“A great tailor is like a great personal trainer – they tailor that suit to your natural physique.“

Jidenna, Musician

Pros and Cons of Working as a Tailor

You think about becoming a tailor? Make sure to check out the pros and cons of being a tailor in this article first so that you can better decide whether you still want to become a tailor or if you want to go for different job options instead.

Tailor Job Profile

Advantages of Being a Tailor

1. Tailors can work with many different customers
2. Working as a dressmaker is not that stressful
3. Tailors often don’t have to work many extra hours
4. Decent work-life balance for custom sewers
5. Tailors can work indoors
6. You can build a strong network of people
7. Tailors can help out their family and friends
8. Can also be beneficial for your own life
9. You can earn extra money from side hustles
10. You can avoid hard physical work
11. Tailors don’t work in classical office environments
12. You can start your own tailor business
13. You see the results of your labor every day
14. You can make your clients happy
15. Tailors don’t need a college degree

Tailors can work with many different customers

One advantage of being a tailor is that you can work for many different clients. In fact, your clients will change on a daily basis and so will the characters you have to deal with.

Quite often, you will have no idea what the person who comes into your store is looking for and your clients may not even exactly know it themselves.

In such a case, you will not only have to do your job as a tailor.

You will also be sort of a consultant for your clients and have to figure out what’s best for them.

While this can be a real challenge, it can also make your workday pretty interesting.

Moreover, you will also be able to communicate with many different people and talk with them about latest political developments or other things that bother you right now.

In turn, you will get many different opinions about various topics of life in general and can therefore greatly expand your horizon.

Working as a dressmaker is not that stressful

Your workday as a tailor will also be rather relaxed. Sure, there may be times when you have to do multiple jobs at the same time and don’t know how to handle all of your clients.

However, most of the time, you will be able to work in a rather relaxed manner and you will also be able to make some coffee breaks and so on.

Hence, compared to jobs where your boss would always be looking over your shoulder and you would be under stress every minute of your workday, a career as a dressmaker will be much more relaxed, especially once you got a little bit of experience and know how to handle clients in a decent manner.

Tailors often don’t have to work many extra hours

Another upside to becoming a tailor is that you will also not have to work long hours.

Instead, you will often have a standard workweek and will barely work more than 40 hours per week.

Quite often, you will even work less than that and this means that you will often come home early and will be able to meet up with your favorite people after work.

You will also have more than enough time to spend with your family and on the hobbies you like while investment bankers and other people often have to work long hours and will secretly envy you in this regard.

Decent work-life balance for custom sewers

Not only will you not have to work many extra hours as a tailor, but most tailors also report that they have a pretty good work-life balance in general.

In fact, some of them report that they would want to work even more and that they are really satisfied with their balance between leisure and work.

Consequently, even though you will not be able to make lots of money as a tailor, you may still want to go for this career path in case money is not that important to you and you just want to have enough time to spend it on the things you like even more than work.

Tailors can work indoors

Another benefit of working as a tailor is that you don’t have to spend your workday outdoors.

Instead, you can work in a rather cozy environment and use heating or air conditioning to make your workday as comfortable as possible. You may take this for granted.

However, the reality of the situation is that many people still have to work outdoors under extreme climatic conditions and most of those people would be quite happy if they were able to change places with you in this regard.

You can build a strong network of people

Many of your clients will also have lots of disposable income. In fact, the average person is barely able to afford a fancy suit from a tailor and this means that you will be able to deal with those high-income individuals on a daily basis.

Some of those people will also stay your clients for quite a long time if you are really good at what you are doing.

Consequently, you can also build a really strong network in the long run which can help you in various occasions of your professional as well as your private life.

Tailors can help out their family and friends

Your knowledge from your job as a tailor can also greatly benefit you for helping out your family and friends.

Quite often, people will come to you and ask for advice regarding who to fix or polish old clothes.

If you can give those people proper advice or even do the work for them, your friends will be quite happy and will also be willing to help you in various other parts of life.

Can also be beneficial for your own life

Not only will you be able to help out your friends, but your skillset may also greatly help you in your personal life.

Instead of seeing a tailor when your clothes need to be fixed, you can do all the work yourself.

Not only will this save you lots of money, but you can also be sure that things are done in time and that you can use them for various important occasions that may lie ahead of you.

You can earn extra money from side hustles

As a tailor, you will not only be able to make money from your day job. If you are really ambitious and also willing to work hard, you can make serious additional money after work or on weekends.

