There are numerous ways you can take a more sustainable approach to your wardrobe; buying second-hand, renting clothes instead, swapping bits with friends, and re-wearing what you’ve got. The last one sounds obvious but how many times have you binned something when all it needed was a little love, a little care and a little repair? Investing in repairs and alterations can give your garms a whole new lease of life (and can be a godsend if you buy a lot of vintage) and now it’s super simple to do thanks to on-demand tailoring service The Seam.
Founded by Layla Sargent, who was inspired by her dressmaker grandmother, The Seam gives you access to a network of makers (locally in London and available via postal service nationwide) who can tackle all kinds of fixes, from sleeve, waistband and other fitting adjustments to re-hemming, patching holes and replacing zips and buttons. If you’ve got a job that’s a bit more involved, like delicate embroidery or getting a piece made-to-measure, The Seam experts can do that too.
You just submit your address to find makers near you (or see who’s available nationwide if you’re not based in London), select the tailoring service you need, specify what the item is and what needs doing to it, and then you’re matched with experts who can do the job. You can then either drop off the clothes in person or send them in the post. Prices for basic alterations are fixed, and start as low as £3, with costs for bespoke jobs quoted on a case by case basis.
We’ve given The Seam a go ourselves and can confirm it’s a piece of cake to use – we had a t-shirt that needed taking up so once we’d chosen local expert Twishika to take on the job, we’d set up a time to drop it off using the platform’s chat function and within the space of a weekend we had it back fitting perfectly. It may be slow fashion but it’s speedy service.