Sewing services are always in demand. Someone is forced to turn to a tailor because of a non-standard figure, someone prefers an original style that you will not find on someone else, and someone just loves outfits that are adjusted to the nearest millimeter. So tailoring as a business will certainly be a good idea. But there are some important points that need to be considered for successful business.
What will be the key to success?
The interior, prices and quality of services are certainly important. But the studio will enjoy real popularity only if the atmosphere of the establishment is at its best. Good service for many becomes a logical reason to pay more. In addition, the process of creating or fitting clothes can be stressful enough for those who are not too confident in their appearance.
Therefore, psychological comfort is an important condition for the client to be satisfied and again to seek the services of your studio. It consists of a polite treatment, friendliness and attentiveness of the master, his appearance is also able to create an impression. Sometimes a high level of service can have more impact than the quality of tailoring.
For example, if it is sewing children's clothes, it is not easy to find an approach to the child, but when it succeeds, you will enjoy the sympathy of your parents. So, before you open an atelier for tailoring clothes, immediately think about whether you can create a favorable atmosphere. Do you know how to select not only talented, but also charming masters? Can you come up with attractive promotions for the client, will you create a cozy interior? A positive answer to all these questions is the basis of your activity.
Choice of premises
Of course, you cannot open a workshop without having a room for it. Even the seamstress, who sews clothes to order at home, often equips a separate room for herself, where there is a workplace and it is possible to carry out fitting. 
Therefore, the studio should also be in a separate room, convenient and spacious.
It is best to choose a street with a saturated pedestrian flow to place the institution, having an atelier on the ground floor of a residential building, in a shopping center or center. For starters, a room with an area of fifty square meters will be enough.
Keep in mind that in the future business will allow you to expand, so immediately consider the possibility of renting such a place near the starting point. In addition to the location, the room must meet other requirements. So, it should include at least three rooms. The first will be the reception room, which will contain samples of fabrics, accessories and magazines with clothes of various styles, as well as changing rooms.
The second room is a cutting and sewing workshop. It should have places for ironing and processing fabric before cutting. Finally, a sanitary room. This is a room where staff can eat, where there will be a pantry for detergents and a toilet.
What should be the jobs?
Particular attention should be paid to the room where the seamstress will work on the implementation of orders. The standards by which such workplaces are equipped are five times more complicated than the rules regarding a normal living room, and it does not matter what they will be designed for.Sewing carnival costumes of a complex cut requires the same conditions as working on basic everyday models.
First of all, it is worth considering that many professional sewing machines and other equipment require a voltage of 380 volts. In addition, the room should have light walls that can be cleaned without problems during wet cleaning, good ventilation and the absence of unnecessary surfaces that will accumulate small waste during operation.
When your business begins to grow, bulk orders can be transferred to hired seamstresses who work at home. Then you don’t have to worry about increasing the number of jobs or immediately starting to search for a more spacious room with a high rent.
Start-up costs
Before you open an atelier for tailoring, you must purchase a minimum number of sewing machines and other equipment. Everything else can be purchased already in the course of work, so the initial financial costs will be much less.
To start tailoring clothes to order, you need several sewing machines and overlocks, equipment for ironing, mannequins for initial fitting and demonstration of models, furniture for reception and sewing, accessories and fabrics for sale. In addition, some amount will need to be spent on repairs and finishing work. In general, about twenty thousand dollars will be required to start a business. If you want to save money, you can purchase equipment that has already been used before, but then you will have to spend money on the work of a mechanic to check the serviceability of the equipment and correctly install it.
How to organize work at the initial stage?
While the equipment of workplaces is underway, it is worth starting advertising. Announcements telling about your establishment should be developed even before the opening of the studio. It will be most effective to place information on bulletin boards near residential buildings in the area of your workshop, put invitations or advertising leaflets in mailboxes, find partner stores with needlework goods and arrange mutual advertising.
Messages about sewing children's clothes can be placed in the areas of kindergartens and schools. If the budget allows, it is also worth considering ads in print or television media, on sites on the Internet. If you plan to sew corporate clothing, try to contact companies that are interested in cooperation.
If you are trying to get by with minimal investments, direct your advertising activities first of all to the residents of the area nearby to your establishment. In the future, the circle of potential customers can be expanded with the help of larger-scale advertising.
Search for colleagues
To start with a permanent job, you need to find a cutter, find two seamstresses and two receivers. For accounting services, you should contact a visiting specialist, the same kind is best to hire a cleaner. For interior design, it is worth attracting a professional designer. For receivers, it is necessary to assign a fixed salary, and for employees of a cutting and sewing workshop - a minimum salary with interest.
A quarter of the cost of each completed order will be the best addition. When choosing employees, one should take into account not only education and work experience, but also recommendations of the previous employer. Pay attention to how communicative each employee is, the atmosphere in the workplace and the level of customer service will be higher. Even a very skilled craftsman who does not know how to make contact with a visitor will not be a very good choice if you want to open a really prosperous clothing factory.
Seasonally adjusted
Among other things, before starting work, you should consider exactly which models and styles you offer to customers. Not all of them are relevant throughout the year.In the work of the studio, the season is important. Therefore, the narrow profile of the workshop can lead to a drop in profits. Only professionals who have proven themselves to a wide range of customers can receive orders for fur coats even in the summer.
But newcomers who are not yet known to the consumer will be idle for six months without work. Even sewing curtains is determined by the season. The same applies to wedding dresses and school uniforms. Therefore, the range of sewing services should be as wide as possible, although it is quite difficult to provide a maximum at first. Just try to choose models that will always be popular, and let more complex and rarer orders be a source of additional income.
Sewing sportswear that is needed all year round will help diversify the basic assortment of everyday things. So the activity of your studio will be the most stable and confident, without moments of complete downtime.
Monthly expenses
It must be borne in mind that you will have to not only invest some amount at the beginning of the activity, but also spend a certain amount of money every month to maintain your studio. It will be necessary to pay the rent of the premises, take care of taxes and pension contributions to employees, from time to time you will have to pay for the services of an accountant, you will constantly need to invest in advertising.
Finally, all employees need a salary. In addition to such costs will be others. You need to pay for servicing a bank account if you start a business on credit, it will also require deductions, the purchase of new equipment and supplies - this is another expense item. Although at first the machines may be outdated, over time they will still have to be gradually replaced. Keep a record of all orders and calculate your monthly balance to track how well you are doing.
How cost-effective is custom tailoring?
The rate of return of all investments depends on the cost of one order, the number of customers and the level of product quality. On average, revenues, even with constant advertising and equipment costs, will make it possible to profit from the workshop in a year or a year and a half. It is not always possible to immediately receive a large order, and even if you are sewing corporate clothing, at first you can only be contacted with a small order.
To increase profitability, you can not only sell ready-made clothes, but also engage in the sale of fabrics and accessories, as well as take bulk orders involving temporary workers at home. Using these methods, it will be possible to create a profitable enterprise in the shortest possible time.
