Nordstrom tailors - or better?

[Matt44]

Hi folks - just need opinions about Nordstrom tailoring (sorry if this has been covered before).

My situation: I bought a John Varvatos overcoat through Nordstrom. It's a 44R and the fit is pretty close to what I need - but since I'm more of a 42R, the coat needs some work.

This would be a slightly more complicated "taking in" process. Right now, the coat has nice sharp shoulders (even with the extra room) and a clean line throughout. I don't want to lose that in the tailoring.

My questions: should I take this to a better local tailor (I'm in the Boston area), or can I trust the Nordstrom people? Also, what's the deal if the alterations don't turn out well? Can an item be returned after the tailoring (because it's Nordstrom work on a Nordstrom item)?

Thanks for any input!

 

[mljones99]

Personally I would take it to my normal tailor just because I am comfortable with him and know it would be done right and exactly how I want it. If I didn't already have a relationship with a tailor here in town, I would probably let Nordstrom do it just out of convienence.

 

[Orsini]

I avoid house "tailors" like the plague. I've read some real horror stories about them.

My attempts to find an acceptable alterations tailor have been fruitless so far. I've been through about half a dozen in my area, two highly recommended, without success. I intend to try Golden Needle next...

 

[towen]

The only advantage to letting Nordstrom do it would be if you can return it if the tailoring doesn't work out well. So ask them about that, otherwise take it to someone you trust.

 

[Rampart]

Originally Posted by Orsini

I avoid house "tailors" like the plague. I've read some real horror stories about them.

Same, sometimes you'll get lucky, but finding good tailor is certainly worth the extra time it may take (and extra $$ if thats the case).

 

[Matt44]

Thanks for the info, everyone!

 

[stick]

It'd depend on the tailor I guess. One of the tailors in the San Jose area that has come highly recommended, including SF people, does tailoring for the Nordstrom here. I don't know if he'd treat jobs differently depending on whether or not you go to him directly or if he gets it from Nordstrom, but I guess it just depends on who Nordstrom's tailor is.

 

[mack11211]

General rule: give your business to someone whose living depends on doing the job right.

Advantage: local tailor.

 

[Matt44]

Quick update . . .

Just paid a visit to the Nordstrom tailor and they were pretty helpful. They made it clear that they couldn't provide the kind of alterations I needed, but felt that the work could still be done by a skilled tailor (I never figured out why, in fact, Nordstrom couldn't do it).

Anyway, the tailor took time to indicate where on the coat the most complicated work would be needed. That was helpful.

So, all in all, I have a good impression of the Nordstrom tailoring services, but I can't comment on their actual work!

 

[Skip87]

Originally Posted by stick

It'd depend on the tailor I guess. One of the tailors in the San Jose area that has come highly recommended, including SF people, does tailoring for the Nordstrom here. I don't know if he'd treat jobs differently depending on whether or not you go to him directly or if he gets it from Nordstrom, but I guess it just depends on who Nordstrom's tailor is.

Who's the guy you're talking about? I'm in the SJ area.

 

[stick]

Manuel's, on Stevens Creek, about a block down from Valley Fair. Their sign is very low key, I drove past it three times looking for it, heh. Ricardo's also has come highly recommended, a little more so than Manuel's, but he's farther from me so I just went with Manuel. Great service there, I dropped by there on Tuesday with a suit jacket to fix, and the store's run by his family. His son was at the counter, very nice and polite, and Manuel was great too.