Nothing is more discouraging than having an overflowing wardrobe with nothing to wear.
If you’ve recently shed a few pounds, you may find that everything in your closet now fits you perfectly. It’s possible that you bought a lot of clearance-priced shirts, only to discover that the sleeves are too long every time you put them on. Or perhaps your wardrobe is overflowing with out-of-date fashions that give you the impression that you’re trapped in the past.
Even while things appear dismal, they aren’t quite that bad. All of these close calls may be made perfect with the aid of a skilled tailor. If your pants are too baggy, your shirt sleeves are too long, or your coats are too wide, a tailor may help you trim them down for a more current look. And you’ll save a lot of money compared to purchasing new clothing.
How Much Do Alterations Cost
There is a wide range in the cost of changes. Certain tasks need a higher level of sewing skill and hence a higher price tag. Even for the same task, the price varies greatly depending on where you reside and the type of tailor shop you choose.
As a result, it’s impossible to provide universally applicable pricing for change. You’ll find a broad variety of pricing for common adjustments on the Internet if you do a search for specific activities.
- Dresses, Skirts, and Pants: Hemming can range from $10 to $45. Keep in mind that hemming a skirt with linings and pleats costs extra.
- Sleeve reduction: The price of sleeve reduction ranges from ten dollars to sixty dollars. It costs more to have buttons and linings on a jacket’s sleeves than it does to have them on a shirt’s. It is also more expensive to shorten a jacket’s sleeves from the shoulder than to do it at the cuff, however some coats with ornamental sleeves may demand this.
- If your waistband is too large or too tiny, you’ll have to pay anything from $10 to $45 for an adjustment. Pants and skirts with linings are more expensive than those that aren’t lined. Having a pair of trousers altered may need alterations to the seat and crotch, raising the expense.
- Dress Shirt Tailoring. Dress shirts that are overly large can be altered for $15 to $35.
When the collar of a shirt wears out, it may make the entire shirt seem shabby. There are two options for repair: either turn (literally take off and sew back on) or replace (totally replace). These products and services range from $30 to $50. - Suit Jacket, Blazer, or Vest Intake: Suit jacket, blazer, or vest intake costs anywhere from $20 to $90. Three-seam jackets are more expensive than two-seam jackets. An extra $20 to $40 is required for the sleeves to be taken in, and a shoulder adjustment costs between $75 and $150.
- Sheath dresses cost between $25 and $50 to take in, depending on the style.
In general, the cost of replacing zippers and buttons is between $10 and $25, making this a very inexpensive repair option for most people. - The cost of replacing a garment’s lining can range from $50 to upwards of $100.
Clothing Alterations Can Help You Save Money
If you’re in the appropriate situation, alterations can save you money in the long term. Make your old clothes usable again. Sometimes you can save a lot of money on new clothing and when it’s preferable to give your old clothes and get something new.
- Get a Custom Fit at a Lower Price
Clothes sold in stores are designed to fit a standard body type, with dimensions that are near to the norm. Real people’s bodies, on the other hand, aren’t uniform. Because everyone’s dimensions range somewhat, the most you can expect for when buying off the rack is a fit that is good enough.
For a fraction of the price of bespoke clothes, you can have your off-the-rack purchases changed so that they fit like they were fashioned just for you.
On the other hand, you may get a suit in the clearance section for $200. The jacket and sleeves may need to be taken in, the waistline of the pants adjusted, and the sleeves shortened. It might cost as much as $405 to buy the outfit and have it tailor-made.
In comparison, a custom-made suit may set you back thousands of dollars. If you’re looking for a custom-made suit, Chicago tailor Nicholas Joseph Hansen tells CNBC you should expect to pay between $800 and $1,800 for it. Depending on the extent of the adjustments, an off-the-rack suit adjusted to your specifications can cost anywhere from 22% to 50% less.
It’s still a lot less than the average price for a suit. Hansen adds that in order to achieve the $800 price point, he has outsourced the sewing to countries with lower labor costs. Between $2,800 and $4,800 is the price of a “bespoke” suit, which is custom-fitted and made in the tailor’s Chicago shop. An adjusted suit costs only 8% to 14% more than a custom-made one.
