Era of Shimla's tailoring industry over

Shimla is known for its romantic, picturesque locations but did you know it is more well-known for its excellent tailoring industry, something which was famous from the colonial British era? It is India’s Paris, a paradise for fashion conscious people, popular for fine tailor made clothes, especially men’s suits and unisex long coats.

Over the past few years, however, the quality of their tailor-made clothes has gone down. This is due to the increase in demand for readymade clothes and simultaneously, the decrease in fresh, skilled workers for the tailoring industry. Even local youngsters are not interested in this industry anymore. With education and increase in the number of industries where easier jobs are available, with higher pays; even poorly educated, illiterate youth prefer working in big cities. And, those who do work in the tailoring industry work in the readymade clothing industry in metropolitan cities.

Shimla’s Tailor Street continues to pursue the business but the demand has gone down. With unavailability of skilled laborers, the stitching quality has taken a major hit. With malls and branded showrooms open in Shimla, locals prefer spending more money on readymade clothes than wear affordable but poorly stitched clothes. The sad part of development and growth.