Minneapolis tailor MacGyvers Minnesotans’ winterwear

At Nokomis Tailor in south Minneapolis, Bryan Robert’s “To Do” rack is crammed with coats and suits to take in, jeans and sweaters to darn and drapes to shorten. The longtime tailor resizes or repairs everything from bridesmaid’s dresses to boots. “I’ll do almost anything within reason,” he says.

While a tailor’s bread-and-butter — or needle-and-thread, perhaps — is basic mending and alterations (hemming pants, replacing zippers), Robert has a knack for more unusual and technical jobs. He’s made capes for Winter Carnival Vulcans, for example, and modified the Gopher football team’s jerseys for quicker changes.

But his specialty is fine-tuning winter-weight clothing that Minnesotans rely on. That includes things you might expect, such as patching a ripped puffer. And things you might not have imagined, such as removing the puffer’s hood and creating a new collar. Or shortening a pair of snowpants. Or widening the hips on a coat. He even helps endurance racers keep wind off their faces as they run or bike through blizzards by adding fur ruffs to their shell jackets.

“I’m known for doing things other people won’t,” Robert says. “I like challenging myself.”

In the United States, tailors are among the occupations with the oldest workers (the average age is in the 50s). And their ranks have declined in recent years. But their skills are increasingly valuable as shoppers embrace secondhand apparel.

With the fast-fashion fad fading, and growth in the resale clothing market outpacing that of retail overall, tailors can extend clothing’s usefulness. And the process of tweaking garments that don’t quite fit, or refurbishing those in need of TLC, is very personal work, Robert explains. “I just help people,” he says. “I’m like a guidance counselor.”

Robert fell into the profession after he took a dry-cleaning class when he attended an alternative high school in Minneapolis. He pressed clothing and did tailoring at Nordstrom at the Mall of America before starting his own shop in St. Paul. He moved to his current location near Lake Nokomis about five years ago.

Surrounded by nearly a dozen sewing machines — each with a specific use, including heavy-duty fabrics, cover stitching, buttonholes or blind hems — Robert says his clients reflect all ages, personalities and budgets. And even if he can’t help but size up their outfits and mentally adjust them, Robert says he doesn’t judge his customers’ aesthetic choices. “It’s all personal preference.” (Robert’s approach to fashion is casual. “I wear jeans every day,” he says. I don’t tuck in my shirt.”)

So, if a client wants him to resurrect a favorite worn-out sweatshirt, even if it means making replacement elbow patches for the ones he put on a few years ago, he’ll do it. (“She just wants to keep it going.”) Same with another client’s pair of beloved work jeans, which have become, essentially, more hole than pant. (“He could buy a new pair for what it’ll cost.”)

Vintage buyers ask him to refurbish their finds for resale, he says, holding up an example: a 1950s embroidered jacket with a ripped seam he’ll fix. Robert notes that giving old clothing new life lets customers express their unique style and has environmental benefits. “Keep the stuff out of the landfill,” he says.

Robert regularly resizes sentimental clothing that clients inherited from their parents, including an especially memorable Bemidji Woolen Mills buffalo-plaid shirt-pant set passed down from father to son. As style preferences have trended toward more fitted looks, Robert has slimmed-down boxy flannels for several clients. “They’re proud to wear their grandparents’ Pendleton,” he says.

There are only a few types of jobs Robert deems unreasonable. “If it’s really stinky, or a rag, or way too much work, like pleated pants,” he says. “You have to bring it in everywhere, and it still looks funny. You should just buy another suit.”

But most times, Robert is able to work material miracles. Even tricky jobs such as narrowing the waist of an Askov Finlayson parka a client recently dropped off. (“He wants to keep the cold out and look good and feel good,” Robert said of its owner.)

Outerwear’s elaborate construction can make it difficult to work with, Robert notes, especially if an item is filled with down. “There’s so many intangibles you don’t know till you get in there,” he says. “It can be feathers everywhere.”

He has an apprentice to help with basic jobs so he can focus on more complex ones, such as lining a chore coat with a flannel shirt or trimming down a winter biking mitten for a rider who is missing fingers.

Though Robert prefers modifying clothing to designing his own, he does have ambitions. Sticking with his winter focus, he’s envisioning a line of wool overcoats, ponchos and capes.

But first, the “To Do” rack awaits.