Selling short
FASHION | Chicago's only clothing store for the little guy looks like perfect fit
Shopping at Napoleon's Tailor, Chicago's only short man's store, is like living a Viagra commercial, said store owner Gary Anders.
"People say, 'Have you lost weight?' " said Anders, who is 57 and 5 foot 5 inches tall. "They see there is a physical change. They see a positive difference, and their girlfriends, spouses, good friends and co-workers pick up on it."
(John J. Kim/Sun-Times)
The change is simple and profound. For short men, for the first time in their lives, their clothes fit.
Petite departments cater to short women. Big and tall men shop at big and tall stores.
But for short men -- Anders prefers the terms "men slightly below average," "normal sized" and "not overly tall" -- the unappealing options range from shopping in the children's department to spending hundreds of dollars on alterations to wearing oversized, baggy clothing.
"I never think about being short until I go shopping," said Bob Lovecchio, a 31-year-old, 5-foot-4-inch Chicago jazz musician who recently made his first trip to Napoleon's Tailor. "Clothing is the most difficult thing about being short."
A decade ago, Napoleon's Tailor stormed into Chicago like the famed French general aboard his steed Marengo.
The shop is filled with racks of suits, dress shirts, corduroy slacks, leather blazers and wool overcoats. Anders calls it "everything for Joe everyday worker to professional" in a strip mall at Foster and Harlem.
A former pharmaceutical salesman, Anders opened the original Napoleon's Tailor in Milwaukee 13 years ago because he saw a need he wanted to fill.
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.
"My record for an inseam was 15˝ inches and a 40-inch waist," Anders said.
The effect of proportional clothes, Anders said, is that short men appear taller. "Our garments are proportioned in all aspects," he said. "We don't just add or subtract from the bottom. We've got to change the whole garment."
Chris Hamre, the 5-foot-3 vice president of the National Organization of Short Statured Adults (motto: Equal Treatment -- Not Special Treatment), 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."
Anders believes more American men fit into his short man market (5 foot 8 and under) than the big and tall market. Though there are dozens of tall-men's stores in Chicago, Anders is the only short men's store here and one of fewer than 10 nationally. While regular clothes simply don't fit tall men, short men can wear them, albeit loosely, he said.
"Department stores have found no financial need to have what I carry," he said. "From the department store standpoint, I'm the pimple on the back of the elephant."
Al Raya, a 64-year-old master optician, estimates 85 percent of his wardrobe is from Napoleon's Tailor.
"Clothes look a heck of a lot nicer if they fit," said 5-foot-4 Raya. "When I go somewhere my first impression is my lasting impression. I'm dressed, my shoes are polished, all of that. They make sure everything fits."
Richard Murawski, a 72-year-old retired nurse who stands 5 foot 3 and volunteered his weight at 200 pounds, has traveled to Napoleon's Tailor from his Tinley Park home for three years. Watching him walk toward the dressing room with an assortment of shirts off the sale rack, his wife, Geraldine, beamed.
"He feels good about himself, and that's a great thing," she said.
