metro

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A local fashion consultant celebrates
40 years of making clients
look and feel their best.

Lynne Konstantin
Contributing Writer

T

hink customer service has gone
out of style?
Meet Gary Wettenstein.
Soon to celebrate 40 years of dressing
businessmen, celebrities and generations
of families, the fashion consultant at
Cicchini Custom Clothier in Birmingham,
along with his colleagues there, lives and
breathes not just style — but helping to
create style for his clients. And the lengths
he will go to please those clients, whom he
considers extended family members, is an
art he has finessed.
Wettenstein, who graduated from Oak
Park High School in the late 1960s and
is a member of Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield, has been in the fashion
industry his whole life. His first job, as a
teenager selling women's shoes at Butler's
Shoes at Northland Mall in Southfield,
taught him that he had a gift for engaging
customers and bringing them back.
"I had always liked clothes, but in the
beginning, in high school, I just wanted
a job" Wettenstein says. "I liked working
with people, and I enjoyed and had the
energy and enthusiasm to be in retail:'
He soon made the switch to menswear,
moving up the line to better clothiers in
the area while establishing himself and
learning every aspect of the industry, until
he landed at Kosin's Men's Clothing in
Lathrup Village.
Founded in 1926 in Detroit, Kosin's
history was seeped in high-end customer
service and personal attention, which
Wettenstein embraced. Visited by celeb-
rities from Redd Foxx to Ted Kennedy,
Kosin's is where Wettenstein spent most of
his career, refining his knowledge of mens-
wear, textiles and style.
After almost 20 years with the business,
Kosin's closed, and Wettenstein met with
some people from Cicchini.
"Kosin's was an off-the-rack retail opera-
tion with a small percentage of custom cloth-
ing," he says. "I had had a taste of custom,
but was primarily schooled in off the rack.
But once I met with the people at Cicchini,
that was it. It was a totally different concept,
and I was looking forward to learning some-
thing new about this business"
Founded in Detroit in 1949 by tailor
Paul Cicchini, the bespoke and custom-
clothing shop moved to Birmingham in
the 1970s to better serve its loyal custom-
ers. Bought in 1989 by its current owner,
custom clothier Rick DePanicis (though
Cicchini still works in the shop daily), who
has added shoes and high-end accessories
to its offerings, Cicchini's team of employ-

18

February 27 • 2014

Above: Gary Wettenstein,
a fashion consultant at
Cicchini Custom Clothier
in Birmingham, will soon

celebrate 40 years in the
business.

Right: Clients can create a
custom suit from endless
assortments of superfine
worsted wool, pure silk and
cashmere, linen and cotton
and more.

ees have all been trained by the master in
style, measurement and construction.
When Wettenstein, a West Bloomfield
resident who has two grown children
with his wife, began work as a fashion
consultant at Cicchini almost 20 years
ago, it was a second-floor tailor shop, and
employees, including Wettenstein, would
visit clients at their home or office. "It's
a different operation now" he says of the

chic, 6,000-square-foot retail space. "But
the attention to detail and to clients' needs
are still exactly the same as mentored by
Paul Cicchini.
"Off the rack is a template of a standard
size, a cookie-cutter piece that is made for
everyone he explains. "But we are not
all made the same. A client may not be a
regular or a long or something in between;
it is our job to take the measurements and

build around our clients, starting from
scratch"
He also works with clients on every
level, from helping to determine a per-
sonal style that complements his lifestyle
and tastes, to finding a style that suits the
client's frame. Customers can choose from
suits and jackets, shirts and formalwear,
in unlimited fabrics, including cashmeres
and silks, from Zegna, Dormeuil, Scabal
or Holland & Sherry, and patterns, in
European or traditional cut, with a choice
of buttonholes and pleats — every detail is
made to order.
"Whether a client likes a particular style,
like a double-breasted jacket or a pleated
pant, or does not know what he wants, we
do whatever we can to make sure our cli-
ent gets what he wants and that he looks
the best he can, from advising on style,
fabric and color or getting the proper mea-
surement and fit — the proper length of
the coat, the rise of the pant, the shoulder,
the armhole Wettenstein says. "The first
time a customer puts on a custom suit,
they are simply amazed"
But Wettenstein also prides himself on
another skill. "I'm good at relationships. It
starts with treating people how I want to
be treated. And I like to go to a store and
feel good about it" he says. "A key compo-
nent to a successful business is that cus-
tomers come here, enjoy it and leave feel-
ing good. But it encompasses every detail
in between, and I take pride in bending
over backward for them. Whether they
love the product, or we have to address
issues, the goal is to get it taken care of
quickly and easily"
Part of excelling at relationships
includes understanding how to guide a
client through the good and bad. "I know
that I can't always dress people how I
want them to dress," he says. "The style,
of course, has to be what's best for the cli-
ent. They may want a European cuff, for
example, but if I don't think it would work
for them, I have to offer delicate guidance:'
With loyal customers ranging from
celebrities, athletes and executives to
businessmen and regular people who
have a passion for style, Wettenstein says,
"It's fun to meet someone famous, but
at the end of the day, every client is the
same. And no matter who the client is, I
really love what I do and get great satis-
faction out of thrilling a client. I get up
every morning and look forward to going
to work. I've been doing this a long time,
and I still love it."

❑

Visit Gary Wettenstein at Cicchini Custom

Clothier, Birmingham (248-646-0535;

cicchinicustomclothier.com ).