There are always people out there who are looking for qualified tailors and if you are really good at what you are doing, chances are that you will also get more jobs than you could ever fulfill.

Moreover, if you are willing to learn about the digital world, you may also want to start a blog or a YouTube channel to build a real audience that you can monetize later in the future.

As you can see, there are many ways how to make some extra money as a tailor if you want to improve your overall income prospects.

You can avoid hard physical work

Tailors also don’t have to work in a hard physical manner. Sure, your work will involve some physical component.

However, compared to construction workers or carpenters who have to lift heavy stuff on a regular basis, your workday will be rather relaxed in this regard.

Hence, while many of those people who work in physically demanding jobs will often come home tired after work, you will have lots of energy left for your hobbies.

Moreover, also the risk of suffering from serious health issues will be significantly lower for you since you will just not have to stress your body as much at work.

Tailors don’t work in classical office environments

Another advantage of becoming a tailor is that you can also avoid working in classical office jobs.

While some people like working in those environments, many others don’t like those artificial office buildings at all.

In fact, it can feel kind of unnatural to spend your time in those offices while just staring at your computer screen all day long.

As a tailor, you will not have to work with your computer that much and can rather spend lots of time interacting with your clients.

You can start your own tailor business

You also don’t have to work as an employee in the tailoring business forever. In fact, it is relatively easy to work self-employed and to start your own business as a tailor.

Many tailors just started out as regular employees. After a few years of experience, they then quit their jobs and started their own business.

Consequently, becoming a tailor can also make quite a lot of sense for you in case you are an entrepreneurial type of person who wants to really build things instead of working in the corporate world forever.

You see the results of your labor every day

It is also pretty nice that you can see the fruits of your labor every day.

In fact, you will produce suits and other fancy clothing for your clients on a daily basis and this allows you to see progress in what you are doing on a regular basis.

Many other people who work in classical office jobs don’t see this progress since they just prepare useless presentations which are of no importance whatsoever.

Therefore, becoming a tailor can also be great for you in case you like hands-on work and want to see results without having to work hard in a physical manner.

You can make your clients happy

Many of your clients will also be pretty happy when you present your work.

If you are really good at what you are doing, your clients will come back to your store for quite a long time and will also be quite happy to talk to you.

Hence, becoming a tailor can also be more than a job. It can be a real passion if you are interested in this industry and are willing to perfect your skills over time.

Tailors don’t need a college degree

Becoming a tailor can also make quite a lot of sense for you in case you don’t want to spend lots of time and money on college education but want to make money right after getting your high school diploma.

In fact, most companies don’t require you to have fancy education and will rather evaluate whether your skillset will be sufficient for becoming a dressmaker or not.

As you can see, there are many advantages to a career as a tailor.

However, it is still not all upside and there are also some issues related to this career path that I want to discuss for you in the following chapter.

Disadvantages of Working as a Tailor

1. Many jobs have been lost in this industry
2. Questionable future job prospects
3. Tailors have a rather low social status
4. Relatively low salary for tailors
5. You may even need a second job to pay your bills
6. Hard to plan your future as a tailor
7. You may not be able to afford proper health insurance
8. Old-age poverty may become an issue for many tailors
9. Problems in the dating market
10. Teleworking will not be possible
11. You don’t learn many hard skills as a tailor
12. You will not understand how the digital world works
13. Hard to get out of this industry
14. Clients can be difficult
15. You may struggle during recessions

Many jobs have been lost in this industry

One problem with being a tailor is that you will have to deal with high levels of insecurity regarding your job prospects while digital marketers and other people who will be in high demand for many years have to worry far less in this regard.

In fact, many jobs have been lost in this industry during the past years and this trend may also continue in the future.

Many people are just no longer willing to spend lots of money on clothing and rather go for cheaper alternatives instead, which will put some tailors out of business.

Questionable future job prospects

Many industry experts expect that job prospects in the tailoring industry will become even worse in the future.

Due to artificial intelligence and machine learning, people will be able to get custom-made suits by simply ordering them online for a small fraction of the price fancy hand-made suits would cost from tailors.

Consequently, the broad mass of people will rely on those digital channels in the future and you may have a quite difficult standing to compete in this fierce market as a traditional tailor.

Tailors have a rather low social status

Another downside to becoming a tailor is that you will have a rather low social status.

