What changes when you repair clothes for other people: the parts worth your time

Repairing your own clothes and repairing someone else's are different activities that share a technique. The difference is not skill. It is that a customer's expectations, a written record, and the claims you make about the work all become part of the job. No practitioners were interviewed for this; the material comes from published rules.

What to take away

• Write down what was agreed, in the customer's words, before you start.
• Keep records for longer than feels necessary. The rules that govern textile businesses assume three years.
• Claims about where work is done are regulated, and repair does not turn an imported garment into a domestic one.
• Your standard and the customer's standard are different until one of you says which applies.

Agree the standard out loud

Functional, neat, or invisible. Say the words and write down which one was chosen. The most common dispute in repair work is a customer expecting invisible and receiving neat, both parties having assumed the other understood.

Attach a price to each standard and the conversation gets easier, because the customer chooses rather than hopes.

Records outlast memory

Textile businesses are expected to keep paper. The rule on maintenance of records requires persons subject to the Act who manufacture textile fiber products to keep records showing the fiber content of the products they manufacture, and to preserve those records for at least three years.

A repair workroom is not a manufacturer, but three years is a sensible retention period for intake sheets and photographs anyway, and it is the number the surrounding regulation settles on.

Origin claims

Repair work invites a natural-sounding claim that is regulated. The FTC guidance on complying with the Made in USA standard sets a strict test.

For an unqualified domestic-origin claim, a product must be all or virtually all made in the United States. All significant parts, processing and labor must be of U.S. origin, with no or negligible foreign content.

Repairing an imported garment in a domestic workroom does not make the garment domestic. You can say the repair was done locally. Saying the garment is American-made is a different claim with a specific test behind it. A repair shop that wants to advertise honestly should know how independent makers approach creative mending ideas when sourcing scrap cloth.

Things that change immediately

• You cannot decide mid-job to do something more interesting than what was agreed
• Turnaround becomes a promise rather than an intention
• Pre-existing damage has to be documented or it becomes yours
• The customer sees the back of the work
• Your own tolerance for a repair you find acceptable stops being the standard
• Rework is unpaid, so the cost of a shortcut lands entirely on you

Pricing your own time honestly

Working for other people forces a number onto your hours. Track the actual time across a run of similar jobs before setting a rate, because the estimate you would make from memory is consistently low. Count the intake conversation, the pressing, and the wrapping, which together often add as much time again as the stitching did.

The full picture of the work is in what running a studio involves, and the drivers behind a number are set out in what a repair costs.

Common questions

How long should I keep intake photographs? Three years is a defensible period and matches the retention the surrounding textile rules assume. Storage is cheap.

What if a garment fails after I repaired somewhere else on it? That is why the intake photographs cover the whole garment, not only the area you worked on.

Can I advertise as a specialist? If you actually are, and you can show the work. Claims about expertise are claims, and the same truthfulness standard applies.

Should I turn down garments I think are not worth repairing? Say so, in writing, and let the customer decide. Many will proceed anyway, and the note protects both of you.