School Uniform
Sewing Business

We have wanted to help start a women's school uniform sewing business. We've discussed this with the two brothers who own the tailoring business, Asia Tailor, in Phnom Penh's Russian Market. They felt they could find five used sewing machines and an embroidery machine to manufacture students' white school uniform blouses and shirts.  

We contacted Tony Castley, founder of SewAid, (http://www.sewaid.com), to ask for his advice and his organization's help in creating a women-run school uniform sewing business and provide training for employees. 

We feel a school uniform business could be a win-win situation: village families buy uniforms more cheaply than before from neighbors in their village who benefit from learning new skills that can improve their family's lives.

Because uniforms are sold so cheaply, we are now researching how to migrate from subsidizing the salaries of village women and cost of materials to creating a business that can support itself after initial help from us.