What would you do if the shop that you poured your savings into failed to drum up business?
Most people would probably wind up and look for new pastures.
But a determined tailor in Bengaluru refused to give up when he was forced to shut shop. He found a way to convert his tailoring business into a mobile shop.
Sridhar Jayaram from Kammanahalli has custom-built an enclosure on his tiny two-wheeler complete with a sewing machine, a cloth rack, a stool and makeshift roof to beat the harsh weather. The 43-year-old tailor, riding his moped with a cloth alteration shop, is now a common sight in East Bengaluru.
“In 1993, I set up a tailoring shop on Oil Mill Road. Business was good initially but things turned bleak post 2000. Finally, in 2003, I shut down the business. But I was struggling to make a living. That’s when my elder brother Srinivas, a motor mechanic, gave me the idea of going mobile and finding work from people,” said Sridhar who soon purchased a tricycle for Rs. 3,000. By May 2007, Sridhar set up all the tailoring equipment on the tricycle and pedalled around East Bengaluru. Business picked up but his health deteriorated. “When I started, I weighed 82 kg; in a few months, I touched 61 kg,” he said while focussing on on a pair of jeans he was shortening for a customer at Davis Road, Cooke Town, on a sunny Wednesday afternoon.
In September 2008, he traded his tricycle for a moped. With assistance from some friends running welding sheds in Lingarajpuram, Sridhar added two extra wheels to his moped and fitted a workstation with the sewing machine and stool in the rear.
He has amassed a loyal band of customers. “Tailor shops often don’t accept small cloth-alteration works. Moreover, he comes to your door step and is just a phone call away,” said Shantamma of Cline Road watching her grandson’s shorts being altered by Sridhar on his mobile workstation on wheels.
The mobile tailor hopes to purchase a motorcycle to enhance his trade and reach clients more quickly. But so far, it’s still a dream, one that he is slowly pedalling towards.