Tailoring suits to fit ‘like a glove’

The phone call to Frank’s Fine Tailoring had a definite cloak-and-dagger feel to it.
“An old friend of yours wants to see you,” the voice at the other end of the line told shop owner Franz Weidinger. Refusing to give any names, the voice instead gave directions to a meeting place and told Weidinger to bring several suits and measuring tape.
Within 15 minutes, he and his son and co-owner, Dan, found themselves in a condo complex in downtown Providence meeting their mystery customer: Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr.
The former Providence mayor had just returned to town that day after a stint in federal prison. Since Cianci had been a regular customer, Franz Weidinger had his measurements memorized. But Cianci’s dramatic weight loss meant a fresh fitting was needed.
“We were one of the first people he called when he got back,” Dan Weidinger recounted last week. “He wanted to look good.”
It’s an odd example of loyalty and repeat business that’s typical for Frank’s Tailoring, the owners said.
The tiny shop is easily lost in the congestion of Mineral Spring Avenue in North Providence, but it is nevertheless well known among some of Rhode Island’s major players.
The clientele includes politicians and priests, bankers and mortgage brokers, lawyers and judges, law enforcement officers and car salesmen.
E. Gordon Gee discovered Frank’s while he was president of Brown University, from 1997 to 2000. He’s now the president of Ohio State University but still buys his suits at Frank’s. “When he gets them, they fit like a glove,” Dan Weidinger said.
When the late actor Anthony Quinn lived in Bristol, it was the Weidingers he called upon to make alterations to his 75 Brioni suits, worth $3,000 apiece.
For the Weidingers, it’s an art form, taking measurements and sculpting suits for a perfect fit. They know their stuff, and they’re not shy about saying it. “We’re No. 1 in service; nobody can match us,” the elder Weidinger said in a strong German accent. “I do this all my life. I know what I’m doing.”
Tailoring does run deep in the Weidinger family.
Franz Weidinger – most everybody calls him Frank – followed in his father’s footsteps and started a tailoring apprenticeship in Munich, Germany, when he was 14. That was in 1948. When his sister married an American soldier and moved to the United States in 1957, Weidinger decided to go, too.
After arriving in Rhode Island, he worked for Donnelly’s Clothing for more than three decades. And as the company’s top tailor, he was allowed to bring his teenage son to work, passing along his knowledge to the next generation.
Dan Weidinger went on to work as a tailor for other businesses, but in 1992, father and son decided to become partners and open Frank’s Tailoring.
Customers can buy a ready-made suit – alterations included – for a few hundred dollars or a custom suit for as much as $1,500.
“In a normal store, the markup for those suits would be $3,000,” Dan Weidinger said, referring to custom versions specially ordered from a factory, complete with functional, hand-sewn button holes and high-quality Holland & Sherry fabrics.
The Weidingers may have some high net-worth customers, but you’d never know by looking at their narrow, 1,000-square-foot store sandwiched in a plaza between an aquarium store and a second-hand clothing shop. “No overhead,” said Dan Weidinger, explaining the no-frills décor. “We don’t have any salesmen, either.”
Still, the business is not without its struggles. The growing popularity of casual dress in the workplace has whittled away at their sales, the owners said. So has the turmoil in the mortgage industry.
“They’ve had a good income in the past six, seven years,” the elder Weidinger said of the staff at a local mortgage brokage. “They buy a lot of clothing here. But in the past year, the market fell through.”
“We’re still seeing those people,” added Dan Weidinger. “But they just want alterations, just fixing their suits. They can’t afford to buy new ones.”
As a result, they said, their shop’s revenue fell 20 percent in 2006. This year, things are improving, but the numbers are still down about 10 percent.
“We’re doing well in the high-end and low-end suits,” the younger Weidinger explained. “It’s the middle range that has fallen off.”
The economic climate has knocked others out of business, the Weidingers said, rattling off the names of several men’s clothing shops that have succumbed in recent years. And it doesn’t help that tailoring is a dying trade. “Younger people are just not getting into it anymore,” Dan Weidinger said.
That leaves wealthy customers with fewer places to turn when looking for a tailor. And that’s a trend from which Frank’s Fine Tailoring is benefiting.
“Because we’re highly skilled, we deal with a richer clientele,” Frank Weidinger said. “Otherwise, we would not survive.” •
Company Profile: Frank’s Fine Tailoring
Owners: Franz and Dan Weidinger
Type of Business: Tailoring and clothing store
Location: 1455 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence
Number of Employees: 5, including the owners
Year Established: 1992
Annual Revenue: WND