Lessons from Eleven years in the Tailoring Business

I can barely believe the business is over a decade old! I get dizzy just thinking of all the various trials and errors I’ve been through, from pajamas and CMT, to wedding couture and teaching, it’s all been about understanding my clients and in what ways I can best serve them. Thank you everyone for supporting me on this journey, for helping me to grow and believing in the crazy dream of this business.

2024 was an interesting year, Charles and I parted ways, and I went through a business development program with the Craft and Design Institute. As always many lessons, some old, some new, but always exactly curated to my trajectory. My main education was (again) in people skills.

Start how you intend to finish

This is a pretty common mantra, but a lesson I’ve needed to repeat ad nauseum. Parting ways with Charles was like a really messy divorce. The long and the short of it was in permitting behavior that should have had direct and immediate consequences. Instead it was always addressed in retrospect, and endless promises made for the future. But each time I permitted undesirable behavior entrenched it’s acceptance, and increased it’s occurrence, to the point where it was no longer manageable.

I’m rather conflict averse, and don’t believe in sweating the small stuff. But really, all big things are accumulations of small things, and if the small things aren’t taken care of the big things will suffer. Ultimately I realized I was doing no-one any favors by being lenient with attendance, attitude, finances, workmanship and a million other small daily things. Permitting someone’s poor behavior is fooling them into thinking it’s acceptable, which only hampers their ability to function in life.

Honestly I’m guttered, and annoyed that in 11 years I’ve failed to grow the business past a home industry. But I see now I needed to get an A+ in certain lessons, not just a 30% pass.

Good apples can go bad, but can a bad apple turn good?

This relates to the first lesson, and takes some advice from Jordan Peterson: People will show and tell you who they are, and how they will behave. Believe them the first time. Of course people change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Of course interventions are necessary when someone’s background has not provided them certain skills, and we are all our brother’s keepers. But a big wake-up call for me was being honest about where the business is right now, and what it needs to grow.

Ultimately I’ll hire thousands of interns and take them through a fabulous skills development program. Not only in tailoring, but also life skills. But such an intern now, at this stage of the business, will only drain my resources. Right now the business needs someone who can help, not someone who needs help.

Make money now, solve problems later (with the money you’ve made)

Part of the CDI program was a monthly meeting with a business mentor. Initially I planned to spend most of my funding on equipment, particularly expanding my solar installation. But my mentor had such great advice: All the solar energy in the world will not automatically increase your revenue, but increased revenue will afford you all the solar you can dream of.

I’ve always been hesitant to accept too much work, given the constraints on my production capacity (see points above), and was always trying to solve the labor problem before accepting more work. But ultimately I’ve turned that idea around, and have been focusing on increasing revenue. With that revenue I’ve been able to afford a better skilled team member, and also invest in equipment to improve our workmanship.

Use marketing skills in hiring

Once I’d recovered emotionally and financially, I looked again to hiring a tailor. It was another trip down emotional and financial ruin as I interviewed over 50 candidates, but couldn’t get excited about the prospect of working with any of them. Then I realized that I have skills in attracting great clients. So obviously I can use those same skills to attract a great team member.

A few interviews later and Alba and I have been working together since November. I’m finding it hard to get excited, as it’s been a decade of being used, abused and abandoned. But again, it’s a skill, and like any other it takes practice to improve.

Build a team

People skills are the only way to get a team together working towards a bigger goal. My biggest lesson is that tough love is actually the kindest. Mollycoddling adults just assumes they can’t handle adulthood, and traps them as eternal children. Planning ahead, and communicating clearly what constitutes acceptable behaviour, and the consequences of poor behaviour, have given me more courage in confrontations.

Of course, as a leader, I must be involved in people’s personal problems, and assist them where the education system has failed them. But I’ve had to be very cautious about the people I surround myself with, and choose only those who have a drive for excellence.

My biggest lesson over all these years has been to understand business, understand finances, and understand people. The better I get at those things, the easier it is for me to focus on tailoring excellent suits, and serving our customers better. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, and I must really thank you for being a part of this fabulous journey.

I’ve been writing these blogs every year since the start of the business in 2014, you can find last years one here. If you want to know more about the business check out the About Page.

For more information on our sustainability goals you can head over to our Patreon page where we document the various projects. You can also up your fashion game with our Style Guide, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook. You can always get in touch via email (benjaminsaccaggi@gmail.com) or phone (+27 73 345 1779).