Translation guide
The craft or process of making, altering, or fitting clothes, especially suits and formal wear. This guide covers how to talk about tailoring as a service, a skill, and an action in Japanese.
Referring to tailoring as an occupation, skill, or industry.
The most direct term for tailoring as a craft or the act of making clothes. Often used in compounds.
彼は仕立ての技術を学んでいる。
He is learning the art of tailoring.
Loanword from English, used in fashion contexts, especially for Western-style suits.
このスーツは最高のテーラリングが施されている。
This suit features the finest tailoring.
Specifically refers to Western-style clothing tailoring, as opposed to traditional Japanese clothing.
洋服仕立ての職人が減っている。
The number of Western-style tailors is decreasing.
Talking about going to a tailor to get clothes adjusted or made to measure.
Refers to alterations or remaking of existing clothes. Common in dry cleaning and tailor shops.
このジャケットの仕立て直しをお願いします。
I'd like to have this jacket altered, please.
A polite, everyday term for clothing repairs and alterations. Often used in shops.
裾のお直しはいくらですか？
How much is it to alter the hem?
Specifically refers to size adjustments, like taking in or letting out.
このズボンのサイズ直しはできますか？
Can you alter the size of these trousers?
Bespoke tailoring, where a pattern is created from scratch. High-end service.
フルオーダーのスーツは高価ですが、完璧なフィット感です。
Bespoke suits are expensive, but they fit perfectly.
Describing the action of tailoring or making a garment.
The verb meaning 'to tailor' or 'to make clothes'. Can also mean to prepare or train in other contexts.
彼女は自分のドレスを仕立てた。
She tailored her own dress.
Means 'to sew' or 'to make clothes by sewing'. More technical, used in manufacturing contexts.
この工場では高品質のスーツを縫製している。
This factory tailors high-quality suits.
仕立て (shitate) refers to making clothes from scratch or major restructuring, while お直し (onaoshi) is for minor alterations and repairs. In a tailor shop, use お直し for hemming or taking in seams, and 仕立て直し for more significant changes like relining a jacket.
When requesting alterations, it's common to say 「○○のお直しをお願いします」 (○○ no onaoshi o onegai shimasu). For example, 「裾のお直しをお願いします」 (suso no onaoshi o onegai shimasu) means 'I'd like the hem altered, please.'
Made-to-order suits where a base pattern is adjusted to your measurements. Common in Japanese suit shops.
イージーオーダーでスーツを作りました。
I had a suit made through a made-to-order service.