I've been with Tom for 6 years now. He is currently my only tailor. After about a year of going…read morewith him, I had already thought then that he'd be the only tailor who'd touch my clothes, and that's still very much the case. Actually, with a couple exceptions, I've went to two other tailors for some work as well. The tailors in Syracuse all do great work, but for some reason, Tom specifically possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience, specifically in the custom clothing side of things. I have come to appreciate that this work as a tailor is not in altering clothes, but also with a profound understanding and taste on fabric types and styles.
For any of you fellow redditors, you'll know what I mean when I say I used to be all-in on the "MFA" look. By that, I mean desert boots, chinos, dark wash jeans, oxford button-down shirts, etc. I wanted all my clothes darted in the back, pant & shirt sleeves taken in and tapered. He was able to do that within a turnaround time of just 1-3 days, depending on his load. I remember one time I had to get something done later that day, and he did that. Let me give you context that I have NEVER heard of same-day tailoring service in my life. Have you?
Fast forward to this year when I've begun dabbling in streetwear (vintage/oversized + techwear) and he has accommodated for the types of clothing I've brought. All requests I've made, he will take into consideration and even give you his honest opinion based on your style goals if the service you're requesting is even worth it or not. If it's not appropriate, contraindicated, or risky, he will literally tell you that it's better to turn down this request than to have you regretting it. I've done it once where I purposely went against his opinion -- I wanted an aggressive taper on my jeans, and I ended up not being able to get my feet through the leg opening. I felt like an idiot, but it also validated that Tom is the man for the job.
Last and but not least, I wanted to re-touch on the custom clothing topic again. His service is absolutely insane when it comes to designing and creating made-to-order clothes. I've already had two of my friends get their grail shirts and pants through him based on their measurements. More and more men & women are realizing rather than going into a store and buying ready-to-wear stuff, that they'll end up compromising. You'll end up having to take it to a tailor anyway, and even then, the fabric may not last 5 dry cleaning trips. For literally the same price you can have a buy-it-for-life item and end up with the fabric, pattern, color, and hardware/details that you want on your blazer/jacket/pants.
I can be a tough critic sometimes but literally Tom isn't just impressive with Syracuse standards -- he's tremendously talented from a universal standard.
Oh and did I say he also does my wife's clothes; formal & athleisure? Oh yeah and he's the exclusive tailor for lululemon too lol.
