S.F. TAILOR COUPLE LIVE BY NIP AND TUCK
Edward Guthmann, Special to The Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle
April 5 2010

In Beirut, where both were raised by Armenian parents, Sally and
Peter Aristakessian learned the art of tailoring – Sally from her
widowed mother, Peter from his hard-nosed uncle.

Peter, 55, immigrated to the United States in 1976, and, in 1992,
met Sally during a visit to Beirut. They moved to California and
were married in San Francisco. Peter owns Peter Panos, a Geary Street
tailor shop where he creates bespoke clothing.

Directly upstairs, Sally, 42, operates San Francisco Tailors, where
she, her brother Isaac and two seamstresses do alterations. Peter
and Sally live in Millbrae with their three sons, ages 16, 12 and 5.

Sally: My mother was a seamstress. She was a strong woman. My father
died when I was 6, and she had a tailor shop since before he died.

After school we used to help her a bit, and then do homework. After
she passed away, my sister and I took over the tailor shop.

Peter: I was living one block away from her. When I saw her on the
sewing machine, I fell in love. Just like that. She was serious,
very passionate about what she was doing. I said, "This is my woman."

Sally: I always tell him, "You fell in love with the sewing machine,
not me." Ha-ha-ha!

Peter: My uncle was a tailor and very strict. I went through a very
tough learning process starting at 16. You want to learn how to make a
pocket – it takes three months to do it right. You want to learn lapels
– you do it by hand, slowly. It took five years to learn this trade.

Sally: My mother passed away a long time ago. I was 16. But I always
followed her steps. When I was young, before I married, I said to
myself, "If my mom was alive, was it gonna be OK with her for me to
do this?" And I always answered for her to myself.

Peter: As soon as you learn to make clothes, you establish tastes.

What people should look like, how to mold the fabric into people’s
body [sic], not the body towards the jacket. Then came the sad news:
Everybody started wearing casual. I didn’t give up. I said, "I’m going
to go to San Francisco and open my tailor shop. It doesn’t matter if
everybody wears T-shirt [sic]. I’m going to sit there and work."

Sally: Yesterday I had a call. Someone said, "I picked up my jeans
and they’re still too long." I said, "Bring them in, we’ll shorten
them with no charge." I have a policy: In three days if you bring
with the receipt, I’ll do everything back.

But sometimes they come in after a week, two weeks. Sometimes they
get really rude, want to take advantage. I don’t like it.

Peter: All they have to do is talk manners. If they talk manners,
if they’re nice, we do anything for a customer. When you walk into a
place you respect that area, you respect the business. Then you get
back the respect.

Sally: Tourists come in and they need something right away. A button
comes off. The hem unravels. The slit in the skirt rips. Sometimes
they need in one hour. I do it. They wait in the fitting room.

Peter: [Because of the economy], more people are bringing their old
clothes, remodeling to a new style now. The lapels, shoulders are
narrowing down.

Sally: Like ’80s jackets, big shoulder pads. Women can’t wear those
any more. They go in the closet, they have an old suit. It’s too big.

Instead of going and buying new, they bring it here. A new suit cost
$500 or $600, we can fix old one for $100 or less.

Peter: Why would a man buy a made-to-measure suit? Because nobody’s
perfect in their body shape. Somebody’s fat, they’re not going to
find a suit that really fits well. As a tailor, I know which areas to
take in, which to let out so the body looks taller, thinner, sharper,
more powerful. You buy off the rack, you look like everybody else.

Sally: When we walk on the street, we always look at everyone’s
clothes. "Oh, this guy’s pants need to be shortened." "This guy needs
a raised collar on his jacket." We see everything.

Peter: On Channel 2 today, the guy’s shoulder seam was puckering. I
said, "Why nobody’s paying attention to that?"

Sally: I never regret that I’m doing this business. And I wish my
kids will learn it, but I don’t think so. It’s different here. They
have so many opportunities.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress