Tailors age out of the workforce even as demand for their skills grows

Photo credit: Pavel Danilyuk via Pexels. Article by Anne D’Innocenzio. AP News – updated April 6, 2026.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hunched over a sewing machine, Kil Bae is hemming a dress inside his Manhattan tailor shop when a new customer stops by with a vintage Tommy Hilfiger jacket he wants taken in. The modeling agent paid $20 at a thrift store for his reversible bomber style that’s plaid on one side and red on the other. He’s willing to spend $280 to have it slimmed down. Alteration requests with such a price disparity would have seemed odd a few years ago, the tailor says, but are helping to keep the bobbins bobbing at his one-man shop, 85 Custom Tailor. […]

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