A personal touch keeps the 40-year-old showroom in top form.

In a city where “readymade” rules, neighbourhood tailoring boutiques run by moody masterjis and agony aunties are well on their way to becoming the stuff of urban legend. Still, there’s nothing quite like owning a well-cut, impeccably stitched, custom-made outfit. Just ask 76-year-old Dayalal Vaidya, who’s convinced that Manilal Chheda, the founder of the popular men’s tailoring shop, Marco, changed his life. “One of my legs is shorter than the other by a quarter inch but I bet you can’t tell,” said Vaidya, as he demonstrated his steady stride across the showroom floor. Vaidya, the owner of leading transport firm, Jai Hind Roadways, first heard about Marco’s made-to-measure suits, shirts and pants 35 years ago from a Parsi friend. “No one ever noticed [the shorter leg] before. Chheda managed to rectify this error that God made only using his excellent tailoring skills,” Vaidya raved.

Manilal Chheda, and later his nephew, Sachin Chheda, has been wooing and winning customers with sharp cuts and flattering styles for over four decades. Manilal Chheda first set up Marco in Tardeo in 1965 after graduating from the Elphinstone Technical Institute, with just one machine and a street-facing bench. In 1973, after putting in 12- to 14-hour days, he had made enough money to buy a shop in the same building. The shop’s popularity soared between 1982 and 1985, said Sachin Chheda, when people from as far as Ahmedabad and Surat queued up for hours just to order a pair of handmade denims. Marco operated like a factory, manufacturing over 40 made-to-measure pairs a day using fabrics imported from Hong Kong – giving the Chhedas enough wealth to buy up five more of the nine shops in the building.

Those were the glory days, but the business is still doing well, in no small part due to a passing of the baton to the next generation. Manilal Chheda, now 65, retired in 2002, handing over the shop to his nephew, Sachin Chheda, who started working as a sales representative and a distributor of international garment accessories when he was 19. Around the same time, Ashok Pokle, an apprentice turned pattern-cutter who had worked in the shop for 20 years, was made head designer.

Sachin Chheda’s first order of business was to give the tailoring shop a facelift. The store is now bigger, with enough space to showcase samples and a section dedicated to fabrics from popular international and domestic brands – a service that wasn’t offered before. Sachin Chheda was also responsible for introducing 48-year-old Pokle to the Italian style of tailoring, which favours a streamlined, slim fit that, he said, attracts “stylish and well-travelled shoppers”. Chheda sent Pokle to fashion design workshops held in the city by international craftsmen, subscribed to fashion magazines like GQ and encouraged his employee to deconstruct suits and jackets by fashion houses like Hugo Boss and Canali and Ermenegildo Zegna which had been brought in for alterations.

Pokle, who learnt to cut and stitch at the Zarapkar College of Fashion in Dadar, has now become the face of Marco. He balances his time interacting with customers, managing orders and handling the pattern-cutting. Pokle has managed to retain the 2,000-odd permanent clients without any advertising. “In our field, it’s all about trust,” Pokle said. “Just like you wouldn’t change your doctor, you don’t switch your tailor.” Who needs marketing anyway when customers are walking testimonials? “We’ve had orders from Ireland and Denmark but we have no idea where our customers hear about us,” said Sachin Chheda, who manages the backend and also runs a Samsung electronics outlet next door. “But then again, we also have loyal clients who send all their friends and family straight to us.”

Like most old-school businesses, the Chhedas have a too-polite-to-be-true “never say no” policy, which could spell disaster if they were to advertise. “We simply don’t have the spare capacity to increase production anymore,” said Sachin Chheda. “There just aren’t enough craftsmen like Ashok, who are willing to devote themselves to the profession.” Chheda and Pokle said they have to pamper their current team of 18 tailors to ensure they don’t leave. “I have to interact with my team as if they are my babies,” said Pokle. “In fact, unlike with my children, I just cannot afford to lose my temper at them.”

As is happening in many traditional skilled trades, many tailors encourage their children to opt for less laborious, better-paying jobs. Most made-to-measure tailoring shops in the city will slowly disappear, predict Sachin Chheda and Pokle. But some businesses will adapt to the “boutique” model with higher tailoring charges and specialised detail. “Tailoring shops in Mumbai will be like the high-end boutiques in London,” said Chheda. “We aspire to be like Zegna someday and I’ve been told if you aspire for excellence, you’ll find success along the way.”

Marco 177, opposite Ganga Jamuna Cinema, Tardeo (2380-4354). Mon-Sat 11am-8pm.

Text Prerna Makhija. Photo Amit Chakravarty.