Once a cutter, always a cutter.
At the age of 15 I left school and went to work in the local clothing factory in Cardigan as a trainee garment cutter. It was so scary watching these experts who had been cutting for years making it look so easy and wondering if I could ever be as good as they were. So I set about trying to get as good as them.
I wanted to progress. I was hungry to learn. I really wanted to progress. I set myself a target: to be as good as they were. I watched for hour after hour, day after day, year after year. I listened to what they had to tell me, but mostly I watched. If there was something I didn’t understand, I would ask until I did understand.
And here I am now, 39 years of my life as a cutter. I am still a beginner. I still assume that I don’t know everything, that I have so much to learn. But my role is changing, I am now the one teaching others; even though I am still the student.
Claudio Belotti
hiutdenim.co.uk
The above was an excerpt from Hiut Denim Co. — YearBook 2. We only printed 2000. They have all sold out. But you can get a free digital version of YearBook 1 when you sign up for our newsletter here.
