A lifetime of stitches: Tailor Moss keeps craft alive in Jamaica for over 50 years

In a culture where many consider tailoring a dying trade, one craftsman has quietly kept the tradition alive for more than half a century. For over 50 years, 86-year-old Leon Moss — widely known as “Tailor,” “Tailor Moss,” and “Cut-to-Fit” — has been creating, altering and repairing clothing for residents of his rural Trelawny community.

With the advent of online stores, fewer people rely on tailors today. Yet Moss has managed to remain in business since around 1956, when he first entered the trade. He learned tailoring from established craftsmen — his uncle and a family friend — driven by a desire to become self-sufficient.

“When I left school (junior high), I looked into it and said I don’t have much education, but I would love to grasp something. I said let me see how much I can learn. I don’t want anybody to push me around — I want to be my own boss — so I learned a trade and I chose tailoring,” Moss explained.

Determined to succeed, Moss persevered through early struggles, ignoring discouraging remarks.

“It tek me a rough time with it but I come through, and a man look pon me and seh mi head too thick, mi cya tek it,” he recalled.

“Tailor Moss” has since become the people’s tailor. He sews pants and alters dresses, blouses, and shirts for residents of Duanvale and surrounding communities, including Cooper’s Pen and Falmouth.

“Tailor Moss sew neat. Him is the best tailor in Duanvale. I don’t think nobody can sew like that man. Him is the only man sew my pants and I don’t wear jeans pants,” said loyal customer Douglas Clark.

Moss’ Apprenticeship Programme

Because of his expertise, Moss was approached by a young man eager to learn tailoring. He later established an apprenticeship programme, training 10 young men from Duanvale and neighbouring Sherwood Content. He taught them how to iron pants properly using a 15-pound fire-coal iron and how to attach buttons.

“I don’t keep it to myself — I share it (my knowledge of the trade),” Moss said.

Photo by Daneilla McLaughlin
Coal Iron
The pre-millennium-old coal iron that Moss uses.

Oroy Brown, also nicknamed “Tailor,” was one of Moss’ trainees. At age 16, Brown joined the apprenticeship after his mother asked Moss to train him. He spent months learning the craft.

Now a tailor for 32 years, Brown credits Moss with shaping his career, highlighting the mentorship and technical instruction he received.

“A him mek mi really go forward inna the sewing work. When I started out with him, mi get fi understand the real way to make pants. Him teach yuh well man. Mi master surging, zig-zag, to knit button with my hands in the space of weeks,” Brown explained.

“The first day that I went to trade, him start to show me how to do a thing name cross-fell, the hemming of the pants foot (with one’s hands). Even now this (cross-fell) still help me when current gone,” Brown added.

Brown says Moss’ influence extended beyond sewing.

“If him neva accept me that day maybe mi woulda find miself inna idle company eno. Mi nuh know wah would happen to me. When somebody do something like that, so great, it kinda hard to just say thanks. Mi nuh know how mi can thank him,” he said.

National Appreciation

Moss has also received formal recognition for his work. He was awarded a certificate of appreciation from the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, in association with the Trelawny Parish Council and the Mayor of Falmouth, for community development.

“Mi feel good mi name can call before I die,” Moss said.

Community member Vevine Sutherland described Moss as hardworking and dependable.

“Tailor Moss a number one. He sew neat, he cut-to-fit, he get lots of work inna the community and outta the community. Mi remember when he sew all the pants for the children on our church choir. His pants always have the seam. When tailor put seam inna yuh clothes it cya come out,” Sutherland said.

Photo by Daneilla McLaughlin Perfect Seam! Moss displays pants he made. He uses a fire-coal iron to make the seam in the pants.

Moss’ reputation extends beyond his community. Customers travel from across the parish, including police officers from the Falmouth Police Station.

“One day I was there sewing on the machine and I hear boots coming up. When the man come round it was a policeman… he say he have a pants. I think it was a straight-foot pants, but when I look it was riders. Riders pants is some pants that they build in England. I said I don’t think I can manage it, but I watch how they do it in England and master it,” he said.

“While I was there, a policewoman come in with two policemen. I tek the measurements. Then one more bike man ride in… so mi name spread — one Tailor Moss from Duanvale do this pants,” he joked.

Cancer, Declining Trade, and Continued Determination

In recent years, Moss has seen a decline in customers as more people shop online. He also worries that fewer young people are interested in learning tailoring.

“When I gone, who going to tek this up?… mi really sorry mi nuh have two young men a teach. Nobody nuh wah pick it up. It mek mi so sad. These young men don’t want to do it,” he said.

In 2013, doctors detected cancer in its early stages. Moss underwent treatment for several years until the illness was successfully addressed. More recently, he has been battling a cataract in one eye. Despite these challenges, he continues to sew.

Moss has no plans to retire.

Photo by Daneilla McLaughlin

“All the one eye wah mi got mi still sew… mi work until the foot can’t go pon the machine,” he said.

Even with limited vision, Moss remains committed to his craft.

“If the thread fine like this and mi mek a mistake, mi pick it up with the one eye — and mi nuh wear glasses,” he added.

After more than five decades, Tailor Moss continues to stitch together not just clothing, but a legacy — one seam at a time.