Sewing And Alteration Business

3 Sewing And Alteration Business Success Stories [2025]

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Updated: April 14th, 2025

Do you have sewing skills and looking for an entrepreneurship opportunity? You can start your sewing and alteration business.

A sewing and alteration business offers customers clothing repair, custom tailoring, button replacement, and other alterations. You can start a sewing and alteration business at home or set up a retail location.

To start a sewing and alteration business, you will need a commercial-grade sewing machine and a marketing strategy, so target customers learn about your business.

In this list, you'll find real-world sewing and alteration business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a sewing and alteration business that makes money.

1. The Patchsmith ($78K/year)

Cailey Golden, the founder of The Patchsmith, came up with the idea for her business when a representative at a bank asked her if she could embroider patches for his fantasy football league. After successfully completing the job, Golden realized there was a market for custom embroidered patches and decided to start her own business, which has now grown to make $6,500 a month on average. She plans to transition to full-time entrepreneurship in the near future and is currently working on a rebrand and expanding into B2B customers.

How much money it makes: $78K/year
How many people on the team: 0

How I'm Turning My Patch Embroidery Side Project Into A Full Time Business

A patch embroidery business based in New York City has grown to earn $6,500 per month on average within 18 months of starting, thanks to no custom embroidered minimum patches and a strong Instagram presence, with a future focus on B2B customers.

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2. ALTRD ($12K/year)

Saara and Stephanie, long-time friends with socially oriented businesses, came up with the idea for ALTRD after realizing the lack of convenient tailoring solutions in the corporate world. They saw an opportunity to connect skilled immigrant women, who were talented at sewing but restrained by cultural and childcare reasons, with individuals in need of quality, convenient alterations. Through running a successful pilot and utilizing platforms like Shopify and Yelp, ALTRD has gained momentum and aims to expand to other cities in the future.

How much money it makes: $12K/year
How many people on the team: 0

These Two Founders Started An On-Demand Clothing Alterations Startup

ALTRD is a clothing alteration service launched by two socially oriented entrepreneurs that connects customers with skilled immigrant women tailors in New York who work from home and has already built an impressive team of 25 experts while making an effort to offer convenient and quality tailoring solutions as well as opportunities for women in need of work.

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3. Paperwallet ($6.67M/year)

Elad Burko, the founder of Paperwallet, came up with the idea for his business in 2007 when a friend showed him a paper wallet from Italy. He wanted to create something similar but more functional, so he experimented with different materials and eventually settled on Tyvek. Through Kickstarter campaigns and online marketing, Paperwallet has sold over 100,000 wallets and other accessories, allowing artists to earn a living from their designs.

How much money it makes: $6.67M/year
How many people on the team: 0

How I've Sold Over 100K Wallets On Kickstarter

Paperwallet founder Elad Burko created the unique brand to sell minimalistic wallets and accessories for fashion-forward men and women while providing a platform for independent artists to earn a living from their work, which since launching has generated over $600,000 in sales on Indiegogo and over 100,000 sales to date.

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Read by 4,592 founders