Jos E Rizzo – Tailor

Very excellent workmanship. Rather pricey – but it’s Boston and he does his sewing by hand. Going out of business by the end of this month (in fact, I’m hoping I haven’t missed him already – I still have a suit in his shop.)

Joe is the best tailor I have ever encountered. I brought him two dresses that were too large for me — one of which was my reception dress for my wedding. Joe made them fit beautifully, as if they were made specifically for me. Joe is a pleasure to work with. His work is exceptional and worth the price (which I found to be very reasonable despite other reviews). I would recommend him to anyone!

I had a terrific experience with this tailor! I purchased a dress which I absolutely love for a wedding, but it was a bit too short. My good friend with excellent taste told me to go to Joseph Rizzo. I presented the problem to Mr. Rizzo (the dress was lace, there was no clear way to lengthen it), and he sent me to a fabric store to find some suitable lace. I just picked up the dress today, and the results are amazing. The dress looks like it was designed with this extra 3 inches. Mr. Rizzo also had suggested tailoring the dress somewhat, which I had not even considered, and he was exactly right. The dress fits perfectly and is a better looking dress than when I bought it! All this for a very reasonable price — I have the dress I want and don’t have to shop anymore. Thank you Joseph Rizzo!

I have had very positive experience with Rizzo’s and have been going there since probably 2004 to get all my nice, designer jeans hemmed. His prices are a little high (20 dollars) but he always does a great job!
I am not giving 5 stars because I think a few things can be improved:
–he should take more payment forms than jus cash
–the turn around time for a simple hem can sometimes be too long (i.e. up to 1 week I have had to wait)
–The hours close too early (what if you work full time – it is hard to get there by 5pm?)
–there are no Sunday hours.
Otherwise, I am a huge fan of the actual job he does to hem and highly recommend. I have never gone anywhere else to get a pair of pants hemmed.
–Tamara

Joe Calautti, who bought the business from Joe Rizzo in 1973, is a master at what he does. He hemmed a pair of trousers and put buttons and buttonholes in the sleeves of a thousand-​dollar suit I’d bought from Saint Harridan, a company that manufacturers custom-​fitted men’s wear for women’s bodies. I’d never had any clothing that cost that much, so I asked around about who was the best tailor, which is why I went to him. He’s made suits for the likes of John Kerry (yes, there is a nice signed photo of Kerry on the wall), as well as for a couple of my friends. As with any master, I left the details to him and when he asked when I needed it, and I told him two or three weeks, and he was fine with that. I wasn’t in any rush. After the fitting, he talked with me about suits — he was very charming and clearly loves explaining his trade to the uninitiated. He told me how difficult it is to design jackets for women — especially women who don’t wear bras — and still make the jacket drape well. When he said that my suit was «pretty good,» it was in a way that I took as reasonable praise from a master who makes three-​thousand-​dollar suits by hand. He observed that the button holes on my jacket were done by machine, and then showed me examples of his hand-​sewn button holes — which he was was going to do for the button holes on the sleeves. He showed me the difference between the machine-​stitched lapels on my suit and the hand-​stitched lapels on his coats. Then he showed me some of his fabric samples and how to test fabric for quality — pulling a sample diagonally with little to no give, remarking that «it sounds like a guitar.» It was a pleasure to be with a master at his craft. Yes, it cost me $ 125, and yes, in cash. And no, it wasn’t a quick turn-​around — but I had already waited 8 weeks for my suit, and didn’t want just anybody cutting those buttonholes. I may never be able to afford one of his $ 3K suits, but if I ever get another $ 1K suit, you better believe that I’ll be asking them not to do any of the button holes in the jacket, and will bring it to Joe for all of them. It’s all in the details.

Jos’ place is definitely all for high quality. It of course isn’t cheap, but it really is the only place I dared to bring my runway ready evening gown to have it hemmed. The dress is so complicated and even my friend who works at a designer would not want to touch it. I ended up having two 3inch layers folded in and it fitted beautifully. I did have to pay quite a bit for the work, but you can be so at ease for the good quality.
2 months later, after having worn the same gown, the long tail of the dress was broken from people stepping on it. I brought it back and Jos did extra fixture work so quickly — right on the spot for me and for no additional charge at all. I’m amazed by both the quality and the spirit of amazing craftsmanship. Highly recommended!

