St. Paul tailor wants to foster a community around men’s fashion

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While serving in the U.S. military along the Iraq-Kuwait border, Ivan Martinez spent long shifts in a guard tower. Looking for something to pass the time, he picked up a copy of GQ from a stack of magazines

He still credits that moment with changing the course of his life and inspiring his pursuit of men’s fashion

Today, Martinez, 36, owns By Mr. Martinez, a custom tailoring shop in St. Paul’s West Seventh neighborhood, where, in addition to suits, he’s trying to build a community around men’s fashion

On the corner of West Seventh and Leech streets, customers walk into a space that feels more like a lounge than a tailor shop: a couch, a minibar and a shelf lined with Italian fabrics

“I really want it to be where a guy comes in here, and it’s like their little sanctuary,” Martinez said. “Kick back, have a tequila soda or something, and I don’t know, chill for like 15 minutes and talk about suits or talk about life.”

Spotted location while sitting in traffic

The shop has been open about a year, but Martinez didn’t host a formal ribbon-cutting until June

He spotted that the West Seventh Street location was available while sitting in traffic. He was already a fan of nearby businesses like Cafe Astoria and Hope Breakfast Bar, and he knew that’s where he wanted to open his shop

Before that, Martinez worked as a mobile tailor, driving around the Twin Cities to meet clients at their homes and offices

Martinez said he thinks the shop can help with downtown’s comeback, in part because he’s younger and active on social media. Customers often tell him they rarely come downtown except to visit his shop, and afterward he often sends them to nearby restaurants

Business has been good since the location opened, he said. But it hit a rough patch earlier this year, whenimmigration enforcement efforts in the Twin Cities slowed customer traffic. Martinez said there were days he kept the doors locked and wondered how he’d make it financially. But his store was never targeted by federal agents

What he offers

Martinez’s signature service is custom suits, a process that typically runs through three appointments: an initial consultation, a basic garment that works like a first draft, and a final fitting, he said

Clients should budget up to $1,500 for a good range of fabric options for a quality suit, he said. But for those looking to splurge, he’s made suits costing up to $5,000

He also makes casual wear, shirts and T-shirts, and sells off-the-rack pieces in the shop, including seasonal lines like custom polos in summer, knitwear in fall and heavier jackets in winter

His own style leans toward Italian tailoring, which favors softer construction and lighter fabrics than traditional English suits, but he said he can make any look for clients. He often works with clients who are unsure what they want to help find their style

“This is like a learning experience because a lot of guys come in here and they don’t know what they want,” he said

He describes the business as both old-school and new-school. He and his partners are a younger crowd, he said, but the styles they sell — and the space they’re in — feel old school

For Martinez, building trust with clients is an important aspect of the process. Over the course of several appointments for one suit, he said, he tries to build a rapport that feels less transactional

That’s where retail stores “got it really wrong,” he said

‘He knows what I like’

Dr. Tom Joles, a U.S. Army veteran and family medicine physician, is one of the clients Martinez has a strong relationship with

Joles reached out for tailoring services about two years ago. He doesn’t wear suits outside of work, but he needs them for his leadership roles in medicine. He’s also come to rely on Martinez for jeans and casual clothes

Joles said Martinez pays close attention to detail and makes the process easy and enjoyable

“He knows and understands what I like, and then he’ll just make it for me,” Joles said. “I don’t have to even deal with any of the details. He deals with all of them, and then just gives me what I want. But for somebody that might be particular about exactly what they want, he’s willing to sit down and listen to you and go the extra mile to make sure you do get what you want.”

Most of Martinez’s clients come to him because they need a suit for work or a wedding. But he hopes to inspire people to dress with intention simply because they want to

“‘I only need the suit for the wedding because I never wear suits,’” Martinez said, describing a line he hears constantly. “But I always try to knock it so far out of the park that they’re like, ‘I can wear this suit all the time.’”

In a world where people seem to be dressing increasingly casual, Martinez is optimistic that will change

“The pendulum will swing the other way,” he said. “There is an audience that just loves and enjoys suits, and they want to wear one, and they feel like they look their ultimate best when they have one on.”

Martinez said customers have found him through social media and have visited his shop just to be around others who enjoy dressing up. Through events he hosts at his shop, he hopes to foster that kind of community in St. Paul, a city light on fashion culture

Immigrant roots inspire love for fashion

Martinez was born in New Jersey to Mexican immigrant parents. His family moved to St. Paul when he was 7. He said his roots are what pushed him to be more “fashion-forward” as a kid

“Being from an immigrant family, we’re told at a very young age if you go out, you got to dress up no matter what. You got to look the part. You can’t look sloppy or whatever,” he said. “So that kind of stuck with me.”

Martinez also sees his shop as a way to inspire other Latinos interested in fashion. He said many Latinos work for other tailors, but he believes he’s the only Latino to own a tailoring business in the area, and he’s found only one other in the Midwest

After the military, Martinez attended Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he received a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s degree in public administration. There, he started a blog about menswear, writing about everything from how pants should fit to how to wear a green suit

“Whatever I had in my wardrobe is what I was talking about,” he said. “I would take pictures and post them on Instagram.”

Today, he has more than 19,000 followers on Instagram. Building that audience before starting his business helped him build the business itself, he said

After school, he worked corporate jobs. After meeting his now-wife, with whom he has a daughter, he started working at a tailor shop, where he said he learned suiting on a whole new level. After the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided he wanted to work for himself, and he sharpened his skills further with an apprenticeship in Mexico City

Why stay home?

Minnesota’s fashion sense is casual enough that seeing someone in a suit by choice can be a bit of a culture shock, Martinez said

Still, he said he’s never seriously thought about leaving his hometown for a bigger city with a bigger fashion scene

“I was more needed here,” he said

He dreams of eventually opening additional locations, possibly in Florida and Mexico City

But for now, his focus stays on St. Paul

“I really want to start here, do it right, really build a community around the space,” he said. “Then we’ll see whatever God brings later.”