Forced to shut shop, tailor fixes wheels to his business

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.