ALTERATIONS Tailor in SAN FRANCISCO

[comrade]

Bob became a friend. His shop was something of a hangout for
a very diverse set of locals: Stanford professors, retired small
business owners, and older Tech bros. Like a barber shop of 100
years ago He was a Serb immigrant with a HS diploma from Palo
(adult) Alto High School.He drove a vintage Cadillac and owned
several rental properties. He could schmooze with any one, including
me whose background was the exact opposite. Unfortunately, he was "skeptical" about Covid, and a Trump supporter. I do not believe that
he was ever vaccinated. This, despite the fact that one of his
daughters is a Nurse Practitioner at a teaching hospital in San
Francisco. I regularly drive by his former shop and always feel
a deep pang of sadness.

 

[Jnarcane]

You know, I went to a tailor in downtown Menlo before the pandemic and I think it was Bob. I had recently bought one of my first suits and was bringing it to have some basic alterations done. The tailor, an older central or eastern European guy, complimented my suit and dispensed some life advice, like that I should try to get married before age 30 (I failed there, sorry to say). It ended up not being a great experience, as I felt the result wasn't quite right, and I didn't have the confidence to say so. I chalk it up to my inexperience. Sorry to hear about what happened.

Lately, I've been going to Ali at Center Tailor & Alterations in Mountain View. He's done a handful of alterations for me, taking in/out sleeves, legs, and waists. I've been mostly happy with the work. Besides some minor communication issues, the thing that's given me pause is, after he let out the sleeves on one of my jackets, there's a crease visible on the outside (around where the sleeve used to end, I think). He said he had ironed it a bunch and it still wouldn't come out -- I suppose that's understandable, as the jacket is linen, and thus keen on a crease. I later noticed, too, that he had added some stitching that holds the formerly-functional sleeve cuffs closed. I'm not sure whether that was meant to be permanent and can't think of why it should be.

 

[Mr Stevens]

Bob became a friend. His shop was something of a hangout for
a very diverse set of locals: Stanford professors, retired small
business owners, and older Tech bros. Like a barber shop of 100
years ago He was a Serb immigrant with a HS diploma from Palo
(adult) Alto High School.He drove a vintage Cadillac and owned
several rental properties. He could schmooze with any one, including
me whose background was the exact opposite. Unfortunately, he was "skeptical" about Covid, and a Trump supporter. I do not believe that
he was ever vaccinated. This, despite the fact that one of his
daughters is a Nurse Practitioner at a teaching hospital in San
Francisco. I regularly drive by his former shop and always feel
a deep pang of sadness.

That's sad to hear. Andrea in Millbrae was a Sicilian immigrant who also spent most of the day listening to conservative talk radio. I worry he may have gone down the same COVID skeptic path (despite his wife working in a hospital). Wish I had the chance to meet Bob.

 

[jj970]

Bob was awesome. Super old school with a lot of life experiences. I have no idea how to replace him. Sounds like Jonathan is charging way more than I can stand. It's the principle!
I have 3 suits I bought during the pandemic that need tailoring and are now just collecting dust in the closet because I can't find a tailor.
I live in SF and work at Stanford so I can go anywhere in between.

 

[imatlas]

I haven't used him in several years but I always always thought Andreas Gorges did solid work at a fair price.

 

[comrade]

I haven't used him in several years but I always always thought Andreas Gorges did solid work at a fair price.

I've posted this before. Andreas ruined a pair of newly purchased cavalry twills from London about 20 years ago.
He did not know how to lower the waistband correctly, an
alteration I have had done successfully by other tailors before
and since.

 

[Aquafortis]

Bob was awesome. Super old school with a lot of life experiences. I have no idea how to replace him. Sounds like Jonathan is charging way more than I can stand. It's the principle!
I have 3 suits I bought during the pandemic that need tailoring and are now just collecting dust in the closet because I can't find a tailor.
I live in SF and work at Stanford so I can go anywhere in between.

Others here on SF have recommended Advanced European Tailoring in Berkeley. I guess it really comes down to the complexity of the alterations your suits need.

 

[BaboonFury]

Bob was a fantastic tailor and great man. I miss chatting with him and wish he would've considered the vaccine. I remember visiting him during the pandemic and he insisted on shaking my hand despite me insisting he shouldn't do that. To him, if it got him, it got him and so it did.

After Bob passed I tried tailor maid a number of times who are good for simpler things like lengthening a sleeve. They did make a bit of a mess of fixing bunching on the backs of a couple jackets that I had to take elsewhere to fix. I still am in search of a tailor of Bob's caliber.

 

[gimpwiz]

I asked Spoon when I was there recently if they do alterations in general or just as a favor to existing customers. They said they're so busy now (again, after covid) they generally don't do walk-ins. I will keep bringing stuff to them so long as they don't ask me to stop in between commissions.

To answer to previous questions:

Their shirt prices are now up to $150. 5x or more gives you a 10% discount. And they definitely have a book or two of tweeds, and are happy to order samples and make suits from other cloths they don't already have samples for.

Muia's Custom in south San Jose is fine for simple alterations. Adequate at an adequate price. Wouldn't bring her anything too interesting, though she is happy to tell you herself to bring complicated things to a proper tailor rather than an alteration shop. But she's definitely better than basic dry cleaner alterations.

 

[Aquafortis]

Maybe @UrbanComposition can lend some recommendations here? Peter - are you still using Jonathan/Tailor's Keep?

 

[comrade]

Bob was a fantastic tailor and great man. I miss chatting with him and wish he would've considered the vaccine. I remember visiting him during the pandemic and he insisted on shaking my hand despite me insisting he shouldn't do that. To him, if it got him, it got him and so it did.

After Bob passed I tried tailor maid a number of times who are good for simpler things like lengthening a sleeve. They did make a bit of a mess of fixing bunching on the backs of a couple jackets that I had to take elsewhere to fix. I still am in search of a tailor of Bob's caliber.

That's too bad. I am expecting delivery of a MTM jacket that could need alterations.
I will not risk using them now, unless it's for minor work. Sounds like Martinez in the
City is the only skilled tailor available.

 

[gettoasty]

Maybe @UrbanComposition can lend some recommendations here? Peter - are you still using Jonathan/Tailor's Keep?

I heard they do not alter garments not from their store anymore.

 

[stuffedsuperdud]

I heard they do not alter garments not from their store anymore.

I don't really know or care to know what their exact business arrangement is, but Jonathan is both Tailors' Keep's in house guy for their bespoke and MTM, as well an alterations tailor on his own. Ryan specifically will direct people who show up with outside garments to him. The only difference for you is, for outside alterations, you go through the door on Columbus and go directly upstairs to his shop where he'll work with you directly, whereas for Tailors' Keep stuff you'd of course go into their shop on Washington and talk to Ryan and the team. Jonathan said he doesn't take bespoke orders directly though; for that he'll direct you to Ryan. I guess the logic is, there's no sense in him striking out on his own and having to drum up business when he has Ryan's marketing to pipe him a steady stream of work.

 

[comrade]

I am confused. Isn't (wasn't) Martinez some how connected w/ Tailor's Keep.
Never used either, because I had Bob five min from my house.

 

[comrade]

Back to Ricardo's in Sunnyvale. Anyone use them for anything
complicated like reducing the shoulder padding in a jacket so
the result looks like it was the orignal cut?