This occupation is found at all the rural and urban areas of importance in the district. Next to hotels and restaurants or boarding and lodging houses, tailoring is an important avenue of employment. The tailors are found all over the district. But they are found in larger number in Nasik city and in Malegaon and Igatpuri towns. Only in some tribal areas, they are rarely found. In that case the tribals either purchase readymade clothes or get them stitched on bazar days from the tailors sitting on the road side. In the plain areas and areas adjoining the big towns the occupation is fairly prosperous.

In 1911 the services were grouped under the category 'tailors, milliners, dress makers and darners, embroiderers on linen' and the persons doing this business numbered 4,006. Of these, 1773 were actual workers (males 1,220 females 553) and 2.233 were dependents. Accord­ing to 1951 census 2,586 persons (males 2,468 females 118) were engaged in this occupation but the category under which they were included was changed simply to 'tailors'. In 1961 census again, the occupational classification was changed so as to include 'tailors, cutters, furriers and related workers'. Accordingly 5,661 persons (males 4,903 females 758) were counted as engaged in this occupation. Of these 2,744 (males 2,426 females 318) were in rural areas whereas 2,917 (males 2,477 females 440) were found in urban centres.

In urban areas the business is generally conducted in well established tailoring firms each having about two to five sewing machines. But a shop having one sewing machine established in a small tenement or a verandah of a house is not rare. The shop is well decorated with mirrors, fashion plates and sometimes photo frames of gods, saints, cinema actors and actresses. A tailor who carries on his business in a verandah or in a small room either in rural areas or outside the gate of a big cloth shop in a city like Nasik establishes his shop with a sewing machine, a measuring tape, a pair of scissors and a small wooden box which serves him as a chair.

Big tailoring shops or firms were mostly found in Nasik, Malegaon, Igatpuri and in few other tahsil headquarters. The capital investment in a big shop was found as high as Rs. 5,000 while' the same in a small shop amounted to Rs. 200 only. According to the sample survey which was conducted at a few places in the district the average capital invest­ment amounted to Rs. 1,076. In the case of a pig tailoring shop the major items of capital investment included two to five good sewing machines, show cases, chairs, and tools such as scissors, measuring tapes, etc. A small shop in most of the cases included a second hand sewing machine, scissors and a measure tape.

The tailor who worked alone either owned the sewing machine or used it on a rental basis. In most of the big shops paid servants were employed. The average monthly salary of a servant amounted to Rs. 75. Sometimes the remuneration payable to the servant was fixed on contract or apiece rate basis.

The daily income of a tailoring shop varied between Rs. 3 and Rs. 40 depending upon the size of the shop. As regards the stitching charges no uniformity was found in the district. They varied according to the type of cloth, woollen, cotton, terylene etc. and also as per the skill of a tailor. The items of recurring expenditure included rent, repairs to and renewals of sewing machines, thread, needles, buttons, canvas-cloth etc.

Tailoring shoos, big or small, in general were mostly housed in rented premises, the average rent being Rs. 20. The range of monthly rent, however, varied between Rs. 5 and Rs. 77.

The profession provides ample scope for earning a good livelihood especially in rural areas.