Learn More About Q The Tailor Bespoke Clothiers

Quentin E. Spencer Sr. (also known as Q) grew up in Philadelphia in the sixties. Seeing his dad leave the house in a suit to paint 55 Gallon drums. He would change into overalls to at the Navel yard. He had a sense of pride in his appearance, no matter your vocation, that he passed down to my brothers and me. Q made his first garment at 14 years old. The family television was in the dining room, which was where his mom did some of her sewings. Mr. Billy Dee Williams caught Q’s attention on the Merv Griffin show. The always dapper Mr. Williams was responding to a question about his wardrobe. He spoke at length about his tailor. He said his tailor had passed 10 years prior but left him with a wardrobe that will take him to the end of his career. “I loved the double-breasted waistcoat he wore. I ask my mother, whom I still view as one of the best to thread a needle, to please make one for me,” said Q. His mom told him, “I will teach you how to make it.” Q made the coat and wore it to school. Q never forgot how he felt when he received so many compliments. That changed an introverted young man forever. Q enrolled in the sewing course in high school. He wanted to further his training, and so enrolled in The Progressive School of Fashion in 1979 and 1980. These were two of the best years of his life. Mr. Frank Zawoski, the head tailor for The Halle Brother’s department store, had agreed to teach the class. They called him Mr. Z and the students got so much more than the curriculum called for. It was then that Q learned the art of bespoke (bench made suits) suit making. He taught the phycology of tailoring and dealing with clients. He also suggested that a tailor should be well-read and introduced Q to books such as The Laws of Success and The Affluent Society. Mr. Z always said that “the tailor should be the best-dressed gentlemen in the room or at least a close second.” After graduating Mr. Z told the class to find an apprenticeship with a seasoned tailor. And, that will be where your tailor career will start. It was difficult because they had not had the experience to get hired. Q begged a couple of shop owners to just let him sweep the floor. He just wanted to be around tailors and to continue learning. He and a fellow graduate opened a shop at East 105th Street and Superior Avenue, in Cleveland. They did not have many clients, so “we got a lot of practice making suits for ourselves,” he said. They started acquiring clients by standing in front of the tailor shops and clothing stores that refused to hire them. They dressed in their own custom-made suits and shirts and handed out business cards. Their business grew. They took business classes, and a mentor suggested a dry cleaner that had become available for purchase. Q borrowed 10,000 from his dad and he and his classmate were in the dry-cleaning business. Q got married and had two children back-to-back. His business partner left him when things got worse so he closed the business and went to work at Avon Dry Cleaners on East 18th Street and Superior Avenue. It was owned by another gem of a man by the name of Mr. Lieberman. This is where Q learned another art - dry cleaning. Mr. Lieberman taught him everything about the dry-cleaning business. This allowed him to understand fabrics and the maintenance of garments. He learned how to handle fine fabrics during the cleaning and pressing process. How to shape, block, and restore a garment.

That is where he truly learned dry cleaning. Dry Cleaning added a higher level of tailoring to his skillset Over the years Q worked for dry cleaners in the day, and for tailoring shops in the evening, while also making suits and shirts for personal clients. It was the only way he could afford for his wife to be a stay-at-home mom, which was important for them both. He started doing wholesale tailoring in which he would pick up alterations from dry cleaners and clothing stores. At one point he and his wife had 12 wholesale accounts. Their biggest account was London Dry Cleaners on Chardon Road. Because of the size of the account, he would spend three mornings there every week. London Dry Cleaners had a huge route. They outgrew the space and built a new facility. I approached the owner about buying the Chardon Road store. After a few months, they had an amicable financial arrangement. There were a few dynamics that took place that was unsurmountable. The biggest challenge was the rebuilding of I-90 at the Bishop Road entrance/exit. This was devastating and Q lost everything. He got hired as the head tailor for The Tom James Custom Clothing Company in 1998. In 2003, he was hired as the men’s tailor for Nordstrom’s Department Store, while also working for Christopher Custom Clothing store part-time. Q started taking his dry cleaning to Farrows Dry Cleaners on Lee Road in Cleveland, Ohio. It is owned by the Grimaldi Family. He managed the Al and Fran Store for a few years, and they were one of his wholesale accounts. Q started picking up his work. It started to grow, and he would come to the cleaners three days a week. With his presence there, he grew even more. He left Christopher’s and set up shop at Farrows. After 1 ½ year (Jack) remodeled the shop and storefront. Q began selling ready-made suits, shirts, and ties. His desire to do true custom-made suits and shirts was still there. The shop grew! Q started looking for space to move to his business. His motive was to be a personal and private tailor for an underserved base that wanted personal service. This prompted his move to the Rockefeller building in Cleveland Heights in the spring of 2013. The “custom tailoring business” had changed. More and more tailors were sending their custom orders out to cut, make and trim tailor shops. These are tailor shops that served the tailoring industry, more so than personal customers. These shops are a great help to tailors in these current times because of the lack of skilled bench tailors. Only in the bigger markets where folks can afford and are willing to pay $4000 and up for a bench made suit. It also may take anywhere from eight weeks to two months to complete a suit. This is going against today’s fast-food dollar store mentality. Q’s desire to go back to bench work was overwhelming. As the bench tailors around the country are retiring, their skills are becoming harder to replace. With his reputation, he started receiving job interviews from Canada, New York, North Carolina among other cities. He finally accepted a position with a second-generation tailor with Savile Row history, Georgetown Tailor, Fields English Custom Tailors. Relocating to Washington has proven to be a great move for Quentin Spencer. It is a true suit-wearing town. He opened a shop in Silver Spring at the beginning of 2020. “This is not a restart. I believe we are in the right location,” says Q.