A desi stitch in NYC

Browsing the NYTimes this week I came across a half page ad by Mohan Tailors. They are a custom tailor shop specializing in Western formal suits, shirts and pants for men. Now custom tailoring dosent come cheap and even though there is a sale going on at Mohan’s, they are priced way up in the stratosphere. But what caught my interest was the Indian sounding name.

Doing a little “googlie” it turns out that the man behind this custom tailoring outfit is none other than Mohan Ramchandani an Indian who reached the shores of USA via Hong Kong in 1972 and has since then become the tailor of choice for superstar celebrities.

Mohan the Indian tailor’s suits arc easy to spot; they’re worn by seven-foot New York Knick Patrick Ewing in Mohan’s ads in the New York Post by ex-Knick Walt Frazier and by a lot of stars throughout the NBA. […link…]

In an article in the NYT (as posted on Mohan’s website)

Turns out the owner of Mohan’s, at 60 East 42d Street, doesn’t actually go by Mohan. He’s from India, and his real name is Mohan Ramchandani. Ever since he came to the United States in 1972, though, he has gone by Mike.

He is 46 and pretty mellow. He is 5-foot-9 and a size 40 regular. But suits off the rack don’t do it for him. His arms are extra long, and his seat is compact.

Like many entrepreneurs Mohan hit it big with one break. The mother of Patrick Ewing summoned him to Washington DC to dress her oversize son, and as they say, rest is history.

Mr. Ramchandani acquired this sports reputation by a fluke. In 1984, he was doing conservatively cut suits for bankers and accountants. One day he picked up the phone, and it was the mother of Patrick Ewing, who was then playing basketball at Georgetown University in Washington. Her son was having the worst time finding a suit to fit his excessive frame at a decent price. Mr. Ramchandani parted with $29 to take People Express down to Washington to measure Mr. Ewing in his dorm room. The tailor stood on a chair. In short order, Mr. Ewing had a gray herringbone suit for $250. He wore it over the summer while he worked for Senator Bob Dole, Republican of Kansas.

More celebrities have got their suits stitched from him

His client list includes Mark Jackson, Kenny Walker, Pat Cummings, Ken Bannister, and Ron Reagan, Jr. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has also bought suits from him as has former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, although via his Hong Kong office. […link…]