Even apart from his excellent tailoring skills, Mr. Rizzo went above and beyond to accommodate me. I had just purchased a suit and was planning on getting it tailored within a few weeks or so, but a friend passed away suddenly and I needed it for the funeral services in two days, one of which was a Saturday. After being turned away for the last minute request by at least two other shops, Mr. Rizzo was kind enough to squeeze me in and have it ready within a couple of hours! I will forever be thankful for his touching generosity. True craftsmen, business people and, above all, geniune human beings are in short supply these days, but Mr. Rizzo is definitely among them.

*NOTE* I no longer live in the Boston area, so this is based on multiple experiences between 2002 and 2009. I just had to post, this is how strongly I feel about Rizzo’s.
If you just want someone to do some quick hemming for a pair of jeans — yeah, you could go here. But you could go to a lot of other places and be just as happy.
If, on the other hand, you just bought a suit/​sportcoat/​shirt/​some slacks and want to make it go from fitting «pretty well» to «like the sartorial equivalent of a soul mate» — Joe Calautti is your man. He does things by hand and is old-​school (in a good way). Just trust him, unless your tastes are *very* particular/​nontraditional.
At this point I’ve taken two suits, a couple pairs of pants and a sportcoat and every one has turned out great.

Joe does excellent work. He has adjusted several items for me (pants, blazers, suits off the rack) and handmade one truly beautiful suit, which I just love. He’s not quick. Nor is he friendly. As others have noted, he has strong opinions about style and his craft. But he knows what he’s doing.

This guy rocks. Yes, he’s kind of brusque, in the old-​school Eastern European way. He’s very good at what he does, and he’s honest, the way I think people in the clothing industry should be since they’re being paid to make you look good. He rushed a hem on pants for a suit for me because I had a last minute interview scheduled. When I put the suit on, he said, «That looks terrible. You need the sleeves shortened too, at least half an inch.» He was right, and I knew he was right, but I didn’t have a week to wait for sleeves, so I said I’d get it done after the interview, to which he responded, «Good, you should.» Well, two days later I got a comment on my sleeves from a well-​meaning interviewer, saying that I would look a bit more professional if I got them tailored properly. The pants were amazing, though, and all of the more challenging alterations I saw hanging around his shop looked great as well. I’ll be going back soon for sleeves.

You pay in cash. You wait in line. You wait for him to do the work. He’s nice, polite, and the work is amazing.
There is a wait because he spends time making his own suits, not sending them out. Three month wait before he can even start a suit for you.
Your own tailoring is squeezed in between that.
If you care about price — there are probably 50 dry cleaners in the city that will do the work for you.
If you want a proper tailor, there are two who are great — and Rizzo is the one in Cambridge.

Extremely unfriendly, rude and unprofessional. I have no idea how this shop is still in business. Go anywhere else but here.

Mr. Calutte is a gentleman and he tailors gentleman (and ladies) clothing. His main business is designing custom suits and he counts among his (recent) clients Senator John Kerry and President of Harvard Drew Faust. I came to him after a local «dry cleaner» tailor botched a simple alteration which he expertly undid and redid. Yes, he is expensive but his work is top-​notch, flawless, and in my experience if you are not completely satisfied with his work he will redo at no charge until you are. I only can afford to bring him decent off the rack stuff which he tailors for me to fit like it was quality made. I would never trust Macy’s or Lord and Taylor tailors with my purchases any more. Despite what people have written here I have never found him to be gruff, always cheerful, easy-​going although he is opinionated when it comes to clothing and fit, but guys and dolls, that is his business. He told me he used to work at Bonwit Teller’s when they had a store in Boston and the one day I truly dread is the day he retires. Go Joe!

