Also called: Alterations Specialist, Seamstress, Custom Tailor
Makes and alters clothes to fit individual people perfectly, from wedding dresses to custom suits.
A customer comes in with a prom dress three sizes too big, and you pin it on them, mark it with chalk and take it apart seam by seam. Later you hand-stitch a hem invisible enough that no one will ever notice. Many tailors run their own shop.
Owners of busy custom or bridal shops can earn more.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. No degree needed; learned through apprenticeship, classes or years of practice.
Ways in: Apprenticeship, On-the-job training, Self-taught, Trade school. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Fashion Design, Apparel Construction (certificate).
Shrinking (about -2% over 10 years). BLS projects a small decline, but skilled alterations people are in short supply in many towns.
Low risk for 10 years. Fitting and altering clothes for individual bodies is personal, hands-on work AI cannot do.
Classes: Sewing or fashion CTE, Art.
Official data: O*NET occupation 51-6052.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.