Meet the Only NYC Tailor on Wheels
Makayla Wray is the founder of Pedal, an alterations pushcart based in Soho.
I didn’t allow myself to go to the Rachel Comey sample sale this year, but I did see on the brand’s Instagram Stories that parked outside the event was Pedal, an on-the-go alterations shop operated by Makayla Wray out of a former roasted peanuts pushcart. Well, that’s cool, I thought to myself, and took a screenshot.
A few weeks ago, I went to Soho to meet Makayla in person. Every Wednesday, weather permitting, she pushes her cart to the corner of Lafayette and Houston Street. On the afternoon I visited, she was working on repairing a vintage Anna Sui dress that a salesperson at REI got at Housing Works nearby, patching a pair of pants that a customer has been bringing back to her for years, and relining a leather jacket.
Originally from Pittsburgh, Makayla’s first job in fashion was sewing tags on garments at a factory. She picked up similar jobs after moving to New York post-college — “people think factories are overseas, but they’re like, behind your condo,” she tells me — and also began working as a sample maker for brands like Bode. During the pandemic, she started Pedal as a creative project and has been slowly and intentionally growing her business ever since.
The first year, she parked Pedal behind Botanica Bar. Then she moved to the south side of E 4th Street. Construction forced her to move to the north side, and then *even more* construction brought her to where she is today. “Everything's very made up in the best way possible,” she says of the cart, which features a fully functioning sewing machine and an ironing board. “I guess it promotes that New York dream energy of if you put the work in and find all the pieces, you can see the bigger picture.”
Below is a snippet of our conversation, which made me laugh and got me all choked up on the street!!
When did you start Pedal and what inspired this endeavor?
The cart is four years old. I started doing it during the pandemic. At the time, I was with a brand called Bode, but things started to slow down and I had a lot more time. Before the pandemic, I worked for Byron [of @peddlerny] and his coffee cart in the mornings, so we decided to combine the two. This is his old cart. It was really just supposed to be an art installation. The reason why I parked in Soho is because it’s all about buy, buy, buy! And I wanted to tell people: Hey, before you go into Forever 21… Look within your own closet. See what you already have, and let's make things! Consumers are always going to want something, but I can make you a new hat out of the pair of pants you grew out of. They’re not trash. Basically, I was just supposed to do that for the summer, but it kind of blew up and I fell in love with it, so I kept doing it.
What sorts of alteration/tailoring jobs do you take on?
During the pandemic, I did everything, except for blind hems. A blind hem requires a machine that I don't have, and you can get that done for like $15 at a tailor. I want to promote local tailors, so I send people to them. But if your tailor says no, I would like to say yes. Those are the jobs I like to take—the creative ones. One thing that I do a lot of is ‘memory plushes’ with people’s old clothing. For example, I had this one customer whose husband passed away during COVID—Jim, RIP—and she wanted to keep his favorite shirt. So we turned it into an elephant, which represented the last trip that they did together where they rode elephants. Those are the things I like to do. I want to have a conversation and figure it out with you. People are like, Well, I'm not a designer, so I don't know if this is right… But I'm like, No, let’s get creative. I do think that since the cart is on the street, there is a lack of seriousness that makes people a lot more open.
Do people do fittings in the middle of the street?
You’d be very surprised who decides to change on the street. Some people come prepared in a leotard or bike shorts. There’ve been times when I’ve held up a sheet of fabric. I’ve had people be like, Will you sew this on me right now? The most interesting moment was when a girl broke the zipper of her pants right in front of the cart. She was like, Oh my God, what am I gonna do? And then she looked up and was like, Are you serious?? I sewed her into her pants. I told her she was going to have to cut herself out of them at the end of the night but to come back and give me them to properly fix. I've watched guys rushing to job interviews pop a button, and I'm right here and they’re like, This is insane. I usually have a glass jar of buttons that I collect just in case. People walk around all the time with broken clothes.
Well, now that I know you’re here I’m definitely coming to you in a pinch.
I want to be able to help people. I price on a scale, so I give people the lowest number and the highest number I would do the job for and let them pay whatever they can in between. It’s hard… New York is pretty… Oh my God, I’m going to get emotional. But it’s really hard. People are in different tax brackets. Your co-worker might not have the support and backing that you have, and you guys have to look the same, or at least dress the same. I just want everybody to be able to have that.
Do you have to fight to keep your corner? This is pretty prime Soho real estate.
Oh, one hundred percent. I park the cart at the commissary with the rest of the halal carts and I think they think I’m nuts. They don’t take me seriously. But they *always* need me to fix something. And it’s funny because they are the hagglers of the hagglers. Like I remember this guy had this old Wendy’s apron that he wanted me to cut in half and add pockets. I was like, Alright, $10, and he was like, $5. I was like, Are you serious?! But it’s cool. They’re very supportive of me. They’ll help me push the cart. There’s an understanding: This person’s here, this person’s here…
Where is the cart headed in the future?
There’s always somebody who pulls up in a car and they’re like, “One day, you’re going to have twenty of these!” And I’m like: I kind of don’t want that. Have you ever worked a job where they’re like, “Okay, last year we made $20,000, so this year we gotta make $25,000!” I’m like: What if $20,000 is enough?
If you want to find Pedal, Makayla is usually parked on the corner of Lafayette and Houston in Soho on Wednesdays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. She also has a studio in Chinatown where she works on bigger projects.
NEXT TIME: We’re putting the “vest” in “investigation.”
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This was so much fun!!! Love this story