- Adjust Clothes to Size Shifts
It’s not just that you have a unique physique, but it also changes throughout the course of time. Even if you’ve gained 10 pounds in the last year, your winter trousers may now appear big. However, a small tweak can restore them to their original form.
At Banana Republic, for example, a well-made pair of wool dress pants may cost between $100 and $200 when purchased new. The cost of having your old pants’ waistbands shortened by 40 cents will save you anywhere from 60 to 80 percent over the cost of purchasing new pants.
Alterations in the other direction are sometimes possible by a tailor. With a few pounds to spare on your waistline, chest or neck, they may “loosen up” an item of clothing so you’ll have more room for movement. However, this can only be done if the garment has additional fabric sewn into its seams.
- Update the Appearance of Outdated Clothes to Remain Fashionable
Garments with lots of life remaining in them sometimes wind up in the donation pile because they seem antiquated. Fashion evolves year after year. In many cases, all that is needed to bring them up to date is a little modification.
You can, for example, change the appearance of a piece of clothing by:
- Raise the Hemline Reports in 2020 from The Guardian stated that the length of midi skirts and dresses (with calf-length hemlines) had given way to a slightly above the knee length. Shortening an old midi-skirt for roughly $35 is a cheaper option than purchasing a new skirt in this length.
- Taking off the Shoulder Pads. Is there a suit jacket from the ’80s in your wardrobe with those massive shoulder pads? Instead of shelling out $200 for a new jacket, have those shoulders surgically removed for roughly $100.
- Buttons need to be changed out. Even a simple button change may transform a piece of clothing into something new. Instead of spending $100 or more on a new coat, have your tailor just replace the buttons for you for $20. You don’t even need a sewing machine to do this task if you have basic sewing abilities and a needle and thread.
- Make Your Own Clothes to Look Presentable
Even the smallest of tweaks can help keep your clothing from sagging and exposing more than you’d want. Small snaps can be added between the buttons of a shirt by women with large busts, for example. To keep their tops’ shoulders from slipping down, women with narrow shoulders can add little loops with a clasp on one end to their bra straps, which can be threaded through.
These little changes aren’t too pricey. Adding snaps to a blouse cost about $5 in 2011, according to a user on Corporette. If inflation is taken into account, that would equate to around $6 in 2021. It can cost anywhere from $20 to $50 to replace a blouse, not to mention the time it takes to find one that fits.
- Make the Most of Clothing Deals That Don’t Quite Fit Your Style.
Even though the price is right, it just doesn’t seem right to wear it since it doesn’t fit the rest of your wardrobe. Instead of squandering the opportunity, you might take the clothing to a tailor and have it tailored to fit. Even after changes, the final cost can be cheaper than buying retail if the price is low enough
My spouse, for example, once paid $59 for a used suit at a resale shop. Because the jacket suited him well, we paid $35 to have the pants hemmed and taken in. We paid less than $100 for a garment that retailed for $650, which we subsequently found.
- Keep Your Favorite Old Clothes
It’s possible to have a piece of clothing that you can’t afford to replace, no matter how much money you have.
A tailor may be able to salvage some of your most treasured garments from the trash, which may be a terrible experience. It may be as easy as replacing a worn collar or lining with a new one in certain circumstances. Your priceless clothing may be kept alive for as little as $30 and as much as $100 with this simple remedy.
In the most extreme circumstances, a professional tailor may be able to make an exact copy of your old favorites. A premium service, but if you can’t replace a piece of clothing you love, it may be worth it.
Bottom Line
Tailoring your own garments gives you access to a plethora of new options when it comes to your wardrobe. “Is this a good fit?” has been replaced by “Can this be made to fit me?” in the fitting room.
As an example, if you’re in the middle of a medium and a large in terms of size, that’s no longer a deal breaker. You may now purchase a large and have it resized to a medium-large, making it the ideal size and fit for your body type.
To be sure, you’ll need to take in the expense of adjustments while purchasing this method. When you include in the additional cost of having a large vest tailored, what appeared to be a wonderful value at $17 becomes a lot less so.
It’s still an excellent deal to spend $15 on a pair of thrift store dress trousers that just require $10 in hemming to make them appear to be $60. It’s one of the finest methods to save money on new clothing and yet look fantastic for the thrifty shopper.
