A fire tore through Arthur Arbit and Ash’s apartment in May, and the couple behind Chasing Tailor, Greenpoint’s cult-favorite tailoring shop, never stopped taking appointments. Friends have since started a GoFundMe to help cover housing and lost essentials after the Grand Street fire displaced the pair from their home.
The Arbits told their story to Greenpointers as part of the outlet’s “Greenpoint at Work” interview series, published July 1 and reported by Emma Davey. The fire is described in that interview as displacing the duo from their home in May; they have kept the business running since.
Chasing Tailor is not a storefront. It sits above Bagelsmith at 566 Lorimer Street, with no sign out front, open by appointment only, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Arthur Arbit has been doing this for more than 30 years, a run he traces back to a prom suit he couldn’t find in his size and a tailor who recut the pants from all four sides to make it fit.
“When you get an ill-fitting suit or a suit that fits well, it’s night and day,” Arbit said in the interview. “One of my favorite lines to some of my clients who are lawyers is that you’re going to win cases just based on the fit of the suit, because it commands such respect. So, you’re, like, halfway there to winning, because you’re wearing a suit that fits well.”
The shop runs entirely on word of mouth. “We don’t advertise. It’s all word of mouth, and it’s truly amazing,” Ash said. “People tell us that they find us on Reddit and even now ChatGPT are bringing people to our shop, which is a little bananas. We’re above Bagelsmith, we’re not a storefront, there’s no sign. People literally tell us that they walk by it every day and unless they come up, they’re like, ‘I wouldn’t have known.'”
Ash came to New York to study literature at Eugene Lang at the New School, learned industrial sewing from Arbit, and in January launched her own line of handmade bridal accessories under the name WORKROOM 1991. Clients getting alterations can now also book one-on-one showroom appointments to try on veils, bird cages, hair bows and barrettes, all made to order with tulle from Italy and ribbon from Japan.
Arbit’s history in the neighborhood runs deeper than the tailoring. He started one of the first art galleries in Greenpoint in the mid-1990s, a space called State of Art. He put on rock shows, and by his account gave the Yeah Yeah Yeahs one of their first gigs. He ran a fashion event called Williamsburg Fashion Weekend for years, all while keeping Chasing Tailor going, before getting priced out of the events world and turning to the shop full time.
The two describe a tailoring philosophy that bends the rules on request. “It’s the type of place where we know all the rules, and we’re not afraid to break them,” Ash said. Arbit calls himself a classicist who will still do “some crazy stuff” to a garment if a client insists, though he’ll try to talk you out of butchering a vintage designer piece first.
“I’ve been doing this for over 30 years, and I’m still not tired of it,” Arbit said.
You can reach the shop and book an appointment through chasingtailor.com, and see Ash’s bridal work at workroom1991.com.
Featured image: via GoFundMe
