Third-generation Vancouver tailor continues family legacy with The Sartorial Shop

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For Zahir Rajani, clothing is a family business.

In 1984, his parents started a store called Tasleem’s. Located on Main Street between 48th and 49th avenues, the shop offered clothing among its wares. Twenty-three years after its opening, a young Rajani joined the family business, introducing a line of custom clothing that focussed on suits.

“Really, it started by accident,” he recalls, noting the custom line arrived at a time when there were several weddings happening in the family. “And so I was like, ‘Let’s give this a shot. My family will forgive me if something goes wrong. And it turns out everybody looked good; it worked out.”

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While his parents closed their store in 2010, Rajani continued on the family legacy that his mother, a seamstress, and his grandfather, a tailor, had begun. Creating for his custom clothing line on the side while working in commercial real estate, Rajani finally decided to push pause on properties and pursue his bespoke business full-time in 2022.

Rajani and his wife Anastasia opened a store in New Westminster in 2023 called Rajani Bespoke. And, this past July, the duo relocated the business to downtown Vancouver, renaming the business the The Sartorial Shop and welcoming customers by appointment into the studio at 809-402 West Pender St.

“The Sartorial Shop specializes in bespoke and custom, one-of-one pieces — primarily suiting, but we create and design everything from bespoke suits to sport jackets, blazers, formal wear, skirts and overcoats,” Rajani explains. “Catering to both men and women, we’ve differentiated ourselves by simply doing things differently.”

That element of difference, he notes, comes care of the small local brand’s emphasis on made-to-measure fit.

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“In Vancouver, we’ve become quite well-known for our suits,” Rajani says. “We have a razor-sharp focus on detail.”

To ensure a garment fits well, various aspects must be considered such as fabric, fit and a person’s unique shape.

“The art of making a bespoke garment starts long before scissors meet fabric,” Rajani says. “To get it right, it needs to be about you; your body and body type. Unlike made-to-measure garments, where you only need to take three to four body measurements, we take over 30 measurements and postural notes. That way, the piece is created to you and everything that’s unique about you — instead of the other way around.”

The Sartorial Shop sources fabric from some of the world’s top mills in England and Italy, according to Rajani.

“Our fabric collection is easily one of Canada’s largest,” he says proudly.

The clothing — aside from a recently introduced design called the Florentine Cut, which is made start to finish in Florence — is all made in Vancouver.

The Sartorial Shop suits range in price from around $2,000 to more than $10,000, according to Rajani, with fabric and details such as lining and button choice being primary factors in the final price.

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“Our atelier has evolved tremendously,” Rajani says proudly of the pieces they produce. “From initially offering mostly custom suits, we now offer a full line of custom and bespoke clothing.”

Noting they have a growing customer base both locally and internationally who harbour an interest in custom clothing, Rajani says there’s one thing among them that remains the same.

“If you want to look and feel your best in a custom suit, then you’re our target customer,” he says.

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