My experience on Savile Row taught me that bespoke tailoring is luxury for the client and misery for the tailor. I'm not trying to be cute. I saw the results; the vast majority of tailors were unhappy with their work conditions all the time. How can you build a great team with demotivated tailors who are all on the verge of leaving your company?
Freelance work has kept our industry alive for many decades. Without freelancers, companies wouldn't keep up with production. For start-ups, the presence of freelancers has been a blessing; you get work done per piece without having to hire new staff and burn yourself into bankruptcy. Thank you freelancers! However...
There's a question here: why would someone go freelance?
It obviously has benefits:
Work from home
Choose your own work load and hours
Have a greater variety in your work
Diversify your job security
Set your own prices
What about the downsides?
In the past ten years, I have spoken to fifty or more freelance tailors about why they became freelancers.
This is what most of them told me:
The workshop environment was not pleasant
Travel costs were high
They were fired and didn't want to commit to another company
Companies couldn't afford hiring them on a salary
Companies didn't want to commit to hiring because they used freelancers
Other freelancers seemed to make more money per month than what they where getting as a salary
This is sad for both employees and companies. This is sad for our industry. Here is why:
Freelancers will always exist and it's great to have them. But I don't believe companies should build their foundations on it. Read on...
As a company, you might build great products by working with freelancers. But you'll never build a great company. Great companies are built from within by smart ambitious people who care to put in the extra hours and in exchange are rewarded by the company. Freelance work is a zero sum game. More work for one freelancer means less work for another. Team work can not function on this principle. Generally speaking, freelancers that work for the same company don't hold meetings to figure out how they can contribute to its success.
Think about it this way: What happens to kids whose parents are constantly changing partners? For starters, mental disorder comes to mind! Changing partners on repeat destabilises the entire household. It cultivates short term thinking. Great companies are like stable families. This is not a slogan. They truly are. They have solid values, which they have honed over time together, through thick and thin.
By relying on freelancers, companies are never forced to build a business that can sustain salaries. A great company covers all the benefits you have as a freelancer and more. You get sick leave, holidays, opportunities to expand your responsibilities and your salary. You work with other great people and experience the camaraderie that we all deeply desire from within. A great company pulls you towards greatness.
Understand: In the long run, freelance work is like tinder; If you don't like a company or tailor, you just swipe to someone else. The company and freelancer never learn to negotiate a shared vision together despite their inevitable differences. Freelance work doesn't encourage mutual commitment. Both tailor and company end up with less than they could have.
I must admit: Building a great company is nearly impossible. All responsibility rests with you as the founder.
You must build every system within your business to sustain profits that allow you to commit to your employees.
This is what committing to your employees looks like in basic terms:
They must be paid so that they can easily pay their monthly rent/bills
They must receive thorough training as fast as possible
They must grow within your company. If they can't upgrade their position, they must at least upgrade their salary
They must benefit from the success of the company . No employee wants to see the boss get rich without seeing their own pockets grow. Share the profits!
Very few tailoring companies can pull this off. But it sure is worth it.
How do you see the pros and cons of freelance tailoring? Share your experience in the comments below.
Great paper Reza. Many companies have the wrong business model and working with freelancers is the only way. In Italy many tailoring houses work with retired tailors (payed in black), even freelancers generally are payed in black. No holidays, no insurance, like in the great old times.
Other thing to consider is that living in big cities is very expensive or you have to travel for hours daily. Freelancing is the only choice.
The solution is not easy at all!