He’s one of the last craftsmen of his kind and he lives right here in Jefferson County. Emily Griffin introduces us to Frank Shattuck, a man who’s dedicated to details.
HENDERSON, New York (WWNY) – If you walk into any department store, you can probably find a suit. It probably fits fine and feels nice, but a real, authentic, tailor-made suit is a different experience altogether.
Such tailors are hard to find nowadays, but one of the best is in Henderson.
What is the value of an authentic hand-made suit?
To Frank Shattuck, it’s worth a lifetime of practice, starting at age 20.
“The way I started was I was selling real estate and there were two old tailors in Syracuse that made suits for my grandfathers,” he said. “So, after the morning real estate meeting, I’d go hang out with them. Then an old friend of my grandfather’s came in and said, ‘you don’t want to be in real estate, you should be a tailor.’ And the old tailor said, ‘I’ll teach him,’ in his Italian accent. And that’s how it all started.”
For 15 years, Shattuck studied with the masters, learning the old methods, developing an “eye.”
And rushing nothing.
In his workshop, every suit is done by hand, made to fit the customer’s every contour.
“This is old school, this is how I learned,” he said. “I don’t even know how to do it by machine.”
It’s the way of the master tailor. The old methods work, and the old equipment, too.
“Everything I do in this shop, if you went to Sicily in 1965, they’d be doing the exact thing, with the exact equipment,” Shattuck said. “Same machine, same iron, same everything.”
A good coat will take a month to make. From choosing the right material, creating a custom pattern, and laboring over the tiny details.
“Thousands of stitches, well placed, and each one thought out,” he said.
Shattuck is one of the last tailors to fully apprentice with old masters. He wants to do their legacy an honor by getting it right every time.
“To be honest with you, it’s all I know how to do,” he said.
Except it’s not. Shattuck is also a talented woodworker, boxer, and actor. He starred in “Law and Order,” the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire,” and other productions.
He also caught the attention of celebrity chef and documentarian Anthony Bourdain, who featured him on his show “Raw Craft.”
But above all his talents, opportunities, and hobbies, he’s a tailor — in a 12×12 workshop with old tools and calloused fingers and expensive suits waiting to be made.
Because when he stops making them, the art of authentic tailoring is further lost.
Shattuck sells his suits all over the world. One stitch at a time, he’s keeping his craft alive.
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