Short Shrifted

Apparently, Chicago isn’t all big (Lake Michigan) and tall (Sears Tower). Specialty store Napoleon’s Tailor has been El-evating men of short stature since 1994, specializing in office- and casualwear for the 5-feet-8 and under. Last week, Chicago Sun-Times writer Kara Spak did a feature on the store, “Selling Short.” In the piece, owner Gary Anders (5-foot-5) drops the lowdown on his store:

Anders said the difference his wares — which includes brands such as Calvin Klein and prices ranging from JCPenney to low-end Nordstrom — provide is proportionality. Sleeves and the pants’ rise are shorter. Pockets and zippers are smaller. The store even sells socks for shoe sizes 5-9.

So if you happen to live in or be visiting the third largest city in the US (or its outpost in Milwaukee), give it a try. I’d love to hear your feedback. In the meantime, those of us who live in el numero uno, well, we’ll just have to make do without a single specialty store for short men. How is this possible?! According to Spak’s story, I’m not the only guy wondering why:

Chris Hamre, the 5-foot-3 vice president of the National Organization of Short Statured Adults, said buying clothes, even in his hometown of New York City, is a nightmare. “New York is supposed to be the clothing, retail and fashion capital of the world, and there’s no stores in New York City for short men,” he said. “It’s really difficult to find clothes.”

C’mon, NYC. Show us some love.

More on Napoleon’s Tailor: A low-budget Chicagoland public-access station bumbles their way through the store:

Good thing I got to the SA sample sale on Franklin St. in TriBeCa immediately after quittin’ time today because by the time I checked out (around 6:45) there was a line out the door and down the street. There was a ton of stuff sprawled over two floors. The downside is that most of it was women’s (from all sorts of different designer lines). The upside is that, even though the menswear was limited mostly to the Steven Alan brand, his shirts fit pretty darn well and there were plenty of them — And what more do you need?

The short men swarming the aisles seemed mostly drawn to the shirts, no doubt because of those super-short hemlines (and the sizing: down to XXS). One very important thing to know: I tried on three long-sleeve XXS shirts and they all fit differently. The biggest difference was in the sleeve lengths, which, unfortunately, were all a bit longer than I’d like. Hemlines were all nice and high, though, but they did vary. One of the salesgirls confirmed that there is a good deal of variation. So my advice is try on a bunch in your size.

Overall, it was worth it. I was able to find an XXS with short enough sleeves. Not to mention that beautifully high hem, cuffs that are two inches (about a 1/2 or even a full inch shorter than average), and smallish collars — it’s all about proportion. At $68 it ain’t cheap but it’s a steal for a Steven Alan.

The men’s selection also includes T-shirts ($10), polos ($20), shorts, pants, jeans, short sleeves, and a few jackets. The sale continues through Nov. 11, and they plan to keep rotating in new merch as long as it lasts.

Time Out did a little write-up last week on tailors in NYC. The piece itself was overly fluffy in some places, too skimpy in others — like some odd article of ill-fitting clothing. But if anything, it serves as a good reminder: grab that trenchcoat-length shirt, that pair of pants that you never got hemmed, that suit jacket with the Bono sleeves, and take it to the tailor. Beyond that, the article did offer up a very useful tidbit of information. According to TONY, these are currently the average New York City prices for some typical alterations:

Hemming a skirt: $20
Hemming pants: $12
Taking in the waist of pants: $13
Shortening shirtsleeves: $20
Shortening a jacket: $25
Taking in a jacket’s shoulders: $65