The Decline of Sewing Careers: Why Fewer Young Americans Are Pursuing Tailoring and Alterations
As of April 2026, the number of professional tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers in the United States has declined significantly compared to a decade ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This trend is particularly evident in major metropolitan areas like Chicago, where skilled tradespeople in the alteration and dry cleaning industry are aging out without sufficient younger workers to replace them.
Figo Topal, a 65-year-old tailor operating Devrim Cleaners in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, exemplifies this shift. He continues to work daily, choosing to keep his sewing machine positioned in front of his shop window not for optimal lighting, but to be visible to passersby. “People need to see you work,” Topal said in a recent interview. “That’s the key in this business.” His storefront presence is both a practical necessity and a quiet act of preservation in a trade he fears may disappear.
Topal is one of approximately 250 professional sewers remaining in the Chicago metropolitan area, based on 2024 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nationally, the BLS reported a 30% decline in employment for tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers between 2014 and 2024. This downward trend reflects broader changes in consumer behavior, including the rise of fast fashion, decreased demand for garment alterations, and fewer young people entering skilled trades that require long-term apprenticeships and hands-on training.
In past decades, Topal noted, his business thrived when social norms differed — more people smoked in restaurants, fewer worked from home, and clothing was often repaired rather than replaced. “Back in the day… the demand for dry cleaning and alterations was overwhelming,” he recalled. Today, those conditions have reversed, contributing to reduced foot traffic and fewer alteration requests.
The decline is not limited to Chicago. Similar patterns are reported in urban centers across the country, where independent tailoring shops face mounting pressures from commercial dry cleaning chains, online retail return policies that favor replacement over repair, and a cultural shift away from clothing longevity. Vocational programs in sewing and textile arts have likewise seen reduced enrollment, further narrowing the pipeline of new talent.
Despite these challenges, some artisans like Topal continue to advocate for the value of visible craftsmanship. By keeping his sewing machine in the window, he aims to spark curiosity and respect for the skill involved in alterations — a tiny but meaningful effort to counteract the invisibility of skilled manual labor in modern service economies.
As experienced tailors approach retirement without clear successors, industry observers warn that the loss of these trades could diminish community-based repair culture and increase textile waste. Whether through renewed interest in sustainable fashion, investment in vocational training, or consumer shifts toward quality and repair, the future of tailoring in America will depend on reconnecting public appreciation with the quiet, skilled work happening behind storefront windows — and, in cases like Topal’s, right in plain sight.