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DERON Franklyn is taking the Jamaican expression ‘tun yuh hand mek fashion’ to a different level with the creation of a mobile tailoring and dressmaking business in Portland.
Inside his 1994 Honda Civic, a sewing machine is perched on a desk where the front passenger seat was once installed. Franklyn sits comfortably in the back seat, garments set for alteration and fabric to make school uniforms in a pile beside him. At the ring of his cellphone, he packs everything up, driving to wherever his customers are located to take measurements and make quick alterations.
Despite being a tailor for more than 35 years, he told the Jamaica Observer he started his mobile service just four months ago to meet the high demand for convenient dress-making services across the parish.
“I’ve been sewing most of my life, but it’s really three years after I left school that I started fooling around with this machine. I was in a family business; it’s my mom’s business, and I was there helping her sew school uniforms and stuff, and that’s how I really started to grasp the sewing. Growing up with my mom and being around her, it was only natural that when I left school, not finding any job or anything, to go and learn something about sewing,” said Franklyn.
The 42-year-old said he worked with his mother until 15 years ago when he decided to venture out on his own. He opened a workshop and business was great, but he later realised that people were finding it hard to come to his shop, so he decided to go to them.
“I had to create something quick and fast to really facilitate them, so that’s how the mobile stuff came. It’s my little personal car. I just looked on the Internet and realised I could buy a solar setup for cheap. I did a lot of research on the Internet to find out how I could make it work. When I realised my machine didn’t take a lot of energy, I went ahead and bought the parts off the Internet on Amazon and bought a secondary battery to put in the car, and now the machine runs on it,” he told the Sunday Observer.
Franklyn said his main operation now takes place at his home, but for customers who need quick alterations or their measurements taken, he hops in his car and gets the job done.
“If you can’t leave your home, I come and get the measurements and everything, and I tell you the price and head back to my workshop and get that made. When I’m making clothes, I mainly do that in the workshop. It has to really be an emergency for me to make clothes in the car, but I do alterations in my car, which is what most people love because they can get their clothes back right on the spot without travelling,” said Franklyn, adding that he also does upholstery work.
He said since he started offering the new service, business has been booming.
“On a regular day, trust me, every minute my phone rings, especially because of the back-to-school rush. Right now, about 20 persons call me from morning, plus some who want clothes to make, so I will go home and back and forth. Right now, I’m on the spot [at Port Antonio High School] doing alterations for people in the town. As you are talking to me, I hear the phone beeping, and you know how that goes. From I make it more convenient for the customers, they love it because they don’t have to search for me any more; they just call, and I pull up right at their foot,” said Franklyn, adding that he even gets calls from people asking him to bring the service to Kingston.
He noted that many other service providers are taking this approach, a sign that mobile service providers are the future.
“Recently, one of my barbershops gone mobile. It’s a thing that’s going to keep building out because you find that renting stores don’t add up. With the work that I do, it don’t make any sense renting a store, and I have to overprice my customers to cover the rent. This is where the world is going. The economy is making a change. I’m just one of the first thinkers that move on it, but I know it’s on a lot of people’s mind. Later from this, you’re supposed to see a lot of people doing their setup like me,” he told the Sunday Observer.
Franklyn said he has dreams of eventually expanding his mobile unit with the purchase of a Toyota Townace van to make the setup more comfortable for customers. He said he envisions the space having a television, a chair where customers can wait, and even a changing room.
Until then, he said he will continue to traverse Portland in his Honda Civic motor car, possibly taking on business in a few nearby parishes in the future.
He urged younger people to be innovative and explore avenues to capitalise on their skills.
“Skill building is the way out right now. Once you have a skill, you always have an option. I started small because I just have my car, but it worked out. Just use what you have and build from there,” he encouraged.
Franklyn can be contacted at (876) 844-6059 for all tailoring, alterations, and upholstery needs.
