Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers
Design, make, alter, repair, or fit garments.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 49% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by -8.8% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on physical dexterity and creative vision.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $41,640
- Job growth to 2035
- -8.8%
- Openings a year
- 3,700
- People doing it (2025)
- 33,200
- Usual route in
- No formal credential, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment
- Determine values or prices of goods or services
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Sew garments or materials
- Take physical measurements of patients or clients
- Cut materials
What the work looks like
- Measure parts, such as sleeves or pant legs, and mark or pin-fold alteration lines.
- Remove stitches from garments to be altered, using rippers or razor blades.
- Sew garments, using needles and thread or sewing machines.
- Let out or take in seams in suits and other garments to improve fit.
- Measure customers, using tape measures, and record measurements.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as affordable clothing and fast fashion trends result in more consumers choosing to purchase new clothing rather than make, alter, or repair their clothing.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Model makers, woodHuman edge, steady, Index 62, -3.3%
- Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plasticHuman edge, growing, Index 96, +5.8%
- Patternmakers, woodHuman edge, steady, Index 59, -2.0%
- Furniture finishersHuman edge, steady, Index 65, -3.5%
Also known as: Alterations Sewer, Dressmaker, Seamstress, Tailor, Alterations Expert, Bridal Designer, Clothing Pattern Designer, Custom Dressmaker.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.