Restoring vintage suspenders

[Papasan]

Hello all, I'm a longtime lurker and I've created an account to ask this question. My father has gifted me his tuxedo (he has gotten to an age where he has little use for it). The tux itself is vintage and in need of some repairs - the lining of the dinner jacket is torn, there is a hole in one of the pockets of the pants, and two of the suspender buttons have fallen off (I do have the missing buttons though). I'm taller and thinner than my father, so it may need some adjustments. I know this can all be addressed by a tailor (if you have recommended tailors in San Francisco, I'd appreciate it).

The more pressing issue are the suspenders. These are vintage suspenders that were very high class in their day (they are likely 100+ years old). The hardware is gold, and the fabric is silk. But the silk is badly fraying, and on one side the backing has completely separated from the front.

I would like to have these suspenders restored. Is there any hope for the original silk, or will it need to be completely replaced? Is this in the wheelhouse of a tailor, or do I need to find a more specialized expert? Does anyone have a recommendation for someone in San Francisco who could do this kind of work?

 

[comrade]

No idea about suspenders. Martinez Tailors, who I have never used,
has been recommended on SF. Their website recently expired, so it
could be a bad sign. Here's their yelp posting:

Martinez Tailor - San Francisco, CA

Martinez Tailor in San Francisco, reviews by real people. Yelp is a fun and easy way to find, recommend and talk about what’s great and not so great in San Francisco and beyond.

www.yelp.com

..
I have a new alterations tailor in Palo Alto. My brilliant
tailor, Bob Stankovic, passed in 2021. I have no idea whether
the ladies at "Tailor Maid" are up to your project.
So far, what they've done for me was not too complicated.
The work was first rate. BTW, my tux is from 1965. It's
not been worn more than 20 times. Probably has to be let out.

 

[Papasan]

Thanks! I'll look into those.

 

[gimpwiz]

Re: suspenders: No idea. Sorry.

Re: SF tailors: Spoon Tailor. I've only used them for a number of commissions that I've been very pleased with, not alterations, but I suspect they'd do it (and I am about to find out as I've acquired some ebay stuff that could be improved.) Possibly you too, without being a prior customer - easy to ask. They're in Chinatown, right next to the Transamerica Pyramid, and their prices for commissions are I dare say excellent.

 

[stuffedsuperdud]

No idea about suspenders. Martinez Tailors, who I have never used,
has been recommended on SF. Their website recently expired, so it
could be a bad sign. Here's their yelp posting:

Martinez Tailor - San Francisco, CA

Martinez Tailor in San Francisco, reviews by real people. Yelp is a fun and easy way to find, recommend and talk about what’s great and not so great in San Francisco and beyond.

www.yelp.com

..
I have a new alterations tailor in Palo Alto. My brilliant
tailor, Bob Stankovic, passed in 2021. I have no idea whether
the ladies at "Tailor Maid" are up to your project.
So far, what they've done for me was not too complicated.
The work was first rate. BTW, my tux is from 1965. It's probably
not been worn more than 20 times. Probably has to be let out.

Martinez Tailor's site is down but they're open; I was just there on Monday. It's a bit of a hike for me to get to him, and parking is an expensive pain in that area (Columbus St next to Transamerican Pyramid) but I take everything to him because by training he's a full bespoke guy who understands all the ins and outs of how tailoring is constructed, and insists on doing everything the most technically correct way possible (that means he charges a bit more though, but you might as well do it right the first time, I figure). @Papasan I am confident he will treat your dad's tux right.

Those suspenders though are in rough shape. I think you need a technician that does restorations at museums or something like that.

 

[gimpwiz]

I used to use spothero and park in the open lot at jackson and columbus for like $4. They don't do that anymore, but the garage kitty-corner from it is like $4 or $6 or whatever for an hour.

Being SF - said garage has stairwells reeking of urine and last time I was there a car had a broken window and glass all over the ground indicating it happened on site. So uh. SF car rules as per usual. Nothing visible, no electronics that might broadcast wirelessly in any way (laptops ipads etc), and try to be a large and intimidating male (sadly impossible for me.)

 

[stuffedsuperdud]

@gimpwiz That open lot was too good to be true while it lasted. The garage you're referring to is...indeed terrible. I used to chance it if I was only picking stuff up, since it would only take a few minutes to run over to Jonathan's, grab my bundle, and leave, but almost every time I was there, on top of the bodily fluids and general detritus, there'd be at least one strung out tweaker fumbling around in there. Meth and fentanyl are no joke... Fortunately, I think they've recently jacked up the price, as last time it was like $16/hr including the first hour, so it was an obvious choice to quit going there. If you're on SpotHero, occasionally the parking lot a block south on Merchant Street can be used for like $6/hr for the first hour. Has an attendant on duty and is actually part of the Marriott IIRC, so your stuff is safe-ish... -ish as in, the attendants don't actually care but potential thieves aren't going to bother testing them.