Sure, your clients will often be quite happy with your work.

However, the general public will often not appreciate your work that much and some people may even belittle or make fun of you.

Relatively low salary for tailors

You will also not be able to make lots of money from your job as a tailor.

Instead, you will earn less than most other people in society will make and this can be really frustrating, especially if you work hard but this will not translate into a real income boost.

Hence, before becoming a tailor, make sure that money and luxury are not important to you since you will likely not be able to enjoy either of them.

You may even need a second job to pay your bills

Some tailors even need a second job to cover their bills.

Especially if you live in expensive regions, your tailor salary will often not be enough to cover rent and other basic expenses and this means that you will have to work in a second job to avoid going into debt.

Consequently, you will have to work quite hard and long hours without being able to afford any luxury and you should really ask yourself whether this is how you want to live your life or if you rather want to go for a higher-paying job instead.

Hard to plan your future as a tailor

Due to your relatively low salary and your rather insecure job prospects, you will also have a hard time planning your future as a tailor.

Banks will also not be happy to lend you money for buying a home since they will often not trust you that you are able to pay it back.

Thus, you may also not be able to fulfill your dream of buying a home and rather have to rent for your whole life.

You may not be able to afford proper health insurance

Many tailors also report that they don’t have proper health insurance.

In fact, many health insurance plans only cover a small fraction of the health issues you may experience in the future and this means that you may not be covered in case of medical emergency, especially with those cheap plans out there.

As a tailor, you will simply not be able to afford fancy health insurance plans and may have to pay for medical treatment out of your own pocket.

In the worst case, you may not even be able to afford necessary medical treatment and also your life expectancy may be lower on average due to that.

Old-age poverty may become an issue for many tailors

Since you will not be able to make good money as a tailor, you will also not be able to save and invest enough money for retirement. In turn, you may suffer from serious old-age poverty once you are no longer able to work.

In extreme cases, you may even lose your home and may end up homeless in the streets if you are no longer able to pay your rent.

Problems in the dating market

Due to your low social status and your poor salary, you may also have a pretty hard time in the dating market.

While doctors, lawyers and other professionals who make a decent living will have a rather easy time in this regard, you as a tailor may really struggle to find a partner for a long-term relationship.

Teleworking will not be possible

Another disadvantage to working as a tailor is that you will also not be able to work remotely.

Hence, while many other people who work in classical office jobs are often able to work from home and have a much easier time managing their professional and their private life, you will not have this luxury as a tailor since you will just have to be present at your workplace in person.

Consequently, you will also not be able to use your time as efficiently since you will have to spend lots of time and money on commuting.

You don’t learn many hard skills as a tailor

While you can become really good as a tailor, you will still not learn many other hard skills during your career.

This can be quite frustrating, especially if you hear your friends talk about all the exciting things they learn at work.

You will not understand how the digital world works

Many tailors also lack important digital skills. In fact, you will barely work with a computer or with other digital media as a tailor.

In turn, you will just not learn enough in this field to really understand digital technologies and since those digital technologies are the future, you may have a hard time functioning in our future world.

Hard to get out of this industry

Due to your lack of important hard skills, it will also be pretty difficult for you to get out of the tailor industry.

Quite often, tailors will therefore have to work in this field for many years or even decades and you should therefore make sure that you are willing to stay in this industry for quite a long time.

Clients can be difficult

You should also not expect all of your clients to be nice. Some of them will also be really difficult and demanding and you should make sure that you are willing to deal with these kinds of people before you decide for a career as a tailor.

You may struggle during recessions

Many tailor shops also really struggle during recessions since people often don’t have enough money to spend on fancy clothing during those times and you should make sure that you are fine with handling those income swings before becoming a tailor.

Top 10 Being a Tailor Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become A Tailor?

Now that you got all the advantages and disadvantages of being a tailor, it is on you to decide if you still want to work in this industry or if you rather want to go for different career options instead.

If you still want to become a tailer, make sure to also get detailed information on salaries, prospects, future outlook, educational requirements, duties, responsibilities, work-life balance and job satisfaction of sewers.

Also make sure to check out the following articles to get more information on different job options:

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a makeup artist

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a carpenter

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a salesman

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailor

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1089319/highest-employment-states-tailors-dressmakers-custom-sewers-us/

Own research and interviews.

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world. In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of how a fulfilling career could look like. I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics. However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

Wanna support my blog? Share it!