Hundreds of shops are making business at Gandhipuram and the Oppanakara Street by selling new clothes amongst other new items for Deepavali. But, there are close to 150 mobile tailors, including about 60 women, who are busy altering clothes and making big money this festival season and cannot miss one’s eye alongside Dr. Nanjappa Road.
The mobile tailoring units are old sewing machines mounted on a metal frame fitted with four wheels.
Seated on a stool alongside the road, the mobile tailors alter the new clothes purchased by the festival shoppers. These shops are easily pulled to the place where there is crowd.
S. Arumugam (41), who is mending clothes here for close to 25 years, said that the mobile tailors throng the road during weekends for the Sunday Market.
“During the last three years, we are having our mobile units running in full swing for close to seven to 10 days during Deepavali,” he said.
In regular weekends, a mobile tailor makes about Rs. 400 to Rs. 800 a day.
“During Deepavali season, we make Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 3,000 a day,” he chuckled. Though the major share of clothes brought to them for altering are those that were bought in the roadside shops, the tailors said that they also get a good number of clothes bought from leading textile showrooms.
“The leading outlets have tailors on their own to alter readymade clothes. But since their tailors are busy handling the heavy festival rush, those who don’t want to wait there come to us. Altering new clothes continues till 2 a.m. the following day. Most altering works are adjusting the height of pants and length of the chudithar sleeves, for which the altering charge starts at Rs. 20 a piece,” says M. Sakunthala (42).
However, poor business was witnessed in the last two days due to heavy showers in the evenings.
These mobile tailors will end their Deepavali altering season on the day after the festival.
On weekdays, the mobile sewing machines are parked at parking lots or nearby houses.
Tailors who have sewing machines mounted on two-wheelers ride their vehicles to residential areas to mend clothes for a living.
