Suit Alterations
Mort posted on the 29/08/2015 10:07:26 AM
Can anyone recommend someone good in the area who can take in a suit?
Bought one off the peg from a certain discount store in town and it's just an inch out here and there.
Really nice suit and a bargain so would be great to get it looking just right.
Thanks in advance
- 11 Replies :
#1 - Malarki replied on the 29/08/2015 11:20:59 AM
Couple of places down Hillfoot St. - not used them myself but there's the tailors (Robert Dick?) and there's the place opposite that does repairs and alterations I think (between the repair man and the Polish shop).
#2 - anon replied on the 30/08/2015 3:26:51 PM
I have used Tailoring Alterations and they are brilliant. Fixed a big rip in my leather jacket, you can't tell at all. My partner has used them to alter suits and really reasonable, great service
tailoringalterations.co.uk/
#3 - mar replied on the 1/09/2015 11:21:08 AM
Guess it might be an urban myth but I was always told Sean Connery used to get his suits from Robert Dick.
#4 - Mort replied on the 8/09/2015 4:56:05 PM
Mar, I heard that too. I think that's why I didn't go in. My budget is a little bit under Sir Sean's.
I dropped it in to Tailoring Alterations - sure they'll do a nice job. Guy seemed to know his stuff.
Can anyone confirm the Sean Connery/Robert Dick connection? Has anyone ever had a suit made there (ah go on - how much?)
#5 - biker replied on the 8/09/2015 5:16:36 PM
Robert Dick I know that Steven Hendry used to buy suits there. I was once quoted a price of approx. 1000 quid ; needless to say I declined.
#6 - den replied on the 10/09/2015 1:00:34 AM
Sean Connery and a lot of other big stars used to go to Robert Dick to get their suits made, it seems weird that rich and famous people would go to an old fashioned side street tailors to get their expensive suits made.
I don't know how much he charges per suit though he always seems to have a couple of suits halfway through being made on tailors dummies he used to own another shop a few doors up hillfoot street but he sold it to the hairdressers when he opened his current shop, you should ask him he would probably be quite happy to tell you about his famous customers
#7 - Mort replied on the 12/09/2015 2:54:03 PM
Yeah, I think I will. Always been curious and will even ask him how much it would be for a suit.
I got my suit jacket back from Tailoring Alterations on Duke Street. Very happy with the results. Shortened the sleeves and took it in a bit. Cost £34 for that. For an off the peg suit jacket I think it's really elevated it.
Will definitely be going back with some other items.
#8 - den replied on the 12/09/2015 11:22:30 PM
well let us all know what he says about sir Sean, and how much he charges for a suit - I have always wondered that myself
#9 - Mark G replied on the 4/12/2022 8:13:15 AM
Robert Dick my dads cousin we were certainly under the impression he made suits for Connery and other celebrities like football players too
#10 - Martin Dick replied on the 27/09/2023 12:13:06 AM
Robert Dick was my father, sadly he passed away December 2022. I used to work for him in the tailors shop on Hillfoot Street. He retired around 1992 and the business was taken over by his employee, Jack Houston, Jack ran the business under my fathers name until he retired and closed shop in 2020 approx. He certainly did make suits for the rich and famous, he should have written a book. Sean Connery was the most famous customer probably, I did meet him and my dad was a close friend of Sir Sean, he used to play golf with him and his celebrity friends who in turn became customers.
My dad made suits for almost all Scottish television and stage personalities and even lots of famous English ones, Bruce Forsyth, Jimmy Tarbuck and many, many more. Sports personalities made up a huge group among his well known clientele. Almost every famous Rangers and Celtic player from the 60's through to the late 80's and team managers and owners went to my dad. He did very well with the professional snooker players, Stephen Hendry being long standing customer, Stephen got his first suit from my dad when he was a teen. The main reason he did so well with the snooker guys was that he made their waistcoats in such a way that when they bent over to take a shot the waistcoats were longer in the back that traditionally and therefore didn't expose to much of their lower back on TV.
He did very well with suits for stage, unlike a suit that you'd wear for business or pleasure, stage suits were over the top, several times I saw very odd looking tuxedo's in very bright pink, yellow, purple and other extreme colors, they looked hideous close up, but from a distance on stage under the lights they were amazing.
A lesser known fact was that he helped Marjorie Wallace who was a American and Miss World 1973, she was dating George Best the Man United player, they came to my dads shop to get a pant suit repaired for some big event in Glasgow on short notice. I got an autographed picture from her, said Love to Martin and XOXO all over it, I was only 9 years old and in love with her. LOL George gave me one of his personal Man united shirts and signed it, It was really big, but I wore it all the time.
My dad made several suits for me, I was probably the best dressed kid in Glasgow at one point....LOL
All the celebrity stuff aside he made suits for a huge number of regular folks from the East End of Glasgow and beyond, almost everyone getting married would go to him for their wedding suit, he'd even let them make payments to try help them out, a suit back in the 70's would have cost about 120 pounds, a huge amount back then when most regular people didn't make 100 per week. He was always willing to do repairs and alterations for a very low cost to the locals of the area, even did it free many times to help someone out.
Speaking of locals, he made suits for almost all the gangsters of Glasgow. Nobody messed with my dad or his business as he was off limits to local hoodlums due to being friends with the top dogs in town. Any young idiot that tried to break into my days shop was in very big trouble, Arthur Thompson didn't take too kindly to anyone that caused a delay in him getting a new winter cost or suit.
Almost every bar owner, night club owner, restaurateur and business person went to my dad, he could pretty much eat and drink for free in any place in Glasgow. All the big demolition and construction company owners came to him for suits.
I eventually opened my own shop a couple of doors up from him on Hillfoot street, gave that up in 1988, my staff took it over and it remained an alteration shop for a very long time. I moved to Germany and then the USA, I've lived in Northern Virginia (near Washington DC) for 33 years, I still miss Scotland and Glasgow.
#11 - Jimmy Wood replied on the 23/11/2023 3:37:34 PM
I had at least two suits made by Robert Dick back in the mid sixties, he was very much a perfectionist, he would have you walk up and down looking at your stance and body shape, I was a racing cyclist in and well proportioned thighs which he managed to accommodate in the trousers shape without lousing the style of the time , and of course the final fitting was perfect, what a skill and the sharp suit certainly attracted the gils !, sorry to hear of the great man's passing .
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