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MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS
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TAILORING
Jane Austin in her novel 'Pride and Prejudice', very eloquently describes the First Impressions, by the proverbial term ' clothe makes a man '. This tendency seems to be gaining wide-spread credence in this district as elsewhere.
The tailor is an indispensable unit of the society as he fulfils the primary needs of the community. A few tailors depend for their livelihood on many subsidiary occupations, but most of them de-pend solely on this principal profession. Though tailoring shops are wide-spread in cities and towns, every village does not have a tailoring shop. A group of two or three villages have a common tailor.
According to 1951 Census, 1,486 persons (1,395 men, 91 women) were engaged in this occupation, but the category included tailors, milliners, dress-makers and darners.
Most of the tailors in small villages are unskilled and stitch only underwears or other clothes of ordinary type, but the tailors in big villages undertake stitching of shirts, pants, etc., in addition to other typical dresses. The tailors in big towns generally are adept in the art of tailoring and have thorough knowledge regarding the ever-changing fashions. As such they could easily adapt their work to the needs of time.
In the past, the profession was hereditary and the personnel belonged to the 'Shimpi' community of Hindus. But now with the passage of time, the occupation in the cities and towns is losing its hereditary character. Now the people take-up any of the occu-pations which suits them and which would provide them with suffi-cient income. In villages we may sometimes find tailors going from house to house collecting orders, taking measures, and finally making home-delivery of stitched clothes which is a rare pheno-mena in towns. In a village, the tailor, due to his limited busi-ness, does all the work himself, and does not have to depend on anyone. But a tailor in the town due to his large number of clientele works on the principle of division of labour. The owner himself or a specially employed tailor cuts the cloth and the stitching and other things are left for other employees.
In a village the tailor establishes his shop in the small verandah of a house with a sewing machine, a pair of scissors, a measuring tape, etc.
The tools and equipment of a tailor vary depending upon the size of the business. In the survey undertaken, it was found that the tools and equipment of a medium size establishment consisted of 2 or 3 sewing machines, each costing about Rs. 300 and three pairs of scissors, each costing about Rs. 12. The tools and equip-ment of small tailoring shops consisted of one sewing machine, its value ranging from Rs. 275 to 375, one pair of scissors and one measuring tape.
The fixed capital of a tailor is usually represented by the furni-ture of the shop and the sewing machines. The fixed capital of medium-sized establishments was approximately Rs. 2,000 and that of small establishments, varied between Rs. 600 and Rs. 1,000.
The income of a tailor in a medium unit was Rs. 200 per month, and that in a small unit, fluctuating between Rs. 70 and Rs. 150 per month. The charges of a tailor varied, depending upon the locality of establishment, the skill he possessed and the quality of the clothes stitched by him.
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