Tailor Archive

Hello everyone,

I've been looking for a crafting profession for a while now and I think that I might want to be a tailor.. they are somewhat rare.. atleast the good ones are.

I was wondering.. how profitable can you be as a tailor? I put up some shirts for auction (all be it they were not the fancy ones) and of course no one bought them... does anyone have tips for an aspiring tailor?

Thanks!

I love tailor, i've had a lot of fun with it, it's easily the most customiazble crafting profession.

BUT

Clothes don't decay right now. Too many early tailors hit the market, made hundreds of dusters and cloaks, etc. People have their wardrobe and until decay is in, they won't need a new one. The market for tailors is getting very small, and unfortunately it probably won't be very profitable right now. You might be disheartened when people don't want your clothes, because they already have something better or they already have what you can make.

Sure, you will find some business with people who haven't bought wardrobes or new entertainers/combat people, they come in every day, but with an already established server, you're going to have a hard time.

Don't get me wrong, I like being tailor, but the market for them is slowly dying because people don't need new stuff. It's fun, and it's interesting, but it's not the way to go if you're in it for money.

Don't do auctions. Do instant sales.

Spread around your product. I live semi-remotely on Dantooine. There I upkeep my store/stock/and when I get bored, level up pistol skills.When I have product loads, Itravel back to other small cities or outposts where the market is not as flooded and list items on the Bazar at resonable prices. Often times I find clothing being sold at extremely low prices. So I try to find a new market and sell high.

This is a good idea to market yourself. Later, unless you,ve done so already, level up the merchant tree in advertising to put yourself on the global map for travelers and explorers.

Another piece of advice. If you're going to grind, use the practice mode and keep the product in demand.

I'm not so sure. I have been able to make a good amount of money as a tailor. I started keeping sales records on a spreadsheet, and from July 27 to the present, my average gross revenue per day has been 32,000 credits. And I'm still far from Master - only have Casual III, Field II, Tailoring II, and am a strictly non-grinding tailor. And I haven't been noticing much dropoff in sales due to people having all the clothes they want. On the contrary - I've been getting tons of repeat business.

That said, I suspect a lot of my success is due to having been out there hustling clothes since Day One, and establishing a good brand for myself. The trickiest part for you now is probably going to be finding a good niche to establish yourself in, either geographically (i.e., a city underserved by current tailors) or in category (e.g., most of the local tailors are focusing on Field Wear, or high-level Master stuff, so there's an opening for a Casual Wear specialist.)

I'm not saying tailors can't make money anymore, I"m just saying they will have much less of a market as the people who started tailor earlier will. I think tailors need to make more wookiee clothes. I sell out of that faster than anything else (including black dusters). Total market open there, nobody makes wookiee clothes really, and since they can't wear armor, they gotta have somethin!

Just saying that new tailors will have much more difficult time keeping business because people either already have a tailor they go to, or already have their clothes. When i started tailoring, I couldn't keep up with demand for the cantina dancers/musicians. Now they have all the stuff they want and I make few things for them anymore. I used to make all kinds of dusters and pants and cloaks and shirts, now I make few, because my vendor doesn't sell out much and I get 3-4 e-mail orders per day instead of 20.

Things change, and I'm not very hopeful for the future of a tailor until they put decay in. It's sad.

You're right Phelan. Without decay, how will we intice our prior customersto buymore clothing without having to lurethem into purchasing different styles? Some people just like what they have on and wear it every day, even if it's smelly.

Get out there and chat up potential customers! I've done about 70% of my sales so far face-to-face.
The only problem with this is when you ask them what they want, they have no idea.
C: Some cool green pants.
Me: I can make 7 different types of pants.
C: Well, something cool looking.

(We really need something to help educate the masses on what clothes we can make!)

I agree with your general points, but the one I think is a little exaggerated is people not buying because they "already have their clothes." You'd be surprised by how many people think they have "their clothes," but end up coming back for more and different. And not just the female dancer types! I have a fair number of combat guys who I set up with the typical "everything in black" outfits coming back for something a little different. To be sure, even this can't go on forever if there's no decay. Yet on the third tentacle, don't forget that there *is* "churn" in the game - people leaving and new people entering, every day.

We definitely need to have decay implemented eventually, but I don't think it's necessarily a catastrophe if it takes a while to get implemented.

And don't forget those "neglected markets." Like you mention, Wookiees still tend to be underserved. Personally, while I try to offer a *very* wide range of stuff for other clothes, my Wookiee stuff tends to be just a sampling of one or two examples of each item. Partly because dealing with the borked Wookiee colors has been such a hassle that I'd rather just make a couple items in "greenish" or "blackish" and only deal with the details if I get a specific Wookiee commission.

Are they going to put clothing decay in the game anytime soon?

I disagree totally. Clothing decay not being in is easily the LARGEST problem with tailor if you ask me. I don't care if it takes a whole real-time month for something to decay, but the fact that people have had the same duster since day4 or whatever and it's still 100% condition is a problem. Yeah, there are always repeat customers, but eventually people just stop needing clothes. They get no benefit other than looking cool because bioengineers have goofy schematics.

Poeple may disagree with me, that's fine, but as far as I can tell, my market has dropped a lot, and the new tailors i've talked to/trained are having problems making a profit and getting any business, whether in town or at their house. If people have their stame stuff forever, there's little to no incentive to get something new. a 4-socket duster is a 4-socket duster, it doesn't get any better if i experiment or anything, and they won't need to buy a new one because it falls apart.