Is Tailoring Hard or Are We Teaching It Wrong? | Reza — Walking with a Red Flag

Why does learning bespoke tailoring take so long and how much of that time could better teaching save? Reza was invited as the main speaker at the 2026 Federation of Asian Master Tailors (FAMT) event in Bali, Indonesia. During his talk he explores the future of tailoring education in “Walking with a Red Flag,”. Reza challenges a deeply rooted assumption: that taking years to learn something is not the same as mastering it. Speaking to an international audience of tailors, Reza asks: are we preserving craftsmanship, or preserving barriers to learning it? Through humour, a hands-on origami exercise and the story of Britain’s Red Flag Act, he examines the difference between learning the steps and mastering the craft. Clear instructions give students a foundation. Practice, understanding and refinement turn that foundation into skill. Drawing on his experience on Savile Row and the creation of the International School of Tailoring, Reza shares a vision for making bespoke tailoring knowledge accessible worldwide, teaching not only how a garment is made, but WHY each technique works. In this talk: • Bringing experienced master tailors and the next generation together • Why years spent learning do not automatically equal mastery • How clear, visual teaching can improve tailoring education • Teaching garment construction through principles rather than unexplained rules • The role of multilingual video lessons in sharing craft knowledge • How accessible education can support appr