Tailor-made for Verona

Angelo DiFabrizio, of Orange, has been tailoring clothes for men and women at 133 Bloomfield Ave. in Verona since 1988 at his business . Yet the nearly 80-year-old tailor, who trained to be a tailor in Ivellino, Italy, has been making and fixing clothes since 1952.

Patch spoke with him recently about how he’s kept his tailoring trade stitched together over the years:

What has changed for you over the years in tailoring?

“Well to me, nothing. I’m an old-fashioned tailor, so I do everything by hand,” DiFabrizio said confidently, standing in front of a half wall revealing his workstation only feet from the register. “I come from the old school.”

Tell us what you find to be a hard piece of clothing to tailor?

“Definitely redoing a coat,” the tailor said. “I can make suits from scratch but with a suit jacket, to make it smaller, you need to take the arms off and just completely take it apart.”

How and why did you start tailoring?

“Well I had an uncle who came to this country and he said that tailors made good money,” he said. “So, he got me trained before I came over.”

DiFabrizio began his career in Genet, Pa., where his uncle lived, then moved onto Ohio before finally settling in Verona in 1988.

“I have been all over,” he said with a laugh.

So why did you pick Verona?

“I picked Verona originally because my friend was my neighbor here,” he said. The small shop he picked is currently between Pamper Your Pet and Verona Supply Company. “It was for rent so I took it.”

How have you stayed in business so long?

“I think it's because I make sure its done right and that's why people keep coming back,” DiFabrizio said. “I do everything myself, I don’t have any other employees."