Reluctant tailor finds his true calling

Growing up with a tailor for a father, Elvis Ygot always knew making and repairing clothes was  a decent  livelihood.

But he didn’t  expect  to make a serious business out of it until his father  had to stop working after being injured in an accident.

Ygot and his brother Justiniano took over the shop and learned the trade.

Along the way, they grew to love  the tailoring craft.

Today Ygot is known for making quality life vests,  which many  tour operators order from him.

“It started in 2005 when someone had his life vest repaired here.  I realized how easy it was to make a life vest,” he said.

His idea of earning a living out of life vests became a reality two years ago, when Ygot joined the Kapamilya Na Negosyo Na program of the  Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry with ABS-CBN and the University of San Carlos Alumni Association.

The program encourages participants to grow a  small or  medium enterprise.

“I joined the seminar and tried my business proposal on making  life vests,” he said.

His entry won and with the  P10,000 prize money, he bought more clothing materials.

Ygot  accepted orders for at least 12  life vests at at time which were  then sold in tour shops.

“My vests  cost P400 to P650 depending on the materials used,” he said.

The demand, however, is seasonal  so he had to fall back on  other services like making school uniforms.

“In the future I’d like to focus more on the life vest business. I’m  having my business registered so that I can participate in public biddings and expand,” he said.

“As kids, our father trained us and showed us how to sew on  manual sewing machines we used to have  in Masbate province,” Ygot said.

His father would ask  him to help out in the  shop but Ygot at that time didn’t take his father’s instructions seriously.

His father set up a tailoring shop in barangay Labogon, Mandaue City in the early ‘80s.

Seeing that his sons were not  interested in the business, he advised them to look for a job.

Ygot got hired as a  decorator in a furniture company and accepted furniture repair jobs on the side.

However, in 1987, when his father had to quit because of an injury, he and elder brother, Justiniano had to take over the shop.

“So we were forced to take on the business. Eventually we developed a love for it and learned many things from simple repairs to general repairs and even tailoring uniforms for schools and corporate clients,” Ygot said.

When their father died, they closed the  Mandaue City shop and moved  the business to Ygot’s home in Buyong, barangay Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City.

It’s now his main source of income while his wife, Violeta, works in a manufacturing company at the Mactan Export Processing Zone.

“The business  helped us send our two daughters to school. They graduated from college and are now  employed in different companies,” he said.