“SOMETHING BLUE”

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education and networking opportunities. “It is a different animal, altering,” she muses. A designer friend of hers even says she’d rather avoid altering anything, preferring to make gowns from scratch.

“Awareness is the first step. We need to acknowledge and address the problem as an industry,” Chapman says. “The next step is education. It is important that we teach future generations about this craft and show that it is a lucrative and creative field.” Fashion and trade schools could create training programs devoted to alterations, and seamstresses and tailors could hire talented young workers as apprentices. “There needs to be a level of interest, however, for that to occur,” she says.

Let’s say you’ve mastered the art of stitching. You still have to learn about operations and scaling a business. It’s necessary to manage client expectations and explain the painstaking level of work required. “The hardest part about the job is not just sewing, but it’s also the communication that you have with your client,” adds Ghofrani. “That can be very difficult.”

For decades, retailers provided lucrative compensation packages to seamstresses, sometimes luring them in with twice the pay of momand-pop shops. But today, pay is not the only issue. Many seamstresses have retired or will soon. Their average age is 50, according to the jobs site Zippia.

Young people have long been drawn to the fashion industry. In the 1990s, the booming field attracted college graduates seeking careers and titles with cachet. (Call it the Carrie Bradshaw or Kate Moss effect.) They got jobs as account executives, designers, merchandisers, creative directors and buyers. Thirty years later, a new wave is coming, this time led by Generation Z.

“Bring it to the kids,” enthuses Oddo. “We really want to start getting to a point where more and more people learn at a young age. Take a little sewing class. Ignite that spark.”

Stitching pairs affordability with sustainability, both of which young people value. “When you have the skill to mend clothing or to alter something, you start to care more about quality, and that’s how we beat fast fashion and take it beyond the bridal industry,” says Oddo. “That’s something that I’m always trying to be cognizant of. What do we do next for circular fashion?”

Independent education across social platforms, or content creation, is an industry expected to reach $38.2 billion by 2030. “I see the pandemic as a real gamechanger for Gen Z and its interest in sewing. While other generations largely reverted to increased ‘mindless’ screen time to distract from the stress, the opposite effect was seen with Gen Z,” Skalli says. “They took to YouTube and other learning platforms to create, not simply kill time. This is evidenced by the boom of ‘SewTok,’ or dedicated channels on TikTok for sewing and tailoring. The desire to create has not been lost on Gen Z, but the way they are learning is different.”

“We are seeing some up-and-coming seamstresses on TikTok and Instagram, and that is encouraging,” adds Chapman. “However, there are just not enough of them to meet the demand. More seamstresses are retiring and leaving the industry than are joining it.”

As long as the diversity in body shapes, sizes and forms exist, we will always need seamstresses. Consumers will always seek fitted clothing across different sizes. Wedding attire specifically is usually made to order, intended to make its wearer feel like the most exquisite being in the room. One dress no longer cuts it. When I stepped into Michelon’s studio, the entire team was focused on altering three gowns for a wedding the next day. Whether to-be-weds are wearing one or five dresses, the business of alterations will always require skilled labor.

If anything, Oddo has a simple plea for those exploring career options or new opportunities. “Pick up a trade. I don’t care if it’s sewing or not, just pick up a trade,” she says. “As a country, the US is down on the trades. We have to appreciate people who work with their hands and everything they do for us. I think it’s going to be uplifting to see where the next generation takes it.”

Alterations is an art, after all, and like anything of value, it must be preserved.

Sources:

Beth Chapman is the founder of The White Dress Society, a collective of bridal salons. She also runs Beth Chapman Styling , as well as a brick-and-mortar bridal boutique in Clinton, Connecticut, The White Dress by the Shore. Beth is an industry educator and leading expert.

Giselle Ghofrani is the daughter of immigrants and is proudly carrying the torch for her parents. A former design student in New York City, Ghofrani moved back to Chicago to open up Belle Atelier, a new business within her mother’s alterations shop, The Dress Doctor.

Melissa Lynn Oddo studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City from 2003-2007 and earned her AAS with a specialization in tailoring. Today, she is the founder of Stitched Collective and arguably the lead educator of seamstresses across the bridal industry.

Alzira Michelon is the co-owner of Alzira Hermes Studio in New York City.

With more than three decades of experience in alterations, Alzira and her husband, Reginaldo Michelon, are the force behind fitted gowns—both bridal and eveningwear—for VIPs and the preferred tailors for Oscar de la Renta.

Chloe Skalli is the program director and pattern design instructor at the New York School of Design in New York City.