Oak Street Tailors

11/24/2015 Updated review

Nick is simply the best.  It's not often things aren't perfect but on that rare occasion he fixes it free of charge.  Thanks Nick!

8/11/2014

I'm a new customer, but have been quite pleased with Nick's work. He has a very good eye and is pleasant to deal with. He has hemmed a few pairs of pants for me and also took in a blazer, which is obviously more difficult.

I'll definitely be returning to him with a few other alterations, as I feel that $10-20 can really make a huge difference on things like blazers, pants, and shirts.

To those who were not happy with Nick's work: I would caution you to put more faith in his suggestions. I suspect a lot of people go in there misinformed about proper break on pants, how something should fit in different parts of the torso, types of fabrics, etc. You don't have to be a statue and say nothing, however: give him a rough idea of what you had in mind and ask him what he thinks! He has experience with this stuff and seems to know what he's doing. You can't just read a menswear blog and suddenly know everything.

4/7/2015

I've used this tailor a couple of times but after my last visit I won't again. I took two dresses in to have them cut slits on either side so that I could wear a belt outside on the front and leave the back loose. I asked how much it would cost. The owner told me he didn't know and that he would call me within the next few days to give me an estimate. He never called and when I went back to pick up the dresses they charged me $105 to cut slits on two dresses. That's excessive. And his business practices are shady. And then they don't take credit cards. So on top of over charging me I had to pay cash. Won't use them ever again.

7/18/2015

I have been going to Oak Street Tailors for about a year and a half. The only items that Nick had done for me were cutting the length on my pants. I had gone 4-5 times over the 18 months and he had always done a pretty good job on getting the length right.

Three months ago I took him a new suit for the first time - both a jacket and pants needed some work. I was very unimpressed with his work as both the length on the pants and sleeves were too long. But, Nick had done well up to that point so I brought the suit back for him to look at it again. He took in the suit, pants, sleeves and length again - and charged me FULL PRICE. $125 the first time and the full $125 the second time. The best part was that he kept saying how I lost a ton of weight. The classic excuse, and frankly one that was ridiculous. I told him how dissapointed I was and that I had absolutely not lost any weight. And he simply did not care. Just wanted his money. Then I told him to look at the pants I was wearing (pants that he himself fixed the first time I came to him). I asked if I had lost so much weight, how could these pants still fit me just fine? He looked dumbfounded. No response - just his hand out.

I told him I would not come back again and he again did not care. Would not even take $10 off. It is tough to see customer service like this but all you can do is hope to find a better spot.

12/29/2013

Oak St Tailors moved recently to 67 E Oak, 6th floor. The new space is larger than their previous location on State St., but the operation otherwise is identical.

Nick is a friendly, honest, and skilled tailor. He's responsive when you drop by without an appointment, but will also schedule time if needed.

The work is always well done. I've had 5 items repaired and another 10 items altered at this shop.

10/16/2013 Updated review

Another great experience with Oak Street Tailors! This was my second time dealing with Nick at Oak Street Tailors, but once again, he went above and beyond and demonstrated excellent customer service. Like my first experience with Nick, I brought suit pants in to be hemmed. I brought two pairs in, and his initial response was that because they are behind on work due to their recent relocation, that he would be able to get to them in a week. Unfortunately I needed at least one of the pairs ASAP, for my job. So he told me that he could get both done way ahead of his initial time frame. I will continue to give him my business!

1/3/2013

Great tailor. Period.

After some horrible experiences with tailors in the West Loop, I knew I had to find another tailor in the city. I got a wonderful bargain at Saks Fifth Avenue but given my weird dimensions (not a model at all), it needed some alterations in width and length.
I remembered that I had a pair of jeans finely altered somewhere at Oak Street about a year ago so I looked the tailor up at yelp, took an Ann Taylor suit that needed some fitting as well and went there in my lunch break.

It was raining cats and dogs that day. When I arrived at the address I walked up and down the street a couple of times because I couldnt find the house ... and finally stared into a huge hole that I would call a burial site of a house. That was the place where the house stood once. Horrified I realized: my tailor was gone.

I called up the number on Oak Street Tailors yelp-site and got Nick on the line. He was very kind, apologized, told me that they moved and directed me to the new location at 1159 N. State. I was so glad to finally be there and had a very nice chat while trying my clothes on.

Two weeks later everything was ready for pick up. I got there very late, the price was just fine and I tried everything on until I was home. The pants were very nicely done and the dress fit perfectly in the width. Unfortunately, the length of the dress was not done. Bummer. I looked on the receipt and realized that I was not charged for the shortening.

I wanted to wear the dress on my honeymoon (Hawaii, btw) and had to go back again. I live in the West Loop and dont have a car so it is quite a journey to get to State Street. Given the good job he had done so far I thought I give it a second shot.

