ALTERATIONS Tailor in SAN FRANCISCO

[stevemcgee99]

SAN FRANCISCO ALTERATIONS TAILOR.
This thread now needs a map and an org chart. Who? Where? Is that guy dead?

San Francisco County and City.
What are the reputations of tailors within San Francisco City Limits?
Who can handle significant alterations to jackets within San Francisco City Limits?

So:
No Franz.
No Carlos at Oxford - how is the son?
No Glenda [ Yelpers report this location has closed. Find a similar spot.]
No Victor

Andreas Georges has fans.
*and detractor

Taraval looks like a custom suit company - do they want to do alterations to thrifted stuff?

I've been to Young's on Mission. My experience informs my judgement not to take my one-of-a-kind vintage madras to them.


I'm sure there's great people all over the world. But there are limitless new threads that can be started to write about those people. Please keep this thread focused only on San Francisco tailors who can do significant alterations to jackets, etc.

San Francisco - related content from the other thread, slightly organized:

I recently tried Taraval Tailors and am happy with the cuffs he put on some pants. He put a small slant on them, just a cm or so.

I had some trousers altered at Tailors Keep in the Financial District and was impressed with the work. They were able to shorten a long back rise and let out the crotch seam, then re-attach the waistband by hand (rather than using a simple topstitch). Prices are slightly on the high side, but very fair for the work involved.

Made a pair of bespoke trousers for me. I bought a pair after seeing how the alterations came back. Was really impressed with the work, so I tried a pair of their in-house bespoke pants, which also came out nicely.

I've been to Alberto's (I think on Grant Ave in SF) and had him do jacket sleeves with functioning buttons. Clean work and fast. Haven't tried him for more complicated stuff yet, but the guys at Taylor Stitch recommend him. He was a favorite of TS's former in-house tailor, Ryan, who now has his own shop Tailor's Keep.

Also, for what it's worth, TS uses Young's (sp?) in the Mission. They apparently are one of the few places that can skillfully alter ladies' stuff, too.

Has anyone gone to Glenda Pongiglione? 46 5 star reviews on Yelp - http://www.yelp.com/biz/glenda-pongiglione-san-francisco-2?sort_by=date_desc. Mostly wedding dresses, etc., but a couple of reviews for men's alterations.



Glenda is awesome. She doesn't do wedding dresses anymore either.

I've taken suits, shirts, pants, everything into her. She will tell me when not to waste my time and how to do it right.

One time I needed suit sleeve shortened. She did most of it from the shoulder because of the working button holes, but in order not to mess too much with where the curvature of the elbow falls, also did half a centimeter from the sleeve. I'm not a skilled eye, but I generally can't tell where she did the work except for the old fold lines which are pressed out.

I won't use anyone else anymore.

In SanFrancisco proper, stay away from John Minor.
He ruined a pair of slacks of mine which I bought
in London.

I've been happy with Andreas George on Bush at Kearny in SF. Consistent two week turnaround, does a great job with more complex work. I have to have the shoulders rotated on most of my SCs.

I've been giving Andreas Gorges all of my work. I've thrown some complicated stuff at him and what I get back has always been well done. He was recommended to me by one of the more fastidious people on StyleForum.

I've been using Andreas Gorges and would recommend him as well.

I use Carlos at Oxxford. I've been very happy with his work for many years.

I have used Oxford dozens of times for alterations and I always had a great experience.

Oxford
or
Franz on Geary (across from Neimans) are both very good, expensive and take a while.

This is where guys who work at Wilkes, Neimans, etc take important major work. Lots of people can do a decent cuff or take in a waist. But, if you have serious shaping to do or want hand sewn buttonholes then this is the place. A friend with an extensive Kiton wardrobe went to Oxford after he lost 20 lbs and had pants slimmed, jackets taken in, etc. they looked great and I started using Carlos (Oxford) but have been using European Tailors in Berkeley the last few years for all other basic work.


Alas, he CARLOS at OXFORD has retired. Another tailor at the shop is Marco (?). I called and got the news this morning.


Carl has retired from Oxford, but his son is doing the work now and his son worked with is father for many years in the shop. My impression (and I met with him about this job before it was done) is that Oxford is more precise with measurements -- reducing the likelihood of later adjustments, but Oxford Tailors is also more expensive than Ricardo.

Franz Custom Tailors, 166 Geary, is the best in the area IMO. 415-986-2044.

Franz is closed.

There's a lot of advice for tailors OUTSIDE San Francisco. Who (in 2017) is still good and not extravagantly priced in San Francisco? Like, a walk from BART stations in San Francisco?

What I want is to take jackets from ebay and OTR pants in for significant alterations, like shoulders.

BTW, I ended up going with Victor on Sutter St. and have found him to be excellent.

 

[stevemcgee99]

I'm very close to Escobar Bros. at the Embarcadero Center - has anyone tried these guys? Apparently they have another location, too.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/escobar-bros-custom-tailors-san-francisco-2

 

[comrade]

I would not use Andreas Gorges.
I did and I still have the slacks
he ruined fifteen years ago.

 

[stevemcgee99]

Seems like 'good tailoring' is closer to random chance.

 

[DandySF]

Sadly, Victor the tailor on Sutter Street has died.

