Tailors engaged on festive garments
| Photograph Credit score: S.R. Raghunathan
Because the pre-deepavali rains carry a welcome change from the blistering warmth, T Nagar’s Ranganathan Avenue is full of vacation customers on each nook. From the brand new swanky multi-storey purchasing complexes, to garment companies which have existed for generations, everybody will get a chunk of the Deepavali cake.
There’s an outdated saying within the service trade — good, quick, low cost, decide any two, as a result of you’ll be able to by no means have all three. It’s often known as the iron triangle rule. Nonetheless, in each nook and cranny of Chennai’s busiest purchasing hubs, there are lots of of small tailoring retailers proving this concept improper every day.
On coming into the bylines of the well-known Ranganathan road in T Nagar, one is greeted with indicators that say ‘One-hour supply assure’ and ‘shirt stitching in a single hour’. Buzzing with the sounds of the stitching machines, a complete lane of tailors are busy at work.
A head tailor speaks to the shoppers, takes their orders and measurements, and passes on the fabric together with the main points to his tailors. The scissors are out instantly and your shirt is already within the making.
“We sew anyplace between 25–30 blouses day by day over the weekend, and the quantity typically will increase to 50 once we are round festivals,” says Saravanan, a tailor who has been within the career for over 25 years. Saravanan employs 5 tailors who work eight-hour shifts for six days every week.
“The beginning worth of a easy shirt with no elaborations will set you again ₹280-300, and the value will get increased with extra difficult design and magnificence requests,” says Ammu, who was born and raised in a household of tailors. “Festivals like Deepavali typically brings extra enterprise, however there have been days when we don’t sew a single shirt,” she provides.
Opposite to standard perception, the ending on the blouses and attire stitched are close to excellent. No sew is misplaced and no measurements are off. “I found these one-hour tailors whereas I used to be wandering by Ranganathan Avenue. I wanted a shirt for an occasion the following day and took an opportunity. I used to be pleasantly stunned that it match me like a glove,” says a buyer.
Some tailoring retailers who can afford the luxurious of house additionally provide a personal house for his or her clients to strive on the stitched blouses to allow them to be happy with the ultimate product.
In between all of the chaos of shoppers and tailors, are additionally embroidery and stone-work artists who get busy throughout Deepavali. Sultan Khan, initially from Jaipur, Rajasthan, has been embellishing the supplies clients carry in response to their requests for the final three years. He, together with three others from Kanpur work in the identical store. “We like Chennai higher as a result of we receives a commission on time and the charges are higher. We’ve been doing this work all our lives,” says Sultan, who will get paid ₹1000 for a day’s work and see an increase in requests for fancier blouses through the festive seasons.
In case you’ve splurged on sweets and presents this Deepavali, contemplate giving these smaller home-grown companies a shot to satisfy your fundamental stitching wants with out burning a gap in your pocket.