by Caitlin Kenney

Marc W. writes:

I went to see my regular seamstress today. She has a small shop in the middle of the upscale district in our city; she caters to a lot of doctors, lawyers, and their wives. I was getting a pair of suit pants hemmed. Normally a job like this would take 2-3 days, but she told me today that it would be almost a month before they would be ready. She said she's seeing a lot of older clothes that need alterations or repair, versus new clothes that just need to be tailored. She mentioned that a lady came in the other day that she had never seen before even though the woman lived less than three blocks from her shop. The lady was having a tear in a dress repaired. My seamstress said the woman was visibly shaken and mentioned that she had been watching CNBC all morning.

So maybe it's a green shoot for my seamstress, but not so much for upscale clothing retailers.