 

[gimpwiz]

Great tips. I need to visit spoon as soon as it's not raining. The rain isn't relevant to tailoring except I get grumpy waking up early on a weekend to drive an hour, deal with SF's potholes, crap parking, break-in paranoia (two breakins and one theft so far), and then after all that get rained on. Grumble grumble

 

[Papasan]

Those suspenders though are in rough shape. I think you need a technician that does restorations at museums or something like that.

Your comment reminded me of a colleague of mine who is a professor of fashion history and museum curator (I work at a college). We're on good terms. I'll ask her what she thinks - she probably knows people who work in restoration. Thank you!

 

[comrade]

Re: suspenders: No idea. Sorry.

Re: SF tailors: Spoon Tailor. I've only used them for a number of commissions that I've been very pleased with, not alterations, but I suspect they'd do it (and I am about to find out as I've acquired some ebay stuff that could be improved.) Possibly you too, without being a prior customer - easy to ask. They're in Chinatown, right next to the Transamerica Pyramid, and their prices for commissions are I dare say excellent.

I had a weird experience with them 5 or 6 years ago. Was in the
neighborhood and wandered in. I had heard about them prior via SF.
I asked if they could do a tweed sport jacket. They said they didn't do t
weed sport jackets. I have no idea why this reaction. Perhaps it was
the Belvest very Neapolitan style jacket was wearing. It's possible that
he person whom spoke with realized that I would not be satisfied with
their work. No explanations was offered, nor did i request one.

 

[gimpwiz]

Yes, I think you and I had this exact discussion. I'm truthfully surprised. It's possible they just didn't or don't have the cloth. I've done with them - 2x 3pc suits, 1 sport coat, 1 pair trousers, and I think 6 shirts. I am going to get the trousers adjusted slightly (the downsides to very fitted clothes), ask them to do a few alterations to ebay purchases, soon. I'm happy to ask if they do or have tweed. I cannot remember seeing any tweed cloth bolts on display or in their cloth books but it seems odd if they outright didn't do it, if possible.

Like almost everyone else, they have a house style. I think they're fairly flexible, but I don't know offhand if the soft italian shoulder is something they do (or do well.) It seems a bit more british style. (Which makes the tweed thing surprising.) But I have learned a lot since my last commission so I'll be able to ask more informed questions next time.

 

[stuffedsuperdud]

^I wonder if it was simply because they couldn't get the fabric? Newer shops seem to default to some form of Italian (or whatever a law / finance / getting-married guy in the Bay Area thinks is Italian), so they seem to always have Loro Piana, VBC, Solbiati, and Zegna, whereas tweed fabrics tend to come from more obscure merchants or directly from some rinky dink little mills in Scotland, which new shops might not even know about.

IIRC the Spoon Tailor family has deep roots in Hong Kong tailoring but are not as well-versed in #menswear, and probably don't even understand why a bunch of folks living in San Francisco would want to wear something from the UK countryside. I think I just might pop my head in there the next time I'm in the neighborhood and see what they can/can't do.

@comrade, worse-case scenario, if you're in the mood to have something made, Tailors' Keep is just a few blocks away and they are very fluent in traditional styling. Their base program is MTM, but Jonathan Martinez also does their in-house bespoke. I'm guessing they don't have trouble getting tweed from any of the UK houses (Standeven, Fox, Dugdale, Scabal, Holland & Sherry, Dugdale, Harrisons, etc etc)

 

[comrade]

I'm not really looking to get anything made locally.A few years ago their
website turned me off .A bunch of guys in ill-fitting wedding suits
that looked like they came from Mens Wear House. The website has improved.
It now features representatives of the various SanFrancisco tribes, socks
optional. Years ago I wore Chipp MTM. Stopped buying it when I came to CA
and didn't get to NYC much. It has since closed. It was a redoubt of Ivy and
Ivy-derived style. Lots of distinctive tweed and fabrics one didn't see everywhere.
The Andover shop was similar along with Paul Stuart and to a lesser extent
J Press. They all did MTM and in the case of Chipp, at least, bespoke too.
Now I take my chances online.There are no shops In SF these days from which
I would buy tailored clothing.