I explained to Nick what had happened and we did the measuring of the length again. He was sorry, he didnt make a note. Again, very nice talk. He told me that he moved to Chicago from Romania 35 years ago and how he came to start his business. It took him a long time and hard work to get that far. I really appreciate his experience.

He did the alteration and called me to pick it up. When I went there he was not there but had left a note that there was no charge.
What a nice surprise. Thank you very much, Nick.

The dress fits perfectly now and I wore it in Hawaii. *sigh*

Great tailor. Period.

9/23/2011

VERY RUDE!!!  I brought in a blouse for alteration as well as my personal dimensions.  When the tailor saw my dimensions, he rudely said, "what is this?! I don't use this!".  Then he told me try it on and when I came out he started shaking his head and muttering "no no no too much work everything is wrong- this will cost you!".

I was so upset by him and grabbed the rest of my garments and ran out of there.  Ended up taking that blouse to Sylvia in Arlington heights and she said it was a simple job.  

Dont waste your time with crazy man at oak street tailor.

6/30/2010

Nick is my hero.  I scored a really good deal on a violet Chanel gown that was absolutely perfect for a ball I had coming up soon.  Being a shorty, I had to have the gown hemmed for my height which I initially thought would be an easy job since there were no layers nor any fancy details at the bottom.

Ten days before the ball I'm there asking if he could hem my gown that soon, and Nick assured me he can.  But once he saw my gown he gasped...the whole thing is knit (kinda like the material of Missoni's knit dresses) so he couldn't cut and sew like a normal hem job unless you wanted to have the whole thing run like a pantyhose on velcro.  I thought my splurge would have been in vain, but he said that it can be done!

Nine days later, the final product showed a beautiful hem that they had to do completely by hand!  Even though they couldn't trim the fabric, they made the bottom look like a natural fit.  The quality was amazing, and I'm still so happy they pulled through with that material and such little time. Moral of the story: If you have to trust anyone in Chicago with the splurge pieces in your wardrobe and/or the fragile can't-screw-up-ever-or-you-die items, Nick at Oak Street Tailors is your man.

6/21/2007

Edit 8/6: Picked up my gold dress and they took it in a little too much (or maybe I just ate a little too much during the 2 weeks it was being altered).  They did an OK job, but for the price and time it took them I certainly wasn't wow'd. And so the search for the perfect tailor continues...
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Found an adorable gold (i'm really into gold these days) dress at Saks in Florida last weekend that was a size too big for me, but majorly reduced (gotta love sales).  Brought my dress back to Chicago and realized I don't have a tailor here.  I love the woman who hems the bottom of my jeans at 1 East Delaware, but not sure if she is dress worthy.  And so I found my way to the yelp approved Oak Street Tailors.

The tailor poked me for a few minutes with some pins and needles and then I was on my way.  The dress won't be ready for 2 weeks, which seems like a long time, but not a big deal since i"m not planning on wearing it for at least a month.  And the cost seemed a bit expensive - $60 (although still a bargain considering the price I bought the dress at). But they seemed to know what they are doing and I'd rather wait a little longer and spend a little more for a good tailor.

I'll be updating this review when the dress is back in my hands, but so far it's looking good....I think I found myself a tailor!

2/18/2010

I've been using Oak Street Tailors for years now and have been really happy with the service.  I would say it is best utilized as a tailor to bring nice (translation, expensive) articles of clothing that you are tentative to bring to your local seamstress - they deal with a lot of high-end clothes, so you know you'll be in good hands.  

The only reason I am not granting 5 stars is due to the fact that it is on the more expensive side (which is why I take more 'simple' tasks such as hemming my jeans to my local dry cleaner who can easily handle those sorts of projects), and that they aren't as fast as some other services (though one could also argue that they are slow because they do take the time to do it right, and that they have a lot of other happy clients).

1/18/2007

I'm a petite (aka, short) girl so I have to get 90% of pants hemmed.  Normally, my dry cleaner hits the spot.  But my nice Theory slacks are too big (thanks Yogaview!) and I need someone I can trust.

I found Oak Street Tailors through a Daily Candy email.  It took me a second to find them since there are several tailors on the block. I am happy to have found a great tailor (literally).  The tailor, Nick, is so nice.  He just makes me smile.  They do a killer job at Oak Street Tailors.

1/25/2007

Nick & co operate the finest tailoring establishment in the city from their perch on the second level above Oak Street. While they are anything but cheap or fast (unless you request a rush), this is the place to bring your finest garments for alterations or repairs. The small space is a label whoring voyeur's dream: suitors and garments covered in cuvee nameplates adorn the racks and tables. Dolce, Yves St. Laurent, Dior, Prada, Zegna etc, etc, etc are on seemingly every item here, appropriately so.

8/21/2009

Got a bridesmaids dress with a lining hemmed.  It cost $60 (found a place across the street that did another dress for $45).  He wasn't overly friendly and I thought it was expensive as it wasn't a difficult hem.