4 ms·

This is cool. The title had me thinking about just repairing old clothing. It generally takes $4-6 at a tailor to fix a pair of pants, etc. I've gotten years mo

by hilyen 7y ago

This is cool. The title had me thinking about just repairing old clothing. It generally takes $4-6 at a tailor to fix a pair of pants, etc. I've gotten years more out of my jeans just doing that.

thrower123 7y ago
If home economics classes in school hadn't been gutted a generation ago, this could be much more viable. It's becoming hard to find anybody that can so much as sew on a button. Much less operate an electric sewing machine. It's one of those things that is really not hard, you just have to have some exposure to it.
- oftenwrong 7y ago
  I learned sewing in school, but I never developed the skill for anything more than the most basic alterations. Most of the tailors in my area are older people, and they seem to be from the "Eastern Bloc" or China. I would imagine they grew up using sewing as a practical, day-to-day skill, or profession, and not merely as a hobby or odd-skill-I-learned-in-school.
jopsen 7y ago
Does the tailor make a decent wage? I think just shortening a pair of pants is 30$ minimum. Things that can't be done in a factory are increasingly expensive, especially if you don't have underpaid workers.
- jseliger 7y ago
  "Baumol's Cost Disease" is the missing discussion in these conversations https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/05/the-baumol-effect.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/05/th...
  - carapace 7y ago
    Reminds me of Mark S. Miller's classic: "A Computer's Perspective on Moore's Law: Humans are getting more expensive at an exponential rate." https://web.archive.org/web/20070203034530/http://www.caplet.com:80/adages.html https://web.archive.org/web/20070203034530/http://www.caplet...
  - jopsen 7y ago
    Nice!
- topkai22 7y ago
  Fixing a ripped pair of pants? Probably, I’ve watched my mother in law fix a pair of pants on her sewing machine in a couple of minutes. Let’s say it takes 5 minutes of fully loaded labor time and de minimus materials, that’s $60/hour, which isn’t terrible, especially since repair is likely to be an on demand thing that supplements more profitable lines like alterations.
  - jopsen 7y ago
    That's terrible, you didn't figure benefits, renting a location, materials, expenses with making a sale, and worst of all you assume 100% utilization. What if there's only 20 pants to be fixed on a slow day.. If you send it off, you have logistics and both the tailor and the sales person need to turn a profit.

by hilyen 7y ago

This is cool. The title had me thinking about just repairing old clothing. It generally takes $4-6 at a tailor to fix a pair of pants, etc. I've gotten years more out of my jeans just doing that.

thrower123 7y ago

If home economics classes in school hadn't been gutted a generation ago, this could be much more viable. It's becoming hard to find anybody that can so much as sew on a button. Much less operate an electric sewing machine. It's one of those things that is really not hard, you just have to have some exposure to it.

oftenwrong 7y ago
I learned sewing in school, but I never developed the skill for anything more than the most basic alterations. Most of the tailors in my area are older people, and they seem to be from the "Eastern Bloc" or China. I would imagine they grew up using sewing as a practical, day-to-day skill, or profession, and not merely as a hobby or odd-skill-I-learned-in-school.

jopsen 7y ago

Does the tailor make a decent wage? I think just shortening a pair of pants is 30$ minimum. Things that can't be done in a factory are increasingly expensive, especially if you don't have underpaid workers.

jseliger 7y ago
"Baumol's Cost Disease" is the missing discussion in these conversations https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/05/the-baumol-effect.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/05/th...
- carapace 7y ago
  Reminds me of Mark S. Miller's classic: "A Computer's Perspective on Moore's Law: Humans are getting more expensive at an exponential rate." https://web.archive.org/web/20070203034530/http://www.caplet.com:80/adages.html https://web.archive.org/web/20070203034530/http://www.caplet...
- jopsen 7y ago
  Nice!
topkai22 7y ago
Fixing a ripped pair of pants? Probably, I’ve watched my mother in law fix a pair of pants on her sewing machine in a couple of minutes. Let’s say it takes 5 minutes of fully loaded labor time and de minimus materials, that’s $60/hour, which isn’t terrible, especially since repair is likely to be an on demand thing that supplements more profitable lines like alterations.
- jopsen 7y ago
  That's terrible, you didn't figure benefits, renting a location, materials, expenses with making a sale, and worst of all you assume 100% utilization. What if there's only 20 pants to be fixed on a slow day.. If you send it off, you have logistics and both the tailor and the sales person need to turn a profit.