 

[SFnative]

Signed up with styleforum just so I could post in reply to this thread. I've used several tailors around town, some of whom are gone now. For almost anything you might need doing, including extensive fit alterations that might seem impossible, I can recommend Ryan at Tailors' Keep. Gargantuan fit mistakes perpetrated by clueless salesmen at other establishments have been remedied to near perfection. Ryan analyzes the fit issues and his associate Jonathan (whom I've never seen or met) accomplishes miracles with needle and thread. Of course such results do not come cheap. In my opinion, though, you can take just about anything to Tailors' Keep.

"Just about." I brought in a hand made sport jacket recently and wanted the sleeves shortened and working buttonholes installed. The sleeve placket was not long enough to accommodate all that work, so an adjustment was going to have to be made. This particular issue baffled Ryan and he did not see a way to do it. I ended up bringing the garment to Andreas Gorges (where Andreas Jr. is now in charge). He immediately knew exactly what I wanted and used all the correct terminology in explaining how he would accomplish it. Fine work, and turned out just right. I would feel entirely comfortable bringing any normal alteration in here -- maybe he could do more, I just haven't put him to the test yet. Prices here are lower than at Tailors' Keep.

There may be other skilled tailors around here, and in fact I would bet on it, but I expect to be well served by these two establishments no matter what my needs.

 

[dauster]

Just dropped off two pants at Andreas Gorges, didn't know he is German just like me so it was pleasant chatting with a fellow country men. This will be my first experience, unfortunately both of my pants didn't have enough fabric to turn belt loops into side-taps but I liked his suggestion to slightly taper the pants on top of hemming them. Hope the result in two weeks will be great. Price was $65 per pair of trousers for hemming and tapering, unsure if this is expensive or not. But hey this is the most expensive city in the US after all

 

[dvmaster]

There are some Bay Area recommendations on Ian Anderson's blog.

I've had very good basic and medium-difficulty alterations from Karen and her husband at KO Dry Cleaners in North Beach. Her husband does the work, and she does the measurements and advice provision.

 

[konoyaro]

I've used used a number of shops around town for alterations but I've never really had to have any major reconstruction done. Here are the ones I've tried that are still in business that I'm aware of:

Jenny Fashion - She has done some pant alterations for me (taper, hem, take waist in) and her work is good if a little pricey.
Seymour's Tailors - Minor sleeve length adjustment and let chest out a bit on sport coat. Price seemed fair, no complaints about workmanship.
HB Alterations - I've several pants hemmed or other minor adjustments made. Decent work, fair price.
Tailors' Keep - A forum fave. I've only had one piece worked on which was some alterations done on an OTR sport coat. Unfortunately they weren't able to completely nail it. So it took several visits and they were rather pricey. They don't do alterations on the weekend (well, Saturday). Nice shop though.

I'd had a fair amount of work by a lady named Oyuna and was really bummed when she abruptly closed her shop.

 

[dauster]

There are some Bay Area recommendations on Ian Anderson's blog.

I've had very good basic and medium-difficulty alterations from Karen and her husband at KO Dry Cleaners in North Beach. Her husband does the work, and she does the measurements and advice provision.

Thank you not sure if I trust Ian's blog since he can't spell Neiman Marcus correctly!! LOL JK actually quite helpful

 

[dragon8]

Franz closed his shop but was still taking work at his residence.

Tailor's Keep is awesome. They fixed a suit and I have another pair of pants with them now.

 

[Aquafortis]

I have used Andreas Georges for many alterations over the past few years, with overall excellent results. They are extremely busy - even more so now after being voted best tailor in SF by the SF Weekly in 2018. Probably one time in ten they have called me because they needed another day beyond the promised completion date to finish a job. However, most of the time turn-around is about one week.

A recent gaff was a bit disappointing however: I took a brand new Cesare Attolini suit to them for finishing, and the sleeve buttons were not placed in traditional Neapolitan waterfall/overlapping arrangement. When I dropped off the suit, the sleeve buttons were not discussed other than having working buttons/holes done. It was particularly surprising to me that they did this since a few weeks prior I had taken a brand new Attolini sport coat to them for the same finishing, for which they placed the buttons in waterfall fashion. Not the end of the world on the suit cuffs/buttons, but it was frustrating and I definitely made mention of it to Andreas Sr.

I am now debating who to take a pretty complex/challenging job to for shortening the sleeves of a very special suit jacket that needs to be accomplished by taking up at the shoulder. I was planning on taking it to Ryan at Tailor's Keep given, but @SFnative's post above has me thinking twice...

 

[comrade]

I had very bad luck w/ Georges probably 15+ years ago.
At the time he evidently did not know how to lower a trouser
waistband properly. Pants un wearable as a result.

My current tailor is a virtuoso and endorsed many other SF members.
But alas, he is in Menlo Park.

 

[Aquafortis]

This recent Styleforum article featured our local @UrbanComposition taking some pretty challenging work to Ryan at Tailor's keep. Peter, maybe you would like to chime into the discussion here?

 

[UrbanComposition]

Georges is great — he can do moderately difficult jacket alterations. Ryan at Tailors Keep is a whiz and geeks out about fit, so reaaaally insane alterations are his fortè. He even has alterations books in different languages to see how to compensate for weird postures. Expensive, but he will work with you until he gets it right.