ANNOUNCEMENTS

To our valued customers:

For the past 36 years, The Fitting Image has offered a full range of alterations, tailoring, restyling, resizing, mending and repairing.  We’ve decided to close this location and take a minute to assess new ways of running an alterations business. 

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This decision has not been made lightly; all of us here are feeling mixed emotions regarding this change.  We love what we do, we’re good at what we do, we love the environment (working alongside and collaborating with other sewists), and we love the customers, but we see the need for change in this industry. 

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Mending and alterations are vital services.  They are as important as recycling and reducing carbon footprints. Unfortunately, almost all of us make minimum wage while sewing for a living – and minimum wage is not a living wage, especially in SLO County.   We are constantly struggling to find a balance between charging enough to earn a living wage and justifying the cost to customers whose clothing was sold for less than the cost of a sandwich. 

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Living in a global economy means that we need to understand that the $12 mass-produced pants we buy may have had a negative impact on the environment in the country where the pants were manufactured and that will eventually affect our local environment. Pollution has no borders.  That being said, we can’t expect everyone to spend hundreds of dollars on ‘Made in the USA’ clothing.  We want to find a more balanced system, even if it isn’t perfect. 

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While we transition to our next phase (whatever that may be), feel free to talk to us about how to be a conscious consumer, where to go in our area for mending and alterations, and even how to learn to sew, alter, mend, and repair for yourself. Below are some resources to look into.