailors only make women's saris and kurtis; and anything even slightly different will throw them out.
Quality of materials used: Its not enough to have access to fine fabrics, their stitching quality and ability to work with remote measurements is key
Online presence: Check their socials/website; anyone of decent quality has an online presence.
Availability: In silly season like Diwali (November) or wedding season (Nov-Jan) forget it, no tailor has capacity unless pre-booked.
Online Reviews: In 2024, Google Reviews are starting to catch on.
Offline reviews: It may be difficult to speak with their other customers but no harm asking
Trust: Other than online reviews, there really is no way of knowing if you can trust them or not. Trust is built over time through repeated interactions. Give them a small order and see how they go. Build up gradually.
Why choose India?
Even Walmart is moving its sourcing from China to India. In 2018, China accounted for 80% of Walmart's imports but is down to 60% in 2023. However, for India, the imports have grown from 2% in 2018 to 25% in 2023 and still growing. Other reasons are:
Best Fabrics
India has been supplying Europe expensive fabrics for over 2,000 years. There are records of Pliny the Elder complaining that Roman women were emptying the coffers with their thirst for Indian silks. See India-Rome relations. A place like Zhaveri Bazaar in Mumbai is Asia's largest fabric market; whereas Delhi will blow you away with its modernity.
2. Skilled Artisans
Skilled, hand-embroidery artisans come from families who have been in this trade over hundreds of years. There is currently a revival movement in India to grow an appreciation of hand woven fabrics.
3. Abundance of tailors
India has some of the best tailors in the world and we have a lotttt of them. In the 300m radius around Pune, I suspect there are about 800 tailors or more, working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.
But when you think of quality, you get what you pay for. People who have bad experiences with quality, in general have paid very little for their garments and materials. Bit like buying from China, you can get the worst phone or the most advanced, highest quality mobile from literally the same street.
4. Cheap
There are two aspects of this... while labour in India is cheap, there are huge inefficiencies in the bureaucracy, trade and transport, that will add to your costs. So do factor everything in or get an experienced person to assist with your costing.
5. Low MoQ (Minimum Order Quantity)
There are a lot of businesses vying for your business, so people are ready to accept low quantities
6. High Tech
While nowhere near as high tech as India, we do have a strong software engineering skills base that can be used for advanced applications like lighting in fabrics.
7. Politically, relatively stable
India's stature in world politics is growing steadily as it has grown to overtake the UK to become the world's second largest economy.
8. Indians are super helpful: Sometimes too helpful
Here are some drawbacks
Tailors are mostly poorly paid male
Most commercial tailors will generally be men from villages and poorly paid. Unlike western countries where tailors could be paid US$30 and are trained at highly sought after fashion design schools, tailors in India generally are brought in from villages and learn on the job.
2. Fashion design students can't sew/stitch
Having moved back to Pune, recently from Australia, I was shocked that after interviewing over 200 fashion design graduates, about 4 could sew at a medium+ level and 0 professionally. The design schools and students themselves see themselves sitting on computers and leave the actual stitching to a "Masterji"; an experienced older male tailor.
3. Tailors have next to zero creativity
Most tailors have zero experience other than making women's clothes like sari's, blouses and kurti's. There are men's tailors too who make shirts and pants. Anything outside their known 5 or 6 garments , they will plainly refuse. I bought some lace and wanted to make pants out of that. The fabric shop I bought the lace from recommended me their regular tailoring shop, who were experienced. They flat out refused to stitch the lace in to pants because thats not what the fabric is for. lolz.
4. Postal systems are antiquated and exorbitant
A major drawback for exporters is the high cost of shipping especially when compared to China. The cheapest is India Post but their government staff is extremely rude in most branches and very unhelpful. Since its about 25% less than other couriers people are forced to use them.
5. Material quality can be very poor
a. Tailors use threads that cost less than US$0.10c compared to $2 each overseas. So it doesn't matter how you frame your question to them about the quality, they just dont have access to high quality threads.
b. Accessories: The quality of accessories in general is very poor. So even if you want to pay more, you will neither get it nor can they source it.
6. Delivery times
You cannot trust delivery times from a tailoring sweatshop but you can from reputed tailors.
7. Language problems
Everyone is on Whatsapp but if your tailor cannot speak good English, it might pretty much be useless.
8. Cultural differences
Indians in general are known for agreeing to anything as we avoid confrontation. So sometimes client's requirements are not understood and delays and problems are not communicated.
9. Holidays
There is a festival every week and a dying or marrying relative that employees will need leave for. A million personal problems will require your intervention.
10. Indian bureaucracy
Hindering India's immense growth prospect is a government officer who you need approval from; or maybe 500. The paperwork is mind-boggling even for consultants you may hire. Everything is 5 times more difficult in India and needs time and patience.
Some Tips:
Use Linkedin to get contacts in India
If you are planning to hire your own tailor, use sites like Behance or Upwork to find one temporarily until you have built a network. However, in my experience, employees are very difficult to manage even if you speak the local language and sit in the same room as them.
Shout! having an Australian-Indian owner has gone through the above frustrations many times and we are happy to handle this for you! Contact us for a free consultation by phone/whatsapp +91 87671 71385 or email design@shout.style
Comments