Trim Shop Challenge – How Technology is Changing Custom Upholstery and its Workforce
Foam, glue, fabric, hog rings, and sewing machines. For decades, those were the primary resources used by automotive trimmers to create hot rod and custom car interiors. The industry has seen a significant change in the past decade or more, though. Emerging technologies, from CAD design to 3D printing, have had a major impact on how hot rod and custom upholstery shops do business, just as they have altered how fabrication and other metal work gets done in build shops. Gone are the days when hand skills alone were enough to get the job done.
Even home-garage builders now rely on digital help. Along with wrenches, grinders, and welders, today’s home garage probably has a laptop or cell phone on the workbench with internet access to YouTube videos and social media feeds that provide skilled advice.
Automotive upholstery shops especially face not only the new technology impact but a changing worker environment, too. Older workers are retiring and attracting younger workers is arduous. Upholstery work demands near perfection and a passion for the job. Combine that with younger generations of workers not having the hands-on experience of working on cars that most older workers did and you have a major obstacle to overcome.
In addition, while recent import tariffs and overall price fluctuations affect the industry, as a whole, trim shops face new costs as tech takes on a greater role beyond sewing machines, fabrics, and supplies. Many shops are making use of CAD design, 3D scanning and printing, laser cutting of materials, and other tech advancements that require digital skills in addition to old-school manual abilities.
Attracting a Younger Workforce
For a modern upholstery shop, employing the latest technologies often means mid-career training for experienced trimmers to learn new digital skills. This ongoing challenge, though, presents an opportunity to bring younger workers into the fold who have the digital mindset but might lack the hand skills that are still required.
Jeff Mason of the Piston Foundation sees this opportunity because of the organization’s efforts to bring younger people into the collector car industry by offering scholarships to technical schools. While the scholarship program is just a couple of years old, Jeff says 15 recipients have finished their education and are working in the industry.
“Younger workers don’t have the hand skills that earlier young people did,” he says. “They don’t grow up as ‘toolbox kids’ as older workers did. They do arrive with digital skills, and not all shops recognize those skills that younger workers bring with them.”
Exposing Opportunities
While old-school shop classes fell out of favor in many public high schools over the years, that trend is reversing as schools are adding what are now called Career Technical Education programs. These classes can be a feeder system to the post-high school options for additional training in automotive skills.
In addition to a variety of technical education options for the fabrication, mechanical, and paint skills, several schools offer specific upholstery tracks, including WyoTech, McPherson College, and California’s Riverside Community College. In addition, groups like the Piston Foundation are working to attract more people to the industry.
Goodguys, the ASE Education Foundation, and WyoTech have combined efforts on the Careers in Hot Rodding program to reveal and showcase to high school students the many career path opportunities in the automotive aftermarket, service industries, and the collector car arena. Now in its third year, eight Goodguys events this season have hosted or are hosting these presentations. Area students at ASE-certified high schools near the events are invited to attend a Goodguys show and learn about a diverse industry.
Cindy Barlow, director of industry relations for WyoTech, says this collaborative project connects students with industry leaders. WyoTech has 1,200 students this fall studying various industry skills areas, including trim work.
“We talk about the opportunities in the trades,” Barlow says. “We’re opening the doors so they can see that it might be parts, it might be 3D printing, it might be marketing. We had 175 kids from different high schools (near the Goodguys’ Colorado event in September). We had a one-hour panel discussion where they asked questions.
“We’re teaching them how to have the confidence in themselves,” she says.
Riley Sojka’s Path
Growing up in Wichita, Kansas, Riley Sojka caught the old-car bug as a youngster walking local car shows with his family. After high school Riley decided he wanted to explore a career in the industry. That led him to McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas, where his class work included upholstery training.
“I didn’t know about it (upholstery work) until I touched a sewing machine at McPherson and was given that opportunity,” Riley says. Riley graduated in May with a BS in Automotive Restoration and began work at Stylecraft Auto Upholstery in Wichita. He also spent two summers interning at Stylecraft, so when he began working full time he wasn’t walking in cold.
He credits his internships for shaping his interest in upholstery work. He says he thinks the industry can help attract younger workers through outreach programs, like job fairs and internships.
“I think it’s important to find a way to get owners to be open to having people come through to see what is going on,” he says.
Bringing Upholstery In-House
One of the emerging trends in the hot rod industry involves builders adding a trim division to their mechanical, fabrication, and paint operations. Many upholstery shops that can handle the work necessary for high-end builds are often so busy that new jobs end up on a lengthy waiting list. That means builders can hit a scheduling roadblock that adds months to an already long timeline. Adding a trim division to an established shop does require investing in space and equipment, in addition to hiring an experienced trimmer who can do the high-end work.
The experience of Thom Ophof of SaltWorks Fab in southwest Florida illustrates this developing trend, as his custom shop added its own trim division a few years ago. Creating a modern interior that looks like a vintage interior, which means utilizing modern technologies effectively, is critical, Thom says.
“The young guy without hand skills can bring the tech work while he’s learning to sew, wrap fabric, etc., so it’s not so overwhelming for them,” he says.
Joel Williams of Nobody Customs in Louisiana decided to add a trim division after his increasing interior needs overwhelmed the local shop that he was using. Joel found a veteran trimmer who joined the team four years ago.
“We stay busy with our work,” he says. “But we do some work for people who might just want interior work done.”
SaltWorks went through a similar transition. Thom says they were using an out-of-state shop for most of their work, but if an issue needed hands-on attention, a 10-hour drive was often required. Currently two full-time upholstery specialists work at SaltWorks.
“We can forecast better,” Thom says. “We raised the quality and can make things faster. They stay busy on our work.”
Help for Mid-Career Pros
As the hot rod upholstery industry sees the older generation of trimmers retire, shops also face the need to train mid-career workers who came of age before the arrival of modern high-tech tools. One organization, the Revs Institute in Naples, Florida, is developing a program to offer professional development for working specialists, aiming to teach critical techniques and skills to veteran workers.
As the industry reaches out to younger workers, though, job candidates need to understand the needs of the industry beyond just hand skills and technology. All aspects of the industry, especially in upholstery shops, demand precision work and an almost perfectionist work ethic.
“They have to understand that it is what they are passionate about,” SaltWorks’ Ophof says. “It’s not just a job to make money. They have to really love cars. Find a place that does the kind of work you want to do. Do the job, learn what you can to get better.”
