Harry the Tailor part of a dying breed

Local News

The Journal Times (Racine, WI)
Wednesday, July 01, 2009

BY MICHAEL BURKE (mburke@journaltimes.com)

RACINE – There was a time when people would line up to buy suits from
Harry `the Tailor’ Derderian.

But for the past two or three years, the recession and more-casual men’s
wardrobes have clobbered this tailor’s clientele.

When he opened his shop at 3015 Douglas Ave. in 1991, `I had four people
working for me,’ he said. `Now I don’t have enough work for myself.’

That leaves Derderian with a slow business, skills that are increasingly
rare, and a steam press that has also seen better days.

`A steam press is very important for tailors,’ Derderian said Monday,
and his machine is 40 years old. `As soon as this thing gives up on me,
I’m out.’

Derderian, who turned 67 Monday, grew up in Allepo, Syria. At 18 he went
to work with his godfather, a tailor so highly regarded that Syrian
military generals came to the shop for their sartorial needs. There, `I
was doing everything,’ Derderian said. About five years later, his
family came to America and to Racine, where his father had relatives.
Harry went to work at Joseph Lawrence Inc., 516 Monument Square.

`They had a tailor, but he was old. They were looking for a new tailor,’
he recalled.

Joseph Lawrence was a regional destination store, he said. Derderian,
working six days a week, did most of the alterations – and said he was
often also asked to act as salesman.

They would say something like, `This is the guy who knows which one is
going to look better on me.’ He added, `The salesman would try to sell
you anything.’

Derderian worked at the Downtown store for 26 years until its closure in
1991, then opened his own shop. The first day, he said, `People were
lined up early in the morning.’

His customers included corporate executives, doctors, bankers and
lawyers. The late Sam Johnson of SC Johnson came to Derderian for
repairs on the suits he had made in England.

Customers bought suits from Harry the Tailor – either ready-made suits
which he altered for no extra charge, or suits he made from scratch.

All of his employees were foreign-born and trained as tailors. The best,
he said – even better than himself – was the late Frank D’Acquisto.

Derderian said he also had a woman `weaver’ who could patch a fabric
hole so it was invisible even to Harry’s trained eye.

But tailors are literally a dying breed, he said, and seamstresses are
less skilled with men’s clothing than with women’s.

And now, with dress codes at work more relaxed and a gloomy economy,
Derderian contemplates a retirement he doesn’t relish.

Asked if there will always be tailors, he replied, `I doubt it very
much. People are going to buy (a suit) and throw it away.’

For more information, call the shop at (262) 639-4954.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress