Wednesday, September 22, 2004. Evening Standard. Consumer Guide. The really useful column.

Space Savers

Designer Alterations' “four storey warehouse” stores your excess clothing. To “offload some emotional baggage” use DA’s storage service.

The best 36. The pick of the bunch of London’s clothing and jewellery repairers and menders. Simon Brooke.

Even these days, when everything is made to be disposable, there are certain valuable items that deserve the attention of an expert repairer rather than being consigned to the bin after a bit of wear. Although the nature of the item and the extent of the damage mean that the repair often cannot be invisible, it’s frequently worth investing in the services of an expert rather than having a go yourself. All repairers will be happy to look at your damaged clothing and provide you with a quote. Most repairers will also do alterations and many will spruce up your clothing, shoes and jewellery into the bargain.

Designer Alterations

“We do anything other people don’t want to do,” is proprietor Julia Dee’s proud boast. The team here will repair or alter anything from a favourite pair of jeans to a wedding dress. Prices start at £18 per hour for most work. A collection and delivery service is available and each costs £5. Turning a collar costs £12 and darning a pullover starts from £5.

Evening Standard - "Going Out Shopping"

Run out of wardrobe space? Julia Dee of Designer Alterations can solve your problem. She’ll collect your summer clothes, dry-clean and repair them, pack them in tissue then store them away in fabric and garment covers until you want them back. If you suddenly need a stored item it can be instantly retrieved (everything is computerized) and sent by taxi.

“Clients leave between 10 and 150 items with me, usually for around 20 to 30 weeks,” she says. “Psychologically it’s great because if they haven’t seen their clothes for six months they feel they’ve got a whole new wardrobe when we return them.”

Storage costs 50p per garment per week. Julia also offers a top quality alteration service. Typical requests: dress hem, £20; trouser hem, £12; narrowing jacket shoulders, £34; removing shoulder pads, £12; reshaping lapels, from £40. Collection/delivery costs £6 each way in central London.