The competition for tailors and seamstresses will be held for the first time in the Vitebsk region

February 9, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. A competition for seamstresses and tailors working in the service sector will be held for the first time in the Vitebsk region, Polina Sudilovskaya, head of the state institution "Department of Household Services for the Population of the Vitebsk Region," told a BELTA correspondent. Not only individual tailoring masters from the household service sector but also entrepreneurs providing such services to the public are invited to participate in the competition. According to Polina Sudilovskaya, the competition between representatives of state enterprises and private businesses will spur both to professional improvement and will benefit the average consumer. In the Vitebsk region, according to statistics, there are 140 sewing workshops, ateliers, and individual entrepreneurs providing repair and tailoring services, of which only 27 are part of the household service system, while the rest are non-state-owned. The professional competition will be held in the autumn, but its participants have already begun preparing sketches for clothing collections – everyday wear, business attire, and sportswear and leisurewear. In the first stage, an art council, which includes professional designers, will select sketches that will then be turned into finished products and presented by their authors at the competition. In recent years, there has been a trend towards an increase in the volume of individual tailoring services in the region. "Clothing from a good tailor has always been more prestigious than ready-to-wear collections, and now we are again seeing demand for individual tailoring," noted Polina Sudilovskaya. In just 11 months of 2009, services for individual tailoring and clothing repair worth Br4.5 billion were provided in the region. At the same time, high professional training of masters and modern equipment are necessary for higher quality service provision. Specifically for cutters and seamstresses, the household services department, together with one of the vocational lyceums, is conducting advanced training courses where trainees are introduced to fashion trends and taught to work with special computer programs that allow for calculations and pattern drafting in minutes. This year, the regional household service sector has embarked on a course of technical re-equipment of sewing and knitwear ateliers. A significant portion of funds from the innovation fund will be allocated to the purchase of new equipment. -0-