Every shop has fat months and thin ones, and both are on the calendar a year ahead. Here is how to use the quiet half properly.
Your Calendar Is Not Mine
Wedding months in the north are not wedding months in the south. School reopening differs by state. Which festivals bring garment orders depends on who lives around your shop.
So no article can hand you a month-by-month calendar and be right. What every shop does share is the shape: two busy stretches, two quiet ones, and the same four things worth doing in each.
The quiet season is not the gap between busy seasons. It is when the busy season is either prepared for or wasted.
Build Your Own — One Evening
You already own the data. It is in your bill book.
- Take last year's bills, month by month
- Count orders in each month, not rupees. Orders is the number that tells you about capacity
- Write the twelve numbers in a column
- Mark the three biggest and the three smallest
That is your calendar, and it is worth more than any national one. Do it again next year and you will start to see which months are genuinely seasonal and which were just a good or bad month.
On keeping the records this needs, see tailor shop accounts.
The Four Parts of Any Shop Year
1. The build-up
Orders start coming in faster than usual but you are not yet drowning. This is the most valuable and most wasted part of the year.
- Confirm your karigars are available for the coming rush, in writing, now
- Buy thread, lining, zips, buttons and packing covers before prices and queues rise
- Decide your rush charge and your cut-off date, and say both out loud from now on
- Clear the rack of uncollected garments. You will need the space and the cash
On the rack at the back, see garments nobody comes to collect.
2. The rush
Full order book, long days, everyone under pressure. Nothing new should be started in this stretch - you run the system you already built.
- Hold the cut-off date. One exception becomes ten
- Take fewer orders than you think you can do. Late delivery in a wedding month costs a family, not a customer
- Keep the stage list current daily. This is when "where is my garment" calls multiply
On surviving this stretch, see the festival season rush.
3. The drop
It stops almost overnight. Two weeks where the shop feels empty and the money from the rush is still coming in.
- Collect every outstanding balance now, while the work is fresh in everyone's mind
- Service the machines. They have just been run hard
- Work out what the rush actually earned, using the profit method rather than what is in the drawer
On working that out, see is a tailoring shop profitable.
4. The quiet
The longest part of the year, and the part that decides whether next year is better than this one.
- Train. This is when a new hand can be taught properly, because there is time
- Go after the work that fills quiet months - uniforms, alterations, a shop or office order
- Call last year's customers. Their measurements are on file and they need something stitched
- Fix what annoyed you during the rush. Whatever it was, it will happen again
On teaching a new hand, see training a new karigar.
What to Do in Each, at a Glance
| Season | The one thing to do | The one thing not to do |
|---|
Build-up | Buy materials and confirm staff | Start anything new |
Rush | Hold the cut-off date | Take one more order as a favour |
Drop | Collect every balance | Assume the money is profit |
Quiet | Train and chase steady work | Wait for it to pick up |
Filling the Quiet Months
Festival and wedding work will not stretch. What fills a quiet month is work that has nothing to do with the season.
- School and college uniforms, which run to the academic calendar, not the festival one
- Alterations, which happen all year and pay by the minute
- Shop, hotel or office uniforms - one order, many pieces, repeating
- Regular customers on a reminder, not on a hope
A shop with one of these has a floor under its quiet months. A shop with none is living off the rush and hoping it comes early.
On alterations as steady income, see starting an alteration business.
On uniform work, see school uniform manufacturing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which months are busiest for a tailoring shop in India?
It depends on where your shop is and who your customers are - wedding months, school reopening and festival dates all differ by state and community. Count last year's orders month by month from your own bill book; that is the only calendar that will be right for you.
What should I do in the off season?
Train somebody, chase work that does not follow the festival calendar, call last year's customers, and fix whatever went wrong during the rush. The quiet months are working months, not waiting months.
How do I stop losing money in slow months?
Add work that runs to a different calendar - uniforms, alterations, a repeating bulk order - and collect the balances still outstanding from the busy season. Most shops are owed more than they think.
Should I raise prices during the busy season?
A rush charge for urgent work is normal and fair, provided it is said at the counter and printed on the bill before the work starts. Quietly charging more in season, without saying so, is how a regular customer becomes somebody else's regular customer.
How far ahead should I plan?
One year, revisited after each rush. You do not need a detailed plan - four dates, one per season, with the one thing you must do before each.
On growing the shop overall, see how to grow a tailoring business.
On keeping customers coming back, see repeat customers for tailors.
Plans and what each includes are on the pricing page.
Count Twelve Numbers This Week
Take last year's bill book and write down how many orders you took in each month. Twelve numbers, one evening. That is your shop's year, and every decision above gets easier once you can see it.
You can start free on the Basic plan - ten customers, twenty orders a month, no card.