Alumnus runs 50-year-old family suit shop and continues quality tailoring experiences for celebrity and community clientele

Getting a custom suit might not be at the top of most young men’s to-do lists, but it’s more important than it seems. After graduating from Hillsdale in 2014 and working as the student activities director for three years, Anthony Manno joined his family’s company Manno Clothing & Tailoring Inc.

Manno grew up with the company, watching VHS tapes in back rooms and playing in the coat racks. Eventually, he emerged from behind the hangers and now co-owns the family suit shop with his father. 

Manno’s grandparents, Leonardo and Lilla Manno, opened their first storefront in 1971 in Dearborn, Mich. More than 50 years later, the family has threaded its way into the lives of everyone from close friends to movie stars. 

In fact, Matt Damon and a few other actors wore Manno pieces in the 2021 HBO Max film, “No Sudden Move.”

But customers don’t have to be a movie star to wear Manno. They could be Hillsdale College’s very own president, Larry Arnn. A customer of Manno Clothing & Tailoring Inc. for over a decade, Arnn noted the quality of the experience above all else.

“Other places do not serve wine and cheese, nor espresso, nor have an Italian name, nor have proprietors wearing a tape measure around their necks,” Arnn said. “Pat and Anthony, father and son, are talented and skilled at their job. With their team of tailors in-house, they can fix anything.”

Shops might not need all the bells and whistles that make Arnn fond of the company, but the experience of purchasing an item in-person has often been traded in for online consumerism. 

“For us, it’s all about creating an experience,” Manno said. “The only way I’m like Amazon is that we can do stuff fast. Otherwise, we’re going to slow down. I’m going to ask you to come into the store and see us. We’re going to take our time to get this done.”

Manno describes his approach to his job as “counter-retail.” When people think of suits and formalwear, images of fluorescent basements of department stores littered with mannequins might come to mind. Manno Clothing & Tailoring Inc. rejects this entirely, taking tailoring back to the craft, like what it was when the company was founded. 

“The analogy I use is like a barber or hairstylist,” Manno said. “I don’t know about you, but I go to the same person every six weeks. It’s like clockwork. I just sit down and they know what to do. That’s kind of the relationship you want to have with someone that does your clothes.” 

According to Manno, a good suit has three primary parts: fabric, construction, and fit. The first is the easiest one for other companies to skimp on since they can use cheap fabric and just use a nice label. Construction is more complicated. 

“Think about construction like the engine of a car. It’s nothing that you see, but it’s what you feel and what will mold to you over time,” Manno explained. “Having a good suit with good construction — the technical term is canvassing — is going to stand the test of time. I don’t want you to wear it for a year and then get rid of it.”

President’s Club member and owner of Rutledge’s suit shop in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Jerry Rutledge, has been in the business for nearly six decades. According to him, quality matters, but effectiveness is ultimately the point of it all. 

“I understand quality and all that stuff,” Rutledge said. “The point is: people, rightly or wrongly, judge people by what they look like. If you believe that, you have to dress appropriately and effectively. Well, if you turn them off because you look like what they don’t want, you’re dead. You’re done.”

The world of fashion can seem overwhelming and pressures surrounding style, brand, and whether to rent or buy can make young men hesitant towards the whole business. But looking nice doesn’t have to be scary. It might just be practical. 

“Men should dress neatly on all or nearly all occasions. The gym might be an exception, or doing manual labor, which is good for the soul,” Arnn said. “Suits are not worn so often as they used to be, but they are necessary for some occasions, and every young man should have a good one.”

Although his degrees in finance and Spanish might not directly pay off, Manno said he appreciates Hillsdale’s liberal arts curriculum and says it still serves him. Just like the moving parts that compose a liberal arts education, a good haircut, or a fancy suit, orchestrating how each part complements the whole is vital.