Slow Fashion: Local Tailors To Customize Your Wardrobe
Supporting slow fashion is a trifecta in itself; you help fund the local creative’s groceries for a week, you stimulate the local economy by giving back to local businesses, and you help save the environment! An additional plus point? You have a say in how your clothes look when you customize them. What’s better than showing our Malaysian spirit by supporting our local tailors too?
More businesses are popping up to offer you their customization services, and the lead time is bearable as a majority of them take an average of 2 weeks to finish – some even shorter! Many people stay away from customs as they think it’s more work than just buying something off a rack. However, buying something that fits you and your style to the ‘T’ is the tipping point over getting something from H&M.
1. Red Bean Closet
Got a class presentation coming up or a big meeting? Customized blazers have never looked this good before, and you can find it all at the Red Bean Closet!
Source: Red Bean Closet Instagram
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my favourite store. Why? Reason being, they flip boring blazers into new stylish ones. Every blazer they create is personalized and unique, so you’d not be a one-in-a-million, but one in forever!
One can get these custom blazers at different lengths, such as wanting long or short sleeves! Customization is also available to create blazers that come in sets. Sometimes, Red Bean Closet also shares a catalogue of available thrifted fabrics for customers to pick for their customized order. If you’re wondering about the type of fabrics they use, some of them are: cotton, jacquard, brocade, plaid, and blended surge! The best part about Red Bean Closet though? Their fluidity in colour matching and styling of their finished outfits are true trendsetters.
2. Da House Vintage
Sometimes, I wish there was a store that reworked clothes I already own. Oh hold up, Da House Vintage already does that!
Source: Da House Vintage Instagram
They rework thrifted clothes or fabrics of your choice into different types of clothes. If you’d like a cropped shirt but with ruched-up ends? Place an order with them to sew one for you! You can also enquire about the same for jackets. Aside from taking in your clothes to customize, they also source material on their own and release readily available reworked outfits! So if you have no time to send over your own clothes, they have ready-made ones prepped to go.
Another great thing about Da House Vintage is that they also have their own brick-and-mortar store for customers to shop in person. Although this isn’t always recommended because of the current pandemic, you can still shop online via their Instagram! If you’re wondering about the price range of the customization, it’s currently between RM20 – RM 50.
3. Mittens 750
Out with those branded shoes and clothes, time to get some customized ones with designs you can actually pick yourself with Mittens 750!
Source: Mittens 750 Instagram
They specialize in painting shoes, jeans, shirts and more! They usually paint or embroider plain clothes, or draw and sew on a new design provided by the customer. So, their modus operandi is mainly either being open for customization or selling ready-made painted items!
Mittens 750 accepts a really wide range of items for customization; shirts, corsets, shoes, and pants of any majority type like vinyl or leather are customizable. They also accept orders for unique items like helmets, backpacks and even face masks! Hence, if you want to spruce up anything you have at all, Mittens 750 is the go-to place.
4. Patten Shop
You can never have too many patterns, especially not when you have the Patten Shop customizing and designing your clothes!
Source: Patten Shop Instagram
These folks bring you a variety of patterns and designs for you to pick from which they will customize for you into a stylized skirt! The majority of their portfolio showcases flipping batik fabric into skirts with and without single-side slits, but they also have skirts that go for longer than just knee-length for our Muslimah ladies.
There are also long-wrap skirts and off-shoulder tops that you can also get custom-made or just pick ready-made pieces starting from RM35 and above. I would recommend you keeping your post notifications on for the Patten shop though, as their slots fill up pretty quickly.
I’d like to advise that when suggesting these places to friends, keep in mind to not shun people if they say they prefer a cheaper piece of outfit from a fast-fashion store. Majority of the time, only those who are middle-class and above can afford these services, as they are more privileged to buy items that aren’t wholesale-priced. However, if you are within budget or have been saving up for a special occasion, it’s always recommended to get your clothes from these local tailors. Why? Well, the easiest way to support our economy directly, is by being a part of the local supply chain!
If you’re interested in reading more about making greener fashion choices, check out this article here. Read this one too if you’re looking to buy some upcycled clothes!
