Dressed for success

Think of fashion, and what’s your first thought? Reno News & Review, right? Maybe not, probably not even Reno. Well, C.T., 53, manager of the Reno Suit Factory, 822 S. Virginia St., wants to change all that. He’s a lifelong wearer of fine clothing.

What do you guys do at the Reno Suit Factory?

We dress the common working man to the businessman to executives to doctors to lawyers to people in show business and bands and etcetera.

What makes you different than, say, any other place that sells suits around town?

Our prices and our clothing lines.

Tell me a little bit about those.

You can get any three tags on any three suits—our suits start out at $109 out the door—you can pick any three green, that’s $299 for three. You get three suits, three shirts, three ties, three belts, three hankies and three socks. And in any other color bracket, you can go to blue that’s $399 for three or purple $499 for three.

Do you guys make the suits?

No, we have them here. We also have a seamstress and a tailor on premises.

Then why are you the Reno Suit Factory?

Because we have more clothes than anybody in Reno.

Yeah, but a factory implies that you make them, right?

Well, they’re already done, but we do the alterations here. We call it the “suit factory” because we have more inventory than anyone else in Reno. More colors, more pinstripes, more sizes and different styles.

When did you guys open?

Two years ago.

What made you think that Reno needed a massive coat warehouse?

We felt that every man should wake up in the morning and be well dressed and well blessed.

OK.

And we just thought it was a good idea because there was no other establishment that offers the line of clothing that we do.

What’s the line? Is it a particular designer?

Several different designers. Giorgio Ferretti, Fellini, Soprano, Franco Valentino, Mario Rossi, Vittorio St. Angelo …

Where did you get your experience?

I’m a tailor also. I learned it from my brother-in-law in Detroit. I’ve always been pretty fashionable. I’ve always had to be well dressed, so every time I bought a suit, I had to find a tailor to fit it because I needed to wear it right away. My brother-in-law says, “I’ll do it, but you’ve got to give me something for the thread.” And then he says, “You know what? You’re buying so many clothes, sit down and I’ll show you how to work these machines, and you’ll be able to do it.” And I did. I learned a regular sewing machine and I learned how to use a blind hem. He showed me how to taper and do cuffs and do straight-legs. I can do it myself. It was just something I learned along the way that paid off.

Is the economy affecting the suit-buying public?

We’re doing pretty well, even though. We’re the only ones with the deal we have. We have more fashions and more design lines than anybody in Reno. Customers like the packaged deal.

Do you think Reno is a stylish place?

It’s become to be. We’re setting a new fashion trend in Reno.