Fighting fast fashion: Rockford business wants to alter more than just your clothes
Sarene Alsharif wants you to look good and feel good in your clothes.
Alsharif is CEO and co-founder of Tad More Tailoring and Alterations, a clothing alterations store located at 6116 Mulford Village Drive behind Portillo's.
Unlike traditional tailoring businesses, you do not have to go to the shop to have alterations made. Instead, you learn how to pin and mark your clothing in the comfort of your home via a video and mail your clothing to Tad More Tailoring, where alterations are made and returned to you in five days.
Tad More Tailoring's mail-order service through its website allows the business to have a nationwide customer base. So far, the business has racked up more than 200 five-star reviews.
"We do a good job, and we do it quick," Alsharif said.
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Since opening in 2017, Tad More Tailoring has established itself as unique in its advocacy for saving money and the environment through upcycling.
The business also marries Alsharif's passions of looking and feeling good and global awareness.
"I'm actually a dietitian, and my focus is on health promotion and disease prevention," she said. "So, that's my passion, keeping people healthy."
The idea for Tad More Tailoring stemmed from a Google search for "fast fashion."
"I started reading about it and I was like, 'Oh my gosh. I need to do something about this,'" Alsharif said.
Fast fashion is the rapid production of clothing with little regard for environmental concerns. It negatively impacts the environment, Alsharif said, because it often uses of cheap and toxic materials, making the fashion industry the one of the largest polluters of clean water globally.
Alsharif said the fast fashion industry is the second dirtiest industry in the world, contributing to 10% of the carbon emissions, and that scientists have linked autoimmune diseases, ADHD and autism to the chemicals, dyes and plastics in clothing that people are unknowingly absorbing into their skin.
Research on the fast fashion industry prompted Alshasrif to embrace and promote the #30wearschallenge.
The challenge is simple: Wear your clothing at least 30 times in one year before discarding it.
"The average American usually only wears their clothes on average seven times," Alsharif said. "So, if we boost that, that will dramatically reduce the pollution and the carbon emissions and the impact on landfills."
Alsharif also acknowledged men in this country will likely have less of a problem in getting 30 wears out of a garmet than women will.
"One things that Michelle Obama talked about is how President Obama had three suits — black, gray and navy blue — and those were what he wore all eight years and nobody ever said anything.
"But her, as first lady, every time she was on TV, she had to have on something different. It really highlighted a lot of that inequality and how it is putting pressure on women to have this exquisite wardrobe."
In addition to wearing your clothing more often, Alsharif also is encouraging people to shop at thrift stores.
"See what you can buy there because those clothes are better quality," she said. "They've been loved and the initial chemicals that were in them have already been washed out. So, they're probably healthier for your skin."
Ade Villatore owner of EARTH Zero Waste at 327 W. Jefferson St. said she loves what Tad More Tailoring is doing.
"Sarene is very earth friendly and earth conscious," she said. "I can attest to that because she's comes to my store to try to live a life without plastics and gunk."
Chris Green is Rockford Register Star general assignment reporter. He can be reached at 815-987-1241, via email at cgreen@rrstar.com and Twitter @chrisfgreen
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Tad More Tailoring and Alterations succeeding with unique approach
