By his own admission, our shop manager, Sam Hart, has always been a small guy.
For some people, this might be a challenge primarily for the ego to deal with, but it’s always affected Sam in a much more practical way: He could never find a good suit.
Sam has always been interested in the garments we drape ourselves in. His mother worked in fashion merchandising, and tells him that as far back as she could remember, even when he was just a fumbling toddler in their breezy San Diego home, he delighted in the texture of whatever fabrics he could get his hands on.
As life progressed and he moved bit by bit up the California coast, he found himself longing to dress in the finest textiles possible, but time and again, his ambitions were thwarted by the lack of sizing options available.
A department store might offer 20 styles of suit, with only 2 of them being offered in his size. Sam had to make his peace with compromising for often his second or third choice. Until, of course, he discovered custom suiting.
“With custom suiting, you don’t need to settle. You’re afforded pure freedom of expression,” he says. “You can pick just the right shade of blue.”
Sam met Tailors’ Keep founder, Ryan Devens, while working with him at another San Francisco menswear company, but their time together was brief. Ryan left shortly after they met - taking a step on his journey toward opening his own suiting shop. But Sam says he kept in touch.
“I knew I liked working with him. There’s some people whose values you just connect with. When he opened Tailors’ Keep, I pestered him until I got the job.”
Sam was raised with that best of old-fashioned values, an appreciation for a hard day’s work.
“Too many people are entitled. They think they deserve shortcuts. I’ve only ever wanted to work my way up.”
Today, Sam takes his own appointments at the shop and revels in the privilege of helping people to dress like themselves. He strives to go above and beyond to make everyone who walks through the Tailors’ Keep doors feel comfortable.
“It’s really the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do.”