Rizzo’s is expensive and the service occasionally surly but it’s so worth it.
I’m a model and I’ve taken countless garments of both high and low quality to them to be altered.
I also take clothes to him so he can tell me whether they look good (hang right etc.) — he and his assistants have that good an eye.
They will also often add that little something extra to the cut or the design of a garment so that alterations look completely natural, sometimes even better than the original.
Joe’s even sent me away a couple of times with the dress or pants left as they were, having shown me that I’d been wearing them incorrectly so they looked wrong on me.
As for the grumpiness, well, they are Italian — and what seems grumpy to us is probably something else to them. If it bothers you then sure, take your business elsewhere. But I’d recommend them in a heartbeat. And as the saying goes, ‘you get what you pay for’.

I’m between 2 and 3 stars for Rizzo. I think what puts me down to 2 is the price. $ 100 to hem a designer bridesmaid dress that I didn’t want to buy in the first place? (I took another formal gown with layers to my dry cleaner and it only cost $ 40).$ 20 to patch my jeans? The patch already wore through and I think I’m going to just buy a new pair rather than invest another $ 20 (they’re my fave).
To be fair, the bridesmaid dress hemming was a bit tricky since it had a few layers and was cut on an angle, and it did turn out well. My roommate got one altered as well and was pleased with the result. The dresses took a little longer than we would have liked, but I guess one could chalk that up to attention to detail.

I had a great experience with this tailor. I brought him two dresses that I wore in high school before my bust size reached its fullest potential. They are both super nice dresses, and one of them is a hand-​me-​down designer dress that I hadn’t been able to wear for years because it was too tight up top.
For the designer dress, I came back a week later and he had done an incredible job. The whole dress is covered with lace, but he had altered it in the back by adding a plain black triangle that looked like it had always been there. He even seamed it unnecessarily so it matched the rest of the dress. He also fixed some of the lace in the front. It fits perfectly and looks fantastic. I paid $ 125 to have it done, which I think is totally fair given the quality of the dress.
The second dress he looked at and told me there was nothing he could do about it. And you know what? I appreciate his honesty. The seam is in the wrong place — if he lets it out, it’ll throw the whole dress off. He suggested instead adding more fabric to the top instead so it’s not so low, as a more practical solution.
In conclusion: this guy’s work is so well done it’s practically art. I wouldn’t take him mundane clothing to tailor (who needs art on simple hems?) but for expensive, important clothing, I wouldn’t go anywhere else.

I’ve been to a lot of other tailors in the area, and Joe is undisputedly the best. He makes wonderful suits himself, and he has a golden touch with alterations. I won’t take a jacket or suit anywhere else. I won’t let a tailor at Louis or Barneys do complimentary alterations. Everything goes to Joe.
He is expensive, and most alterations will take two weeks, but he’s well worth both the money and the wait.

I’m petite — that is, I have short legs — so I always need to hem my pants. There are plenty of people who can do that in Cambridge, but Rizzo’s work is top quality. He double stitches the hem and knows just what length to put them so that they look nice. He costs a little more than other places, but I think he’s worth it.
The owner has always been nice to me. Then again, I don’t demand much. He genuinely wants the clothing to look good on you.

I’ve tried a bunch of tailors in the vicinity, and this guy is far and away the best. That said, he has a personality, for better, and for worse. If he thinks what you’re doing is a bad idea, he won’t help you. He may be subtle or not-​so-​subtle about it.
I think you have to know a little bit about what’s going on. He doesn’t seem interested in helping amorphously shaped people, I think because he feels like he can’t help them; he can’t make their clothing look good on them. Or if your clothing is poorly designed or cheap? He could probably make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but maybe it’s not worth his effort?
A little perspective on why he behaves this way. A lot of the suits on racks in there are suits he’s made/​making. He gets thousands of dollars for each one of those. You can imagine he’s gotta be into your $ 25 alteration, or what’s the point? Life’s too short for altering mediocre clothing.

I dropped off several pairs of pants to be hemmed along with a dress that needed a kind of complicated alteration to Rizzo Tailor. Rizzo did a wonderful job on both the pants and the dress, but I ended up with a major case of sticker shock when I went to go pick them up. There is no reason for their insanely steep prices. There are many, many other tailors in Cambridge that can do an equally professional job for a fraction of the price.