In a 2021 article from the Fashion Studies Journal entitled "Where Have all the Tailors Gone?", writer Sofía Agostini interviewed four Miami-based craftspeople to understand their profession in a contemporary context. Her subjects were deeply passionate and incredibly skilled, having spent much of their long careers making bespoke suits completely by hand. They served clients who were millionaires, basketball players, and CEOs who clamored for a fitting and waited months for just the right fabric.
But after the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the “casualization” of office wear – with remote employees preferring sweatpants over slacks – these tailors shifted to almost exclusively performing alterations. One interviewee, Mario, claims to have over $100,000 of excess material sitting idle in his warehouse, uncut and unstitched. Now, instead of grand pieces cut from whole cloth, he and his colleagues fashion subtle changes to well-loved garments, humbly hemming and carefully adjusting loose threads.
The art of tailoring is not alone in undergoing this radical shift. Many skilled crafts have had to adjust to modern tastes, and bend (or bow) to the pressures of technological advancement. Some professions have collapsed completely – lamplighters and switchboard operators, to name an anachronistic few – but those that have adapted their business model to serve their customers’ updated needs can still thrive. For example, technicians who used to repair bulky TVs or vacuum cleaners have developed expertise in fixing the increasingly miniature electronics inside today’s devices.
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Some professions have collapsed completely – lamplighters and switchboard operators, to name an anachronistic few – but those that have adapted their business model to serve their customers’ updated needs can still thrive.
In a strange way, the story of Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) in the United States has followed this same pattern. Like bespoke suits in the world of fashion, apprenticeships were long seen as the gold standard of workforce development programs: timeless, high-quality, a classic status symbol. In the nearly 100 years since their inception via the National Apprenticeship Act in 1937, millions of workers have successfully entered into new career paths through structured, hands-on learning.
But now, after 20 years of ceaseless promotion across multiple political administrations, “apprenticeship exhaustion” has begun to set in. Criticisms of apprenticeship mirror those of custom menswear. They’re seen as stiff and inflexible, expensive and finicky. Certain aspects leave newcomers confused: reading a competency framework can feel as foreign as tying an ascot. And when there are so many other options for developing employees, why bother with apprenticeship at all? Why buy a power suit when the most iconic corporate outfit is a black turtleneck and jeans?
And yet, apprenticeships undeniably produce results. They are incredibly effective in retaining talent, outperforming internships by more than 20%. Study after study shows they yield a positive return on investment for employers. They work across industries, and with companies of all shapes and sizes. Arguably the most technologically advanced corporation in the world has gone all-in on the same program model that made Paul Revere the world’s most famous silversmith. So, with such powerful outcomes, why aren’t more companies clamoring to start apprenticeships?
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So, with such powerful outcomes, why aren’t more companies clamoring to start apprenticeships?
We can (and arguably should) point to a mountain of barriers that are holding back apprenticeship expansion. But despite these roadblocks, I think the lesson learned from Sofía Agostini’s article can help inform our approach: we need to stop trying to sell the whole suit.
Most businesses are already using some kind of professional development pathway to train and upskill their employees. Co-ops, internships, or rotations are common for entry-level talent to gain hands-on work experience. There are countless learning & development platforms available, with some companies creating & implementing their own versions. If these are effective, why would we reasonably ask a company to also adopt apprenticeship as a separate solution? It’s like asking Mark Zuckerberg to ditch his hoodie and put on a blazer – or worse yet, wear the blazer over the hoodie.
Instead, we should promote apprenticeships as a worthwhile alteration to existing professional development programs, one that can increase retention, ROI, and diversity. Many programs rely on the same core components as apprenticeship: hands-on learning, supported by mentors, supplemented with technical training, with competency evaluated by seasoned pros and employee progress tracked along the way. This would require relatively few shifts to be in alignment with Registered Apprenticeships.
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We should promote apprenticeships as a worthwhile alteration to existing professional development programs, one that can increase retention, ROI, and diversity.
Take for example the healthcare industry. Almost any practicing medical professional, from radiologists to nurse practitioners, receives a combination of clinical and didactic training in order to become fully qualified. These terms, translated simply, are what we in the world of apprenticeship call on-the-job training (OJT) and related technical instruction (RTI), the two fundamental aspects of any RA program. It’s then no wonder that Registered Apprenticeships in the healthcare industry have seen a 169 percent increase over the past 5 years. Imagine the growth apprenticeship could experience if we worked to align it with existing workforce programs, rather than trying to replace them.
In RAPs, as with tailoring, most clients don’t realize alterations are even a possibility. As Liemer says, many of her customers “don’t know that they can fix their clothes or…repurpose what they already own.” Businesses are often much the same. Educating companies on what Liemer calls “shop[ping] in their own closet” can lead to more of them choosing apprenticeship as a way to lower costs, improve retention, and ultimately repurpose something they